Love Is Always Write Volume 4

They treated him like a parent, as in any time he tried to offer advice, they acted as if he was trampling all over their rights or, worse, actually listened to him too carefully. Either extreme didn't feel so much like a friend's response.
    Greg told a story about one of his underlings who'd gotten drunk and lost in Prague and how they'd found him in a hotel room with three women and a video camera.
    Stefan laughed so hard that Emily scowled and whimpered. "Quiet, you're frightening the baby," Greg said. Which only made Stefan laugh harder.
    When she started to cry, Greg automatically pulled her out of the seat and bounced her. It felt funny every time he held her. Familiar, yet entirely new, because this baby didn't present an obstacle to his future. He could walk away, so holding her was easy without that old weight of resentment and fear.
    He'd always sworn he'd never do the kid nonsense again and had forgotten how pleasurable the weight of a baby in his hands felt. Even when she didn't stop crying, he ignored Stefan's silent offer to take her .
    STEFAN
    Greg talked to Emily in a normal, pleasant voice, telling her she didn't have to be such a drama queen. "Hey, put in a sock in it," he said, soothingly.
    He was good with babies. Greg had a confidence that seemed to transfer to Emily. He held her like an expert and as the evening crying continued, he bounced her and talked to her without getting frustrated or angry.
    Stefan felt ashamed of the times when sheer frustration forced him to put her down to walk away for a minute or two.
    "I don't get how you can be so patient," he said, then wondered if he'd just made a serious mistake. For the last few hours he'd forgotten that Uncle Greg had been hostile about the adoption during their first meeting.
    Greg flipped Emily onto his arm in what Stefan had read was called the football hold. He tried to imagine Greg holding an actual football. Yeah, it was pretty easy. He'd be the quarterback, not a linebacker though.
    Greg spoke over Emily's crying. "You can't take it personally. They just need to cry. It's exercise for them. Although she's old enough I'm surprised she still does the cranky thing."
    "Wow, you really did learn a lot as a brother. "
    "I cheated. I read books. Having the siblings made me into a reader. Once I figured out I could read about the little buggers, I figured out books could make my life easier. I moved onto reading other things. Manuals and that sort of thing. I'm crap at lectures, but if I read it, I can remember it. That made doing college almost all online easier."
    "Online? Seriously? You managed to get the high powered career with one of those degrees?" He realized how insulting that sounded and wished he could shove the words back in his mouth, but Greg only chuckled.
    "Naw. That was just luck. I sat next to a guy on a train. He had some papers spread over his lap."
    Of course Stefan's mind went there, imagining Greg looking down at the man's lap and both of them enjoying really good luck.
    Greg apparently didn't have that kind of a brain, because he only went on, "I noticed that the thing he was reading had a mistake. I pointed it out. Turned out he was writing it. An article on highly conductive paper for energy storage."
    "And he hired you?"
    "Eventually. Now I act as an interpreter between the buying client and the selling nerds. I have a foot in both worlds. I work on commission, but I also get a lot of input on the product. Alternative energy systems—it's a growing field." For the first time, Greg gave off an earnest geeky vibe as he'd talked. Stefan was charmed.
    Greg rearranged Emily so she squirmed and snuggled against his chest, and methodically patted her back. Now why couldn't Stefan trade places with her? It didn't seem like such a bad idea to let the guy hold him, pat his back.
    Emily heaved a shaky sigh and fell asleep at last. Stefan led Greg to her room, where he expertly slid her into the crib. They stood near each other in the dark, gazing down at the humped form of the sleeping baby. Stefan wanted to pull Greg into his arms, but hadn't he just said he didn't do short-term with strangers? He backed away, turned on the baby monitor, and they left the room.
    They went into the living room, and Stefan sat on a chair rather than the couch. If he sat next to Greg, he'd end up flinging himself at the man. What had they been talking about? School. Work. Life. He cleared his throat. "So you probably don't regret you missed the