Brody colored just a little bit. He kissed Marti’s fingers and cleared his throat. “I want this for you too. Complete with the holy-shit-my-daughter-is-going-to-be-a-teenager-in-just-a-few-years moments.”

Adrian knew it. Knew he wanted it for himself too. He wanted a wife and some kids. Wanted to come home to a house filled with noise and people waiting just for him.

Rennie returned and after a caress to Marti’s foot, she put her hand in Adrian’s and tugged. “My ears are cold.”

Adrian adjusted her hat a little. “Is that a weak cry for pizza? You gotta step your game up. Cute you’ll always have, but smart and cute? Well, you’ll be unstoppable.”

She nodded, face solemn. “Yeah. Maybe some hot chocolate would help too.”

Alexander toddled over, holding his dad’s hand. Todd swung his son up into his arms, parking him on a hip. “The boy and I throw our votes in with Rennie. I’m sure if Marti could talk, she’d agree.” Todd leaned in and kissed Marti’s nose and she grabbed for his hair. Smart man avoided it easily and she frowned for a moment.

“Pizza it is.”

They walked over and Adrian realized how much his life had changed in the last few years. He’d made the deliberate choice to slow things down and find his joy in creating again and to be with his family as it started to grow with a whole crop of babies.

“Erin told me to tell you she really loved the stuff you sent over. Those guys are lucky to have you in their corner.” Todd kept an eye on Alexander as he mawed a pizza crust. “And you lit up last night on stage. I’ve never heard you two so tight. I thought you were good before; now I think you’re the best you’ve been. Erin is excited about music again.”

“Man, Erin and I wouldn’t have gotten many of our first, big important gigs without help from local guys who’d hit it big. Getting an opening spot on a Pearl Jam tour? Gigantic for us. It’s important to help. Keeps the scene vibrant. Gives back.” And truth be told, it had been more fun helping produce those few tracks for this up-and-coming band than he’d had in a while.

“Now it’s time to settle down.” Brody and Todd nodded, like it was so easy all Adrian had to do was snap his fingers.

“It’s on the list. But it’s hard to find people who are with me for me. Cope up and swiped Ella and the group doesn’t have any more single women hanging around. Maybe I need to get hit by a car or something, since that’s how Brody netted a woman as awesome as Elise.”

Even as he spoke, he pointedly ignored the two women at a nearby table who kept looking over and whispering.

“We were rooting for Karen the baker.” Todd wiped Alexander’s face as he spoke of the local woman Adrian had dated for a while late the year before.

Finding the right woman wasn’t as easy as he’d assumed it would be. First, he didn’t have the time really, so the women he dated were temporary. It didn’t really matter if they only saw each other a few times and went in other directions. But now it did. He found himself looking at an entirely different set of priorities. Partly it made him feel responsible and, shit, the rest of the time he felt like a lazy dickhead for not being able to do something as simple as find a woman who didn’t care about his fame and the money he had in the bank.

“My teacher is nice. Maybe you can ask her out.” Rennie helped herself to another slice of pie.

“Your teacher is in her sixties. She’s a little old for Adrian. But thank you for thinking of him.” Brody tried not to smile, but he lost the battle. Adrian knew the feeling.

“Appreciate it, sunshine. Good to know you’ve got my back.” Adrian grinned at her.

“You’re so pretty to look at, even Momma says so. Plus you need to start having babies or you’ll be too old to run after them.”

Todd snorted a laugh.

“Ever the speaker of important truths, Irene.” Brody managed to say this as Marti whacked his arm, trying to get some pizza near enough to eat. “Not gonna happen, tiny bug. Your mother would kill me if I fed you pizza.”

Marti’s goofy smile faltered and her bottom lip trembled. Adrian would have given her pizza in Brody’s place just to see the smile again. But Brody was made of sterner stuff. He brought the bottle into her sight and she narrowed her eyes at him and looked to the pizza again.

“Just like your sister, eh? Don’t like to be told no.”

“Who does, Uncle Brody?” Todd asked, pushing his glass of soda farther from Alexander’s reach.

Rennie sang to her sister and Marti’s grumpy face disappeared.

“Short attention span. Babies are awesome that way,” Brody muttered. “Still, the expiration date on this little outing is getting close. Martine has Mom’s milk in a bottle or from the source, and smart girl that she is, she won’t want the bottle.”

One of the women who’d been staring snapped a cell phone picture.

“Hey, I’d appreciate it if you deleted that,” he said quietly. “I don’t want pictures of children to circulate.”

“Will you take a picture with me and my friend, then?”

“No pictures. People should be able to eat pizza in peace.” Their server bustled back over with a box for the remaining pizza. “Sorry about that,” she told Adrian.

“It’s okay, comes with the territory.”

“A guy should be able to eat pizza with his family, you know?”