“Listen, I’m competing with twenty-seven-year-olds here. I need my beauty sleep,” I say, and Bentley coos at me, his little lips forming an O shape.
“I know, I know. It’s laughable that my career depends on my lack of crow’s feet. But that’s the life of a model,” I say, and Bentley yawns, his little eyelids beginning to droop. “Sure. Now you want to sleep.”
I carry him into the bedroom and lay him in his crib, feeding him his pacifier and turning on the circus animal mobile. “Ashlyn did a good job decorating this nursery for you. She’s good at a lot of things,” I say. Bentley’s eyes are closed as he suckles. “Do me a favor, Little Man. Go easy on her, alright? Let us get some sleep. She really wants nothing more than to take care of you. And I want nothing more than to take care of her. And that’s kind of hard to do when neither of us can walk a straight line.”
I walk out into the living room and whip the burp cloth off my shoulder just as the door opens. Ashlyn and Demi walk in, arms full of bags, laughing about something.
“Listen, the Jonas Brothers have always been better than One Direction,” Demi says. “Joe is a snack.”
“Maybe. If you’re into that whole lanky, bad-boy look,” Ashlyn says. “And honestly, I’m more of a Backstreet Boys fan myself.”
“You always have liked older guys,” Demi says, and while I like the turn this conversation has taken, I’m going to lose my mind if they wake Bentley up.
“Shh!” I whisper-yell, waving my arms. “He’s asleep.”
“He’s asleep?” Ashlyn echoes. “You got him to go to sleep!”
“I did, but he’s not going to stay asleep if you girls keep cackling about falsetto-singing boys,” I tease.
“Are you jealous?” she asks and my lips curl into a smirk as I snake an arm around her and pull her closer. Then I remember we aren’t alone. I think Ashlyn does too because her face flushes and she looks down, biting her lip.
“Don’t stop on my account,” Demi says. “You two are so cute together, it’s gross. In fact…why don’t you go out?”
“Go out?” Ashlyn asks, and Demi just smiles, setting all her bags on the counter.
“Yeah. Let me watch Bentley. You two go have dinner or go to a movie or whatever you want,” she says.
“Are you for real?” I ask before turning to Ashlyn. “Is she for real?”
“Yes, oh my god,” Demi laughs. “It’s just a baby. I’ll be fine.”
“That’s what you think,” I say. “You don’t know him. He’s cute and small, but he’s hiding his true identity.”
She laughs again. “I’ve babysat before. I can totally handle it. Now go. Go have fun.”
Ashlyn seems to still be in shock by her offer, so I grab her hand and pull her towards the door. “You don’t have to tell me twice,” I say.
“Thank you,” Ashlyn says.
“Yes, thank you,” I call back. “We owe you.”
As I lead Ashlyn to my Corvette, she laughs. “The way you’re acting, you’d think you’ve been a dad for years.”
“Listen. I’m sleep-deprived, I’m out of my element, and if I am being honest, I could really use some grown-up time,” I tell her as she gets in the car.
She smiles up at me. “Listen to you. Grown up time. You even sound like a dad.”
“Yeah, yeah…” I say, closing the door. I don’t care what I sound like. I don’t care how it looks. It’s been a long couple of weeks, and I am excited to get some alone time with Ashlyn.
We head downtown, music playing, windows down. The wind runs through her hair. She pulls it away from her smiling face, and I can’t stop looking over at her. She watches as we pass the well-known restaurants and bars, the places I usually frequent. As we drive further, I can tell she’s curious.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
But I just smile and say, “You’ll see.”
Eventually, we come to a small main street area in a neighborhood. I parallel park and get out, rounding to her side and open the door for her.
“A pub?” she asks as she steps out.
