Chapter Eight
She Fits In
L uke
Abigail is a virtual stranger and already she has seamlessly fallen into easy camaraderie with everyone she’s met. Alistair is probably the hardest one of us to win over and he’s already smiling at her.
I can’t tear my gaze from her as she banters with the people in my life. She is dressed in dark blue jeans and a flowy deep purple top. Her hair is down, and I can see she has quite a bit of pink running through her black hair. She is breathtaking and my heart feels full for the first time in ages. If I can only convince her to let me into her life and her heart, and not just her body. For now, I will accept our arrangement, but it won’t be long before she realizes she is mine.
Skye’s voice pulls me from my inner musings.
“A vet?” she asks with excitement. “Tyson has a lump on the inside of his left leg. When are you opening?” Like everything else the woman does, she speaks a mile a minute.
“Give her a minute,” I cut in. “She just got the shop.”
“It’s fine.” Abigail smiles at me, squeezing my arm before facing Skye. “It’ll take a couple of weeks to get all the gear I need and have the practice up and running. But I’m happy to do house calls in the meantime.”
“Really? That would be so cool.” Skye hands Tyler over to Alistair, who has a terrified look on his face. “Can we go now?”
Abigail looks torn between laughing and ripping her son out of my friend’s big hands. I don’t have the same problem. Hailey and I both burst out laughing before a flash goes off.
“What the hell, Hailey?” Alistair grumbles.
“Everyone gonna get a kick out of your face when I put this online,” she chuckles. “Have you never held a baby?”
Alistair frowns, thinking. “The last time was when Damien was this small.”
“Damien?” Abigail asks.
“His cousin, Laine’s youngest brother,” I explain with a snicker. “He just turned twenty-one, so it’s been a long time.”
“Wow. It has been a while,” she teases my best friend, and I swear the tips of his ears turn red.
“Can we go already?” Skye cuts in, hopping from one foot to the other.
“She’ll never let you have a moment of peace,” I chuckle. “Go on, I’ve got Tyler.”
Abigail raises a brow questioningly. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, how hard can it be?”
This is something I have to learn to do on my own if I want them both to be part of my life. Why not start now?
****
F amous last words.
Me and my big fucking mouth. Abigail isn’t gone all of five minutes before all hell breaks loose. Tyler goes from a smiling, laughing little boy to a little screaming demon dressed in baby blue. It doesn’t help that between the three of us, not a single one knows anything about babies. I remember the first weeks after Abbi moved into the apartment next door and I suddenly feel soul-deep empathy for what she went through. Now I understand why she burst into tears that first night I went over.
Hailey searches the bag Abigail left for a bottle, but Tyler just spits it out. His diaper isn’t wet or dirty and no amount of swaying and cooing seems to do anything. Suddenly, I feel like a complete and utter failure. I don’t know what’s wrong and he’s too small to tell me. I feel impotent and incapable.
“This worked the last time,” I mumble as I hold him against my chest.
Hailey looks disbelieving and Alistair keeps looking at his phone.
“Should I call them?” he asks.
“No!” Hailey and I shout in unison.
“We can’t admit defeat so easily,” Hailey says with a frown. Tyler is still crying, his fists are clenched, and his little face is red. “Is that exactly what you did the last time?”
“I wasn’t wearing a shirt.”
“I’ll table that for later.” She takes Tyler from me, lightly patting his back. “Time to strip, bitch.”
I don’t think this will work but I’m running low on options. So, I whip my t-shirt off and hand it to my best friend, smiling at his terrified expression. Taking Tyler back, I cradle the screaming infant against my chest and sway a bit. It’s almost instant, the change in him. He stops screaming, staring up at me. Every couple of seconds he hiccups but I hope that, too, will calm down soon.
“What the hell?” Alistair whispers, leaning over to look at the baby I’m cradling.
“I saw it on TV once,” Hailey says softly, smiling down at the now silent little boy. “Skin-on-skin contact lets them feel connected.”
“Wow.” Alistair and I say in unison.
The word is a reverent whisper that falls from my lips. This kid already has me wrapped around his little finger. I thought I was falling for his mother, but it seems I have been falling for them both.