Chapter Eighteen
Jessica
I’d just adjusted my bra and shirt when I heard Alan’s voice coming from the kitchen.
“Can I come in?”
“Yes.”
He cautiously stepped through the threshold like he might accidentally see a nipple, and I bit back a giggle.
When he realized my boobs were put away, he sat down next to me on the couch and eagerly asked, “Can I hold her?”
I transferred her into his arms, then reached into the diaper bag for a burp cloth to put over his shoulder.
“She’s so tiny,” he mused as he adjusted her once the cloth was in place. “And she smells so good. I never understood when people would talk about ‘that new baby smell,’ like they were cars or something.” He sniffed her head and sighed. “But now I get it.”
“I actually read it’s an evolutionary tool. It’s supposed to trigger feelings of love and affection in caregivers, so they have an urge to protect the baby.”
He softly patted Ruthie’s back and replied, “Well, it’s obviously working.”
“Give her a few minutes,” I said with a laugh. “She usually poops right after she’s done eating.”
Alan directed his next comment to Ruthie. “That’s okay. You tell your mama you can poop as much as you want.”
“Now that I have a job and will be able to buy her diapers, I won’t mind as much. Apparently my parents forgot about how many diapers babies go through and haven’t been happy about how many they’ve had to buy.”
I hated listening to my parents complain every time she needed to be changed. “Again?” like she was an anomaly or something. They’d bitched so much about it that I’d actually done research and found she was completely normal.
I realized how disrespectful about my parents I’d sounded and quickly tried to backtrack.
“I mean, I know it’s been an adjustment for them—having a newborn in the house after all these years. And the last thing they want to do is run to the store at eleven o’clock because I’ve run out of diapers. Especially when my father has to work in the morning.”
Alan switched from patting the baby’s back to rubbing in circles.
“If you ever run out of diapers again, you call me. I don’t care what time it is. I’ll be there with a new pack.”
“That’s really sweet of you, but I think I have enough for the next couple of weeks.” I paused before continuing, “When do you head back to Massachusetts?”
“Not for a while.”
“That’s, uh, vague.”
“I own a construction company and have an amazing construction manager, along with a stellar team of foremen, and an executive assistant who’s really the one in charge.
And we just hired a grant manager to oversee the low-income housing development we won the bid for.
So, honestly, at this point, I’d just be in the way.
Besides, if they need me, there’s always video conferencing. ”
That news made me strangely happy.
But not as happy as his answer when I asked, “So, what are you going to do while you’re in Haven Springs?”
“Hang out with my brother and bake cinnamon rolls.”
****
Alan
And take you out on as many dates as I can.
Of course, I kept that to myself; I didn’t want to scare her off.
Although I’d gotten the impression earlier that she might not be opposed. Yet I had to concede Lainey was right—there was no way she’d ask me out.
Ruthie picked that moment to burp, but she only spit up a little, and it all hit the burp cloth.
“Do you feel better, peanut?” I asked as she turned her head and made a face.
I didn’t need to have any baby experience to understand what that face meant. And if I hadn’t been sure, the rumbling against my forearm where she rested her little bottom confirmed it.
I couldn’t help but laugh when I told Jessica, “Once again, you called it.”
She reached into the diaper bag for a blanket, diaper, and wipes.
“This kid is like clockwork.” Spreading the blanket out on a couch cushion, she sighed. “I suppose I should enjoy it while it lasts. All the books I’ve read have said she’ll get more unpredictable the older she gets.”
“Now that, I believe. I’ve never met a predictable woman yet.”
She huffed out a humorless laugh as she pointed to herself.
“Meet Miss Predictable and Boring.”
I stared at her for a minute before replying, “I doubt that. I’ll bet you’ve got a wild side just waiting to come out.”
And I hoped I was there when it did.