Ada whimpered, then changed her mind and gave a rebel yell. After this came a small, brief smile.
"I better go," I said.
"Or you could join us for breakfast too?" asked Leah hesitantly.
"That's real kind of you, but I have work later. Need to get some sleep first."
"Another time."
"Definitely, that'd be great." Maybe. We'd see. Had to give the woman points for trying, though. Then Jean gave me a smile. One of those we've-got-a-secret-and-it's-really-damn-good kind of smiles. I fucking loved those. Or liked. Just really strongly liked them. Also, she probably shouldn't be doing that in front of her parents. Heh. Whatever.
"Nice to meet you, Eric," said Leah.
"You too." I gave both her and her husband a nod, grabbed my things, and got gone.
Great sex. Amazing, as Jean had said. But what a hell of a morning.
Also, I needed some sleep.
*
"Yeah, but who is your favorite in the band? It's me, right? It's okay to be honest. I deal well with adulation."
Jean opened her mouth, then closed it again with a small frown, looking kind of overwhelmed. It seemed to be a common feeling when it came to this sort of situation. The guys, the mansion, the whole damn thing would be kind of huge if you hadn't seen it all before.
"Leave her alone, man," I said, holding Ada on my lap.
"Shh," said Mal, the owner of the insanely large log cabin-style mansion. "This is important. Don't interfere. I want her honest, unbiased, me-centric opinion."
Sitting over on the floor, playing blocks with his daughters, Jimmy Ferris shook his head. How the dark-haired bastard always managed to look like he'd just stepped off the cover of GQ magazine, I had no idea. If only I had his money to burn on suits and shit. That would be cool. Instead, bills, savings, and real-life shit came first. Sadly.
"Ever since he got less screen time than me in the Stage Dive documentary he's been like this," said Jimmy. "So insecure it's pathetic."
"That is not true," said Mal, pushing his long blond hair back from his face. "Take it back, Jimbo."
"This is the problem with rock stars," I said quietly to Jean. "Delicate yet enormous egos. I'm surprised their skulls don't explode from the pressure. Man, you're in a world-famous band. Have a little dignity."
"I'm dignified. See if I let you stay in my beach house again." Mal sniffed. "Hey, Zeny. You love Uncle Mal best, right?"
One of the dark-headed little girls had left the game of blocks to give the drummer a cuddle. Mostly, I think it was pity. Mal wrapped her up in his arms, lifting her off her feet for a moment. Except her sister, Stephanie, took that moment to come up behind Zeny and clumsily tickle her. Next came much screaming, making Ada start in surprise. The two girls then ran off down a hallway. Who exactly was chasing who was kind of hard to tell.
"And I thought you were loud," I told Ada.
Jimmy barked out a laugh. "You haven't heard anything yet. Their lungs get bigger and it's like ... Jesus, I don't even know how to describe it. Some days we'd give anything for a mute button. Even for just a few minutes' peace. When they go to bed and everything's quiet, it's heaven. But when they're going hammer and tongs, it's like a rock band with too many drummers."
"Hey, what?" protested Mal, apparently trying to work out if he was meant to be offended. "Too many drummers? How is such a thing even possible?"
"At least they're big enough to understand some things now. We can occasionally reason with them." Lena rose from another grouping of couches, a glass of wine in her hand.
"You mean kids or drummers?" chimed in Jimmy.
"The toddler years are hard," Lena continued, ignoring him. "All of those tantrums over god only knows what. Speaking of which, I'd better go find the girls before they break something."
"Thanks, babe," said Jimmy.
Lena blew him a kiss.
Beside me on the probably billion-dollar leather couch, Jean still had a lot of white showing in her eyes. Guess we should have given her more warning. Only Nell thought it would be funny to just spring meeting the guys on her. To be fair, it kind of was. Jean had done little but stutter and stare for the first while. Apart from when she thumped me in the arm for not warning her. But it was a friendly thump, a loving one almost. I could tell.
"I still can't believe you went to school with Stage Dive," she said. "I mean, I'd heard they came from Coeur d'Alene, but still..."
"It was only forty-three more seconds of screen time," bitched Mal.
