Speak of the devils, Carter and Beckett slid into the chairs across from him, beers in hand. Carter handed a frosty glass to Jax while Beckett loosened his tie.
“You’re supposed to be babysitting, not writing, Hollywood,” Beckett teased.
Jax kicked his brother’s chair half-heartedly.
“Yeah? Well you try working three full-time jobs and see how you do without multitasking.”
Beckett snorted. “Woe is you. It’s not easy being a full-time attorney and mayor. And you try keeping Gianna in line. Finding her keys, keeping track of her bills …”
Carter and Jax mimed a tiny violin duet.
“Assholes.”
“Guys,” Carter said, drawing their attention. “Twins.” He mimed a mic drop and picked up his beer.
“Please. You can’t use that excuse until they’re actually here,” Beckett argued. “There’s no crying, no diapers, no late night feedings.”
“Are you kidding me? There’s already crying and late night feedings. Summer got matching onesies in the mail yesterday and I found her sobbing over them and a bowl of cold spaghetti in the kitchen at midnight. She’s the one who ordered them!”
Jax grinned.
“I’m worried she’s going to drive herself insane between the hormones and the magazine,” Carter continued.
“You’re gonna have to drag her away from here,” Jax said. “Get her to take a couple days off.”
“A vacation?” Carter frowned.
“You guys didn’t have a honeymoon,” Beckett shrugged. “And you sure as hell won’t be going anywhere once the kids are here.”
“Sorry to interrupt, Jax.” Cheryl, the bubbly weeknight bartender, approached the brothers. “But the bar drawer isn’t coming out right.”
Jax blew out his breath. “The lunch drawer or the dinner drawer?”
“Dinner,” she said, shoving her heavy fringe of bangs off her forehead. “I counted it three times.”
“I’ll be back,” he told his brothers.
After he counted the drawer three more times, confirmed that it was indeed twenty-five cents short, and threw in a quarter from his own pocket, he returned to the table where Carter was still considering the merits of a vacation. “Things are quiet enough on the farm, maybe we could get away for a few days.” Carter laughed. “How in the hell am I going to get Summer to agree? I have to use a pry bar on her to get her out of the office before eight every night.”
Jax grinned, reaching for his beer. “Joey and Gia. Put them on her case and feed her something about trying out a guest editor now so she can tap them again during maternity leave.”
“When the hell did you become the smart one?” Carter asked, impressed.
“One of us had to get the brains.”
“I like it better when you two are fighting,” Beckett grumbled.
“Then let’s start looking at the brewery numbers and we’ll end up punching each other in the face over the price of French fries,” Jax suggested.
Before he could bring up the document on his laptop, another distraction presented itself. “Hey, uh, Jax,” the shaggy haired server named Deke shuffled up to the table. “There’s some guy on the phone.”
“Uh-huh,” Jax said, waiting for more of an explanation. He ignored Beckett’s smirk when Deke didn’t provide one. “Does he want something?”
Deke shrugged. “Dunno.”
Jax fixed him with a steely gaze that seemed to have no effect. “How about you ask him who he is and what he wants and then we’ll go from there?”
Deke shrugged again. “Cool,” he said before shuffling off.
