Miles raised his glass of what looked like lemonade but undoubtedly contained hard liquor…at eleven o’clock in the morning.
“Cheers to that. I’ve always said kangaroos aren’t even that cute. Have you seen their pouches?” He shuddered. “Nightmares.”
Saoirse propped her elbows on the table, chin on top of her fists. “Levy, you never did confirm which of Miles’s options was true. One, two, or three?”
“While I can’t claim I haven’t asked Catherine to work on weekends, she’s not here as my employee.” I reached for her hand and wove our fingers together. “Option two.”
Weston slapped me on the shoulder. “You’re kidding.”
Elise shook her head. “He isn’t kidding.”
Luca’s cheeks puffed up, and he blew out a heavy breath. “I’m going to guess this didn’t happen in the time since we saw you on Thursday.”
“No.” I turned my head to look at Catherine, who already had her eyes on me. She nodded, giving me the go-ahead to tell them. “We’ve been together around a month.”
More if I counted the time since she moved in with me. I did, but she wouldn’t.
Elise held out a hand, her expression falling. “You didn’t tell me.”
Weston curled his arm around her. “He didn’t tell anyone. I had no idea.”
“But he’s my brother,” Elise murmured.
“I could have called you,” I started. “I could have told Weston and Luca at the gym or over drinks. But it was far more efficient to tell all of you together, and now you all know. Can we move on?”
Catherine squeezed my hand, laughing under her breath. “I think we were pretty surprised ourselves that this happened.”
Miles nodded like he heard a beat no one else could. “Yeah, I’m into it. You guys are cute. Like grumpy sunshine on crack.” He pointed at me. “He’s the one on crack, by the way.”
Weston cupped his forehead. “Why? Why?”
Miles sipped his drink, utterly unperturbed by his brother’s annoyance. “Relax, Westie. I’ve heard you tell Elise you’re concerned about Elliot spending so much time alone. Now you don’t have to be worried anymore.”
Elise flicked his ear. “Your key is revoked. You’ve listened in on too many of our conversations.”
Weston shot a glare at his brother. “This is why he shouldn’t have had a key in the first place. He can’t help himself. He’s trouble.”
Miles grimaced and met my eye. “They talk about me too. We never should have let them happen.”
“I wasn’t asked for my opinion, unfortunately,” I deadpanned, then turned to Weston. “You’re worried about me?”
He chuffed, running a hand through his hair. “You’re on my mind sometimes, yes. Especially lately, when you’ve been showing up less and less. It makes sense now, but Elise and I were scrambling for answers while you were off falling for your assistant.”
“Catherine. Her name is Catherine…Kit. Being my assistant is the least important thing she is to me, and I barely functioned when she was on maternity leave.” I brought her knuckles up to my mouth and pressed my lips along them.
Saoirse took Luca’s jaw in her hand. “Have you ever met one of Elliot’s girlfriends?”
“Not since college,” he replied.
I scoffed. “I’d hardly call any of the girls I wasted time with girlfriends.”
Anything that happened in college had fizzled out pretty quickly. And once I’d moved home to become Elise’s guardian, my personal life had been set on the back burner. West and Luca wouldn’t have met any of my girlfriends because there hadn’t been one until Catherine.
Saoirse’s eyes flared at her husband. “See? Chill out and be cool, so he keeps bringing Kit back to hang out with us. We need another woman in our mix. The testosterone is way too thick.”
Miles gave a lazy wave. “Sorry about that.”
Josephine got tired of being ignored and released a rebel yell while arching her back and raising her chubby fists. All eyes went to her. Catherine was unfazed, spinning Jo around in her arms and giving her kisses on her cheeks. She was so fucking natural at being a mother. There weren’t many things more attractive than watching her at ease with her daughter.
Our server came by to take our orders, further removing the spotlight from Catherine and me. That was good. There was nothing more to say. We were a couple. It was what it was and didn’t need to be discussed to death.
While we waited for our food, Josephine got passed between Elise and Saoirse, then Miles held his hands out to her.
“Give her over. Babies really like me.” He wiggled his fingers at her, and she snagged one, wrapping her hand around it and gazing up at him from Saoirse’s lap.
“Tell him no,” I murmured to Catherine.
She laughed softly. “Why would I do that?”
“He’ll drop her.”
She patted my cheek. “I really doubt that.”
Saoirse transferred Jo into Miles’s arms. He held her in the crook of his elbow, so she was facing her mom and me, but she kept twisting to look back at him.
Catherine grinned. “She must like your face.”
He booped her nose. “I like your face too, angel. You’re very cute and round.”
Little by little, I relaxed. It seemed Miles was actually competent when it came to holding a baby. If I was honest with myself, he was more than competent in other arenas too, but I had a difficult time getting past his years spent happily living as an out-of-control man-child and mooching off Weston.
People changed. A year ago, I never would have imagined I’d have a woman and baby I adored down to my bones, but here I was. Happy about it. So fucking happy.
I could do better about giving Miles the benefit of the doubt.
“Do you have any trips coming up?” Elise asked.
“Yes.” I slid my hand along Catherine’s thigh beneath the table and settled on her knee. “I have to go to Dubai in a couple weeks.”
“How does that work?” Weston asked Catherine. “Will you go too?”
She leaned around me to address Weston. “Right now, it doesn’t make sense for me to travel with him. I’d have to take my nanny with me since I don’t have anyone else to watch Joey.”
Weston flicked a glance at me. “It’s a good thing your boss likes you.”
“If he didn’t, I would figure it out. But yeah, I’m pretty lucky Elliot likes me for many other reasons—especially since I like him so very much.”
Elise made a gasping kind of sigh, drawing my attention. She quickly clamped her mouth shut and shook her head. But it was too late. My sister was pleased at what Catherine had to say. It ran in the family because so was I.
Our food was delivered, and Catherine reached for Josephine, who was still hanging out with Miles.
“I’ll put her in her car seat so you can eat in peace,” Catherine offered.