JESSE

Ava showed me yet another picture of her daughter on her phone. Don’t get me wrong. Cassie was cute as far as babies went, but this was officially the second straight hour of show-and-tell and I was, quite frankly, over it.

“We’re thinking of enrolling her in baby swimming lessons,” Theo said with a hint of pride.

“Isn’t two a little young?” I asked flatly. I may or may not have checked out of the conversation two beers ago. I was now nursing my third, but it still didn’t give me enough of a buzz to safely endure the evening.

I loved my niece very much, but this was...