The House That Built Me (Strawberry Inn Book #3)

Chapter 11

CHAZ

“Did you really bring a fucking baby to the bar, Cody?”

Harrison was the first to see Cody walk in the door, I turned around and sure enough one of those baby carriers adorn his chest and I can see Esme’s tiny head poking out from the top. “I feel like this is some sort of small-town stereotype that I don’t quite understand.”

“You two can shut the fuck up,” Cody replies while gently sitting down, careful to cradle Esme’s head while he does so. Thatcher and I laugh at his reaction, annoying him more. “Blair has some business calls and Hayes has plans tonight so I’ve got her for now. Is there a problem with me being an involved dad?”

“Stop the bullshit, Cody. You and I both know that I’ve had Indie in one of those carrier things more than once. You’re not the only involved dad around here.”

“With all due respect,” I interrupt, “I did not agree to hang out with the two of you so we could talk about babies. I know you are both wonderful dads, but can we not?”

“I’ll try, but it’s kind of hard to ignore babies while I’m holding a baby.”

“Maybe we should just reschedule.”

“No, Chaz,” Harrison grabs my forearm and pulls me back down into the chair. “We’ll be on our best non-dad behaviors tonight. Promise.”

“I promise too, Blair is going to be here to get her once she finishes up her calls. Just pretend like this is a baby doll or something.”

The corner of my mouth pulls up into a semi-smile, “That’s even weirder than you baby-wearing in a bar.”

“Who is the one bringing up the baby now?” Cody teases.

“Yeah, yeah.” The laughter at the table was only partially interrupted by our waitress. Harrison and I ordered another beer, but Cody was just going with water for now. I gave him a look of disappointment, but be swore once she was gone he’d get a drink.

Since moving here I’ve spent most of my time at the house working on the remodel. Going to the bar to kick back for the evening wasn’t really on my radar. I fell into this social group because they were friends with my sister, but it is still hard to consider the group of them my friends. Harrison is my brother-in-law and we get along pretty well. Our relationship is pretty solid all things considered. After Angela’s last marriage ended in a drawn-out divorce, I was worried about her jumping into something too soon. It didn’t take long to see them together to realize that they were a much better match than her douchebag ex-husband. He took care of Ang and my mom when I couldn’t. That makes him a stand-up guy in my eyes.

I know even less about Cody. He’s married to Angela’s best friend, Blair. We hang out as a group, but this is one of the few times being with him without the women around unless you count Esme, I guess. The only one missing tonight is Dalton. He is a firefighter that works with Harrison. The two of them rarely have the same time off since Dalton is second in command and Harrison is the chief. He’s not as outgoing as these two, we have that in common.

“So how is your houseguest, Chaz?”

Harrison is the first one to bring up Kelsey. I’m shocked it didn’t happen early, but he was probably waiting for Cody to show up so they could tag team me. I’m sure my sister has told him all about her. “Not much to say.”

“That’s all you’re going to say?”

“I told you, not much else to say,” I sip my beer, hoping they drop the conversation.