"Let it go," said David from over by the massive fireplace.
"Easy for you to say. You got way more close-ups than me."
Anne came up behind her husband, placing her hands on his shoulders and proceeding to massage. "Mal, we talked about this."
"I know, I know."
"Let's just enjoy our time with our friends, okay?"
He sighed unhappily. "Fine. It was a stupid documentary anyway."
"Hear it's up for some awards," said Ben with a smile. "Isn't that great?"
Anne swore quietly under her breath.
There were a bunch of couches and armchairs set up around the space. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked over the lake and a roaring fireplace. It was all pretty damn spectacular and the turnout had been good. All of the Stage Dive crew including their significant others. Nell and Pat, Andre, and Vaughan and Lydia. Taka, Rosie, and Boyd and Co. were running the Dive Bar in our absence. It might take a few more years for me to get used to having kids running around during our rare get-togethers, however. Each time, seeing everyone getting a little older, a bit more mature.
"Besides," Mal chirped up, "every minute of my screen time is worth ten minutes of anyone else's."
Except for Mal, the idiot, of course.
"Well, I agree every minute of your screen time feels like about ten minutes," Jimmy shot back.
And maybe Jimmy. Though beneath his needling of Mal, he seemed a lot more relaxed in his own skin since he and Lena had gotten together. Speaking of which, still no sign of her or the twins. Beside the bass player, Ben, sat a young boy playing games on a tablet. The kid was totally engrossed. Couldn't help but wonder what Ada would be like in a few years, running around yelling her head off like a wild child or sitting quietly lost in her own little world? It'd be amazing to watch her grow. Not that she didn't have her own personality from the start. But to see her get bigger, to hear her first words, and see her first steps maybe.
"Didn't think I'd ever see you going all gaga about a baby." Mal smirked and took a sip of his beer.
I shrugged. "Just happened. Hey, Ada?"
She kicked her feet in reply, little hands clinging to my fingers.
"I think it's lovely," said Anne, giving Mal a pat on the head.
"I've changed diapers. I've dealt with babies." Mal grimaced. "Between Jimmy and Ben setting their sperm free, we've got enough kids running around."
Anne sighed. "Quit bitching about it. We're having one after the next tour is over and that's that."
"Fine. If only to prove our progeny would be even better looking than the rest." He leaned his head back, drawing Anne down for a kiss. "We might need to have a couple of them. You know how competitive the rest of the guys are. We'll need to keep up."
"Sounds good," said Anne, rubbing her cheek against his.
"In the meantime, lots of practice, pumpkin. Every day, morning and night."
"Got it."
"Hours' worth of practice," he continued. "We need to attack this like we're training for the Olympics. The sex Olympics. We'll even video some, watch it for quality-control purposes. Give ourselves ratings. I'll always score a ten, though. Actually, probably eleven."
"Jesus," I muttered. "Can you two lovebirds go talk about your weird sex life in private?"
Anne laughed.
"No," said Mal. "But thank you for asking."
I did a quick check for any kids, then covered Ada's eyes and flipped him the bird.
"I know," said th
e blond drumming idiot. "Let's discuss your sex life instead. It'll keep things even. Eric's letting you down in all ways, right, Jean?"
Jean just blinked.
I looked to heaven for help. Because despite what Mal might think, he wasn't in fact God. No help, however, was forthcoming.
"It's okay, you're among friends," he continued. "Eric's a complete disappointment to you, isn't he? You find yourself falling asleep mid-action, things like that?"
"Enough," said Anne, taking the beer off Mal and having a swig herself. "Stop talking now."
"But I want Jean to feel supported."
Lips tight, Anne shook her head.
"Plus, we probably need to find out now if people ever actually manage to have sex again after a baby," said Mal, looking around the room. "You'll notice neither Jimmy and Lena nor Ben and Lizzy have gotten pregnant again. What if after a baby everything just stops working? We need to find this sort of shi ... um, stuff out."
"You just moved here last year, Jean?" asked Anne, ignoring her husband.
"Yes." Jean latched onto the change of subject. "I love Coeur d'Alene. It's such a pretty place."