He’s going to an Ivy League, Matt’s in the NFL, and I’m a rock star with fans and a headlining stadium tour coming up.
We not only survived our childhood, but we’re succeeding. And I know most of my success belongs to Matt because without his support, I wouldn’t even be here.
I make a note to thank him one day, but I can’t pass up an opportunity to mock him. Especially when he looks like he could fall asleep standing up.
“You look like shit.”
Wade laughs.
Matt grumbles. “Jackie screamed all last night and most of today.”
Thank God, I can only stay twenty-four hours. “Is that normal?” I ask.
“It’s normal,” Wade says.
“And you would know how?”
“I got bored and read all the parenting books Matt and Noah bought.”
“The first night she was so good,” Matt says. “Then, I dunno what happened. Whose idea was this baby thing? Because I can’t remember. Memory function is all but gone with how little sleep I’ve had.”
Wade leans in. “He’s complaining now, but wait until you see them with her. They’re so sickeningly in love with her already.” He turns to Matt. “I told you. She’s cluster feeding.”
“The books say that only happens with breast-fed babies.”
My brothers argue all the way to the car about the behaviors of breast-fed babies versus bottle-fed babies, and I don’t know when I entered an alternate universe, only that I need to get used to it.
Matt is a father.
I take out my phone and text Soren.
Me: Landed in Chicago. Have fallen into a world of breastfeeding and screaming babies, and I haven’t even met the kidlet yet. It has scarred me for life. Just FYI.
Soren: I seriously hope Matt and Noah aren’t breastfeeding that poor baby.
Me: LOL. Miss you already.
“How’s Soren?” Matt asks from the driver’s seat, eyeing me.
I put my phone away. “Good.”
“That’s all you’re gonna give me?”
“Yup.” Because I don’t want to hear lectures about how long-distance relationships don’t work. He and Noah couldn’t even make Chicago to New York work before deciding they needed to be in one city. Noah moved for Matt, but he’s also a billionaire with basically no ties to anything and can do what he wants.
Both Soren and I are under contracts we can’t get out of, and even if we found a way out, we’d be sacrificing at least one of our careers.
I fill the drive from O’Hare to Matt and Noah’s penthouse apartment by asking Wade questions about school so they can’t ask me about Soren.
We enter the apartment to a frantic Noah slashing at his throat with his hand and then putting a finger to his lips.
“She’s asleep,” he whispers.
“Good. Because I’m exhausted and need to sleep too,” I say back. “I’ll meet her in the morning.”
It’s a short three hours later when I meet my niece, thanks to the munchkin’s lungs.
I stumble into Matt and Noah’s kitchen, grumbling about kids coming with a mute button. And speaking of buttons, I flick the coffee machine on. I’m up now. I’m gonna be up the rest of the night most likely.
“Hey, it’s only one night for you.” Noah moves about, preparing a bottle for the baby. “Apparently, we’re going to be living with this for the rest of our lives.”
“This is your daughter, and she has a name,” Matt hisses while he holds Jackie close and kinda bounces her up and down. She quiets, but the second he slows down, she starts wailing again.
I wait impatiently for the coffee and speak through a yawn. “About that. Jackson Huntington? You gave her a boy name.”
Noah folds his arms. “We didn’t realize names had genitals.”
I throw my hands up in surrender and turn back to the coffee machine. “How is Wade sleeping through this?”
“Noise-canceling headphones,” Matt says.
“Wow, baby bro really is a genius.”
Jackie won’t take the bottle and keeps screaming her little head off.
“Okay, give my niece to me.” I have absolutely no experience with kids, but what the hell, I’ll give it a whirl because my head already hurts from how hard the thing is crying.
“Support her head,” Matt says as he passes her over delicately.
She looks up at me with big, wet eyes and a pouty bottom lip. It trembles, her chin shaking, and it’s as if she’s waiting to decide if she likes me or not.
The main thing is, she’s stopped crying.
“Hi, baby Jackson. I’m your Uncle Jet, but just like your daddy, you can call me JJ.” I start walking around the apartment, trying to replicate the bounce thing Matt was doing.
He passes me a bottle. “Keep talking to her. I think it’s working.”
“Umm … okay.”
Matt shows me how to hold the bottle properly, and she starts drinking like a champ.
“Hmm, what to talk about. Well, you’re gonna have to know that I’m going to be your favorite uncle. Wade may be a genius, but I can get you awesome concert tickets. And hockey tickets. I know, I know, don’t roll your eyes at me. Hockey is not football, but I have a secret to tell you. Hockey players are hotter than football players.”