He lifted an eyebrow and gestured to the car seat Huey was still strapped into. I nodded. I looked over at the other two men at the table, but their eyes were focused on the baby too.

Devan held Huey in his huge hands, supporting the baby like he’d held him a million times. “You’re getting so big, little man. I’ve missed you.” He turned his eyes to me. “I stayed with Alana for the first month after he was born. I was only gone two weeks when…” He trailed off. He’d been gone for two weeks when she died. I could imagine the guilt he must feel.

Huey cooed and reached for the dark-eyed man, like he knew him already. Like he loved him. Like this man was familiar in a world where he’d been passed around strangers for two weeks, missing his mother.

River and Rigby were watching him too, and when Devan put the baby over his shoulder, patting him softly until he drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t help it. I burst into tears.

River slid away from me like I was contagious, and Rigby just gaped. I didn’t look at Devan as I tried to push down my sobs, but they just kept pushing past my lips like a wrecking ball. “I’m… sorry,” I choked out, scrubbing my cheeks with my hands. “It’s… just… tiredness. I’m okay.”

I firmly believed it, too. I was okay. Of course I was okay. Hell, if I kept repeating it, maybe I would actually be okay.

Rigby stood up and came around the table, pulling me to my feet and wrapping me in his arms. He was a perfect fucking stranger, and he was hugging me, and it made me feel better. His hand stroked up and down my back softly, as he murmured things that I couldn’t really hear because I was short as hell and only came up to his pecs. But the steady rumble of his voice was reassuring.

“It’s okay. This is a lot. Come on, now. It’s all right.”

A tissue appeared in my peripheral vision, and I realized River had grabbed one from my diaper bag. I gave him a tight smile of thanks and pulled back, embarrassment settling in over my body as I realized I’d just cried into the chest of a stranger, in public.

Everyone was staring at me now, and my face flushed hot with shame. I’d had the baby less than a day and I was already a mess. Everyone could clearly see that I had no fucking idea what I was doing.

River seemed to give the surrounding crowd the stink eye. “Swap places with me.”

I swallowed hard as he gave me his seat, with its back to the rest of the cafe. Chewing my lip, I nodded appreciatively. “Thank you. I promise I’m not normally like this.”