“Good,” I said then I searched all the rooms downstairs until I found Tim’s baby wrap in the hall closet.

When I returned to the living room, Alex and the kids were waiting for me. “Arms out,” I said to Alex.

“Why?” he asked.

I handed Aaron to Makeyla and held up the baby carrier.

“You want to wrap me like a mummy?” Alex asked.

“It’s for the baby. So you can carry him.”

He shook his head. “No way.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“You wear it,” he said.

“Those things hurt my back.” Jonah was the one who used to wear Amelia in the baby carrier. I always walked with her in the carriage.

“Don’t they have a stroller?” Alex said.

Yes, it was parked in the dining room. But there was no way I was using it to get to the park. This neighborhood was filled with huge trees that had been planted decades ago. Between the giant roots stretching out everywhere and the earthquake damage that had never been repaired, the sidewalks were badly buckled. And I didn’t want to attempt to navigate their busy street with three rambunctious kids and a baby carriage. I held up the carrier again. “C’mon, just try it.”

Alex didn’t move.

“You know,” I said in what I hoped was a sultry voice, “there’s nothing sexier than a man with a baby.”

All three kids laughed. Even Alex cracked a smile. “Is that a fact?”

“Actually, it is,” I told him. “Scientific studies have proven women find men with babies sexier than men without babies. It’s a survival of the species thing. Google it if you don’t believe me.”

Alex sighed. “Can’t you just hold him?”

“Yeah, but they start to get really heavy after a while. C’mon, just try it. Tim loves this thing. My husband loved ours too. If you hate it, you can take it off and we’ll take turns holding him.”

Alex grumbled but agreed. The wrap style baby carriers were much more complicated to use than the backpack style Jonah preferred. But with the help of a YouTube video, we figured it out.

“You look good, Uncle A,” Sofia said when Aaron was strapped to his chest.

“Yeah, Uncle A,” I said. “Very sexy.”

The kids laughed. Alex didn’t. He grumbled and said, “Let’s go before I change my mind.”

The three kids walked ahead of us, but they were still close enough to hear and I didn’t want to talk about the flash drive in front of them. So I asked Alex about his visit with Maria.

“They’re kicking her out.”

“Why? I thought she was doing really well.” That’s what MJ told me.

“They’re transitioning her to a halfway house,” he said.

“That’s good, isn’t it?” I didn’t know much about halfway houses, but it sounded like a positive step.

“If she stays clean it is. If not, she goes back to jail.”

“Fingers crossed for her then.”

Alex snorted loudly and Aaron squawked, then his eyelids began to droop again.

“I think he likes you,” I said. “He looks very content.”

“He likes movement. If we drove him in the car, he’d be just as happy.”

He sounded like a man who’d taken care of a baby. “Do you have kids?” I’d never thought to ask before. Although if MJ and Sofia had first cousins, it seemed like one of them would’ve mentioned it by now.

“No.”

“Or none that you know of.”

“None, period.”

“You can’t know that for sure,” I said.

Alex stared at me with his dark eyes, a slight smile around his lips. “Why so interested?”

I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks and looked away. The scientists were right. Alex did look more attractive with a baby strapped to his chest. “Just making conversation.”

Alex grinned and patted the baby carrier. “Maybe I should get myself one of these.” We continued walking in silence, listening to the kids argue over whether the live action or animated Spider Man was best, when Alex said, “Do you want another kid?”

“You mean have another child?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“You should. You’re a good mom.”

I let out a laugh. “I don’t know about that. Feeding kids ice cream in the middle of the day? I think they kick you out of the Good Mommy Club for that.” I could think of several mothers from the Mommy & Me group I used to take Amelia to who would be appalled at how much junk food I let MJ and Sofia consume.

Alex didn’t laugh. He sounded angry. “You’re a better mother to those kids than Maria ever was. They should be living with you, not the gays.”

I let the slur pass without comment because I didn’t want to have that argument in front of the kids. “You know that’s not possible.”

“No. Why isn’t it possible?”

I stared at Alex. I’d assumed MJ had told him the reason, but maybe not. I lowered my voice so the kids wouldn’t hear and said, “Because according to the State of California, I’m not currently fit to be a parent.”

“You’re not fit to be a parent?” he said incredulously. “What’d you do? Kill a puppy?”