“She’s been obsessed with the word ‘bubble’ lately,” Gemma goes on about her one-year-old baby girl. She hates that all of her new “party” stories are about her daughter, but I love to hear about it all. Every new development, every funny quirk, even everything that made her cry for hours. I love my niece.

“It’s adorable, but hearing ‘bubble, bubble, bubble’ over and over again all day gets… yeah,” Michael, Gemma’s husband, laughs awkwardly. Obviously not wanting to say anything negative about his angel of a daughter.

“Enough about us! Enough about us!” Gemma waves her hands in the air, making the wine in her glass slosh around. “Tell us what you guys have been up to?”

That’s a loaded question with a long answer, one that has a very different answer than what they said when we asked. But this dinner is cathartic for both parties. For them, it’s a way to get out of the house for the first time in a while. They love their daughter, but they need some time with other adults.

For us it’s a bit different. This dinner comes as the first real meal we’ve had since getting back from our 2 month holiday in Rome. After my tour ended, we both knew we still wanted to travel for a while. We went to a few different countries and cities, but landed in Rome and just never left. Using it as a way to recharge and reconnect with each other after my career being nonstop for years.

Now, we’re just as inseparable as we were when we first started dating 6 years ago. After knowing each other, and being friends, for 12 years, we’ve known that our relationship could stand any test. But we still needed that time together—maybe we just wanted it too. It was…quite productive to say the least. But I can’t go saying that to my sister at this fancy ass restaurant.

“Traveling, really. Lots of lazing around,” I finally respond, taking a sip from my wine glass to keep my mouth in check.

“You’re crazy for that, mate,” Michael laughs over his fork. “I mean, traveling for years on tour just to travel some more after? If it was me, I’d immediately go home and lock myself in my room for the foreseeable future.”

“Yeah, I mean, when are you two gonna settle?” Gemma adds, a joking tone but I know the truth in her question. It’s something she and my mother have been asking for years. Practically since we began dating. I answered it for them by releasing two albums and touring them back to back.

But, maybe now after all that…

“I don’t know, Gem. We’re just…going with the flow right now.” My arm wraps around the back of your chair almost protectively. A defense mechanism whenever this topic is brought up.

“Be boring with us!” she groans jokingly. “Settle down at one of your houses, get a plant, have some babies!”

I nearly cough on my drink—I think you do. Sure, it’s something we’ve talked about before, probably more so recently than any other time. Since tying the knot right before I hit the road in 2021, it’s certainly been in our game plan. We just haven’t made a serious effort yet. Is that something you want? Now that my careers at a standstill, are we ready for it?

God, Gemma always knows how to get in my head.