12. Cecelia
Sterling didn’t have a clue how to parent a child, but that didn’t make him a bad person. I needed to shift my judgmental attitude. I was making moral assessments when they weren’t appropriate because of my past. The man needed an education, and part of my job to make their family function was to help him with that education.
Instead, I spent my first week being pissed off that someone thought handing a baby off to a man like him was a good idea. But if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be going out with him and Georgie. Today was training day. I had no idea how to train him to be a parent. So, I was showing him what I thought I would do if I had a kid.
The elevator door slid open. As usual, Wayne was waiting to escort me inside. “Good morning, Miss Cecelia.”
“Good morning, Wayne. Is everyone ready?”
“By everyone, you mean Mr. Sterling and Miss Georgie. They are still making their preparations.”
“You aren’t coming with us?” My insides clenched a little. Was I nervous he would say yes, or no?
“Who, me? Certainly not. My duties keep me here.”
I swear I saw him shiver as if going to the zoo was distasteful. He led me into the living room. A few days ago, there was no way to tell a child lived here. Now, there was no way to miss it. Foam pool noodles were cut to size and wrapped over corners of tables and walls. A few soft toys were scattered about. A pink checkerboard quilt was spread out on the floor. Georgie sat in the middle surrounded by fabric cubes and a few stuffed animals. She wore a cotton onesie with a yellow sundress over that. A matching bucket hat was already on her head and a bow was tied under her chin to keep it in place.
I was also wearing yellow. We almost matched, only I didn’t have a bucket hat with a strap tied under my chin.
Sterling was down on the floor next to her. He was not ready, still in the plaid soft pants and T-shirt I assumed he”d slept in. I made sure to keep my eyes on his face or my attention on the baby. While she looked content to play on her blanket, he did not look happy as he wrestled with a collection of grey and black tubes. At first, I thought it might be a vacuum cleaner, but when I saw the wheels, I figured it was a stroller.
“I thought those things came already assembled,” I said as I put my tote bag down and lifted Georgie. “Uh, you’re gaining weight.”
“She’s a baby. Don’t fat shame her,” Sterling grumbled.
I laughed. “I’m hardly fat shaming her. Babies are supposed to be pudgy. It’s a good thing she’s gaining weight. It means you are feeding her.” I sat and put her on my knee and began bouncing my foot.
“I think I’m feeding her,” Sterling said. He didn’t look up from his task. “But I can’t tell if anything is getting inside. There is more food all over her and the highchair and the floor than we ever start with.”
“Well, whatever you are doing, at least it’s working. So, what’s going on here?” I asked.
“Some assembly required.” Sterling reached out and smacked a large box with an image of a stroller on it. “They lie. It”s all assembly.”
“I normally wouldn’t recommend spending more money, but why don’t you toss all of that back into the box, and we go to a baby store and buy something already put together?” I suggested.
He looked up at me and tilted his head slightly to the side. “I thought that company went out of business?”
“Oh, yeah, the big chain store did. But there’s got to be a local one we can go to.”
“I usually just order online. That’s how I got everything else. Well, except for the highchair. That came from a big box store, and it did require assembly.”
I lifted Georgie from my knee and put her back on the quilt. With a sigh, I pulled out my phone and started searching for baby supply stores in the city. I found one that looked promising.
I hit their phone number and waited until someone picked up the phone.
“Hi, do y’all carry strollers, or are you just clothes?” I asked as soon as the person on the other end of the line finished their spiel.
“No, I’m sorry. We’re a clothing boutique. We have some toys. Have you tried Hand Me Downs? They usually have strollers.”
I called the recommended place, and the lady who worked there assured me they had several strollers in stock.
“Okay,” I told Sterling. “We can go to this shop, Hand Me Downs, and pick up a stroller. Even if it isn’t exactly what you want, it will get you through a few days until either you figure how to get this one together, or?—”
“Or I order something else. Sounds like a plan.” He finished dropping the pieces into the box. “I need to wash up. Wayne should have Georgie’s snacks and a couple of bottles ready and packed for us.”
I picked the baby up. “I’ll get her changed and in the car seat. Meet you back here?”
Sterling stepped in close and put his hand on my arm. We gazed at each other for a moment. My insides twisted as he leaned down and placed a kiss on top of Georgie’s hat.
I held my breath until he walked away. Oh, boy, that had been close. I wish it had been closer. The twists and turns in my middle were definitely excited for a day alone with him and the baby.
I was putting Georgie into the car seat after a fresh change.
Wayne set an insulated lunch bag next to me. “Miss Georgie’s bottles. There”s also some applesauce and these little dissolvable cookie treats she seems to like.”
“Thank you.”
“I will let Mr. Sterling know the car is ready. Have a pleasant day, Miss Cecelia.” He left before I had a chance to tell him the same.
“Ready?” I looked up when Sterling came back.
He was crazy handsome. He looked like a movie super spy in a tux. For the day-to-day clothes I’d seen him in, he tended toward business basics, dress slacks and button-downs, and he looked super good in those. His sleepwear… I don’t know what miracle occurred that he now wore his sleepwear when I showed up, but… tight T-shirts showed off the exceptional muscles in his arms and shoulders. He had firm, square pecs, and if the shirts weren’t a little loose around the middle, I would be able to confirm whether he had a six-pack.
It wasn’t professional of me to ogle the man. But it was really difficult to not notice the package he had between his legs. The soft pants he slept in didn’t hide a whole lot. They also hung a little low on his hips. Those pants and T-shirts were the equivalent of sexy underwear as far as I was concerned.
I thought if I could behave while he was cavorting about in his sexy sleepwear, I could handle seeing Sterling in anything. I was wrong. My throat went dry and I forgot what I was about to say. I made a croaking sound back in my throat.
“Cecelia, are you okay?”
I nodded and tried to clear my throat as I stood. Jeans. Sterling Alexander in jeans would be my downfall. He wore a T-shirt he must have picked up while on vacation in the islands, and those jeans fit him like they were made for him, and then he lived in them, so they conformed to the shape and swell of his thighs and butt. He didn’t look like some super-rich tech guy. He looked like an underwear model.
He grabbed the handle to the car seat and picked up Georgie. I hitched my tote bag onto my shoulder and picked up the lunch bag with Georgie’s food.
The elevator slid open, and I got in after him. I was in an elevator right next to probably the single most handsome man in the world and his niece. And we looked like a family. Both Georgie and I were in yellow dresses, and Sterling’s Grand Cayman shirt was also yellow.
It wasn’t until he was strapping Georgie’s car seat into the back of the limo that it occurred to me that I could have pointed out his yellow shirt and given him the opportunity to change. But the butterflies in my middle loved how we looked like we belonged together.
“This looks like a used clothing store,” Sterling said as the limo pulled up in front of the store.
“It probably is,” I said. “It’s called Hand Me Downs.”
Sterling’s brow furrowed and his expression darkened. “I can afford a new stroller.”
“Look, you can be a total snob and refuse to buy a used stroller to use for one day, and we can spend the rest of the morning driving around Dallas looking for a stroller. Or we can go inside and find something that will work for going to the zoo. I know you can afford something very high-end. That stroller is in parts in your living room right now.”