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“Where are the boys?” I ask him. He and Alana have three year old twin boys. They would usually stay with Lucia and Jackson when Alejandro and Alana are out of town, but they’re both here too.
“They’re with my mama and papa. We’re flying back first thing tomorrow before they give their grandparents a heart attack.”
I laugh out loud at that. I remember how challenging Mikey and Liam were at that age. I practically raised my twin brothers and I still haven’t recovered from the ordeal.
“I miss them too much to stay away,” he says as he takes a sip of his whiskey. “Dario is so like his mom, but Tomás is just like me when I was a kid. He’s going to make me gray before I’m forty.”
“You’re forty next year!”
“I know!”
“You ever miss your life before you had them?”
“Not for one fucking second.” He turns to me and winks. “You worried you might?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a sigh.
“How are things going?” he asks. Jessie told Alana that we were trying for a baby when she met her back in LA.
“Not great,” I admit. “I mean I love the baby-making part…” I take another sip of my drink.
“Well, yeah,” Alejandro nods his agreement.
“But I hate the effect it has on her. Every month…” I shake my head.
He knows. Alana had trouble conceiving and they had their twins through fertility treatment. Jessie was convinced she’d fall pregnant as soon as we started trying. But then her period arrived that first month and she was devastated. I suppose we were all a little disappointed. But, we kept on trying, and we try hard. Now every month when her period arrives, she’s heartbroken all over again and I feel powerless to help her.
“It’s hard, amigo. I remember how upset Alana used to get. How helpless I felt not being able to fix it for her. She put so much pressure on herself.”
“Jessie does the same. It feels like our lives have become about getting pregnant. And don’t get me wrong, I love trying to get her pregnant. I want a kid with her. But it’s starting to affect everything else. How do you stop it creeping into every aspect of your life? It’s like we’re just repeating the same cycle over and over again.”
“That’s because you literally are,” he says with a tilt of his head.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know, Shane. It’s hard when that’s what she wants. I remember how fucking heartbroken Alana used to get. How sometimes it made sex feel like something we had to do and it kinda took the edge off at times, you know? I mean fucking my wife is my favorite thing to do in the whole world, but I don’t miss the pressure.”
“Hmm.”
“You need to find a way to take the pressure off. I mean Jessie is only twenty-seven, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So there’s no rush?”
“I know that, but she keeps thinking there’s something wrong with her.”
“There’s no easy answer, amigo. I wish there was.”
More footsteps behind us make us turn as his wife, Alana makes her way toward us.
“Hey, princess,” Alejandro says as he wraps his arm around her waist.
“Hey,” she stifles a yawn. “Your aunt is looking for you, Shane.”
I down my drink and place the glass on the table before checking my watch. It’s after two.
“We should probably get going if you want to get any sleep before our flight,” she says to her husband.
