Chapter 24 Jude
TWENTY-FOUR
JUDE
My daughter gives me the biggest smile as I stare down at her with my mouth hanging open. “I think you’re going to need a bath.” I’m scared to even pick her up as she makes sounds I’ve never heard come from a tiny baby.
She happily kicks her legs up and down, completely unbothered that she just shit her pants…and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be everywhere.
I’ve changed plenty of her diapers, but this is the first poop.
And based on what I just heard, it seems like it might be a big one.
“We’re going straight to the bath, baby girl.” I carefully lift her from her playmat. There’s nothing on the playmat or on her back, but I’m still nervous to get to the bathroom and find out if Ava had a blowout or not.
I turn the bathtub on and set Ava down on the plush bathroom rug and unzip her pjs.
We’ve had a great day together, just the two of us.
Charlotte left to finish packing up her apartment hours ago.
I didn’t think she’d be gone so long, and I’ve fought the urge to text her and check in, but I also don’t want her to get annoyed with me, so I refrained.
I’ve kept myself busy playing with Ava and bonding with her.
After our rough night together, I needed today with her. We’ve had the best time. Every time she’s fussed, I’ve been able to figure out what she needs almost right away, and it’s been the confidence boost I didn’t even know I needed.
While she slept, I was even able to get some work done and get in touch with a highly recommended family lawyer.
I don’t want to wait long at all on getting things sorted out about Ava being mine and only mine.
My lawyer got me connected with a way to discreetly take a paternity test, and I should have it confirmed soon that Ava is biologically mine.
I carefully pull Ava’s feet out of the pjs, bracing myself for what I’m about to see.
“Holy shit,” I mutter, bringing my T-shirt over my nose to cover the smell.
I laugh. Literally, holy shit.
I realize as I pull Ava’s arms out of the sleeves that I don’t have wipes in the bathroom. I leave her on the rug and run into my room. Once I have the wipes, I work on quickly getting the diaper off her and wiping her down before putting her in the baby bath inside my large claw-foot tub.
She kicks her legs in the water before letting out a happy squeal.
I can’t help but smile as I kneel next to the tub. “Do you like the water?” I grab the basket of bath supplies from next to the tub and pull out a whale-shaped rinse cup. Ava continues to happily kick her legs and splash while I fill the cup with water.
Her smile gets even wider and her dimples deeper as I slowly pour the water from the cup over her little body.
“You really like the water.” My mom always said I was a water baby and it was where I was happiest. I love that it seems Ava might be the same way.
“Hello?” Charlotte’s voice comes from somewhere in the house.
“In the bathroom,” I yell back, a sense of relief overtaking me that she’s back.
Char taking longer to pack up her things than I expected had me second-guessing if she wanted to still stay here for the summer. I don’t want to think too deeply about how disappointed I’d be if she did change her mind.
“Are you clothed?” Charlotte’s voice is closer this time. I stare at the open door, waiting to see her walk into the bathroom.
I can’t help but smirk at her question. “Why don’t you come in and find out?” I tease.
Even though I still can’t see her, I can perfectly picture her rolling her eyes at my comment.
She steps into view with her hands on her hips. “I haven’t even fully moved in, and you’re already flirting with me?”
I place a hand on my chest and give her a smirk. “Who said I’m flirting?”
“Come and find out.” She repeats what I said in a husky tone that’s supposed to make fun of me but instead only makes my smirk grow. “That was absolutely flirting.” She drops to her knees next to me and smiles when she looks at Ava in the tub.
“Maybe you flirted first by asking me if I had clothes on or not. Would you have preferred I was naked?”
Charlotte’s lips part, and her cheeks turn crimson at my words. “I don’t want to picture you naked,” she hurriedly gets out.
I lift an eyebrow. “Everyone wants to picture me naked. It’s a sight to see.”
Charlotte snorts. It’s an adorable snort, even if it’s at the expense of my ego. Her blue eyes focus on me. “Not everyone. Not me.”
It’s at the tip of my tongue to remind her of the other night.
She wasn’t looking at me like she didn’t want to see me naked then.
She was looking at me like she wanted to rip my clothes off.
I could remind her of that, but I know I shouldn’t.
I can’t start anything with Charlotte because I need to focus on Ava.
That doesn’t mean I can’t do a little bit of harmless flirting though.
It’s too hard not to. I love watching her cheeks get red.
“How did packing go?” I change the subject as I focus on Ava once again. She’s still happily splashing in the water as the tub slowly fills around her. I continue to let the warm water run, keeping a close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t fill too much with the baby bath inside.
“I’m all packed up,” she answers from my side. “I was even able to pass the keys off to Devin, so you’re officially stuck with me for the summer, unfortunately.”
I pull my gaze from Ava to look at Charlotte for a moment.
I bite my tongue, resisting the urge to tell her that it isn’t unfortunate at all that she’s here for the summer.
She’s here with me and Ava, which is exactly where I want her.
“Poor me,” I tease, ripping my gaze from hers before I get lost staring into her beautiful blue eyes.
I fill the bath cup with water and carefully pour it over Ava’s head. She smiles, not bothered by the water on her face at all.
“How did your day go?” Charlotte asks. She places her hands on the corner of the tub and rests her chin on top of her forearm.
I glance over at her again; the new position she’s in puts her closer to me than I was expecting.
She watches Ava with a smile, and I try to ignore how much more at peace I feel with her back here.
“Turns out maybe she doesn’t hate me,” I respond, turning my attention back to my daughter.
I turn the water off for a moment and let her splash in it for a little bit.
“We had a good day. We were having a lot of fun until she decided she was going to shit her pants, making noises I didn’t know could come from something so tiny. ”
Charlotte giggles from my side.
Fuck, I love her laugh. It makes me smile and creates a tightness in my chest I can’t describe.
“Yeah, I’ve definitely heard some intense sounds come from my nieces and nephews. But congratulations on handling your first blowout. Up all night and a massive blowout…you’ve been initiated on having an infant.”
“Turns out Ava loves the water though. We haven’t been in here long, but she seems to love the bath.”
As if she understands me, Ava kicks at the water and lets out a happy squeal when some of the water hits her in the face.
Charlotte reaches into the bath and runs her fingers over Ava’s cheek. “Are you a water baby?”
“I think she is.”
“We’ll have to get her in the pool one of these days. I bet she’d love that.”
I nod. “Yeah, I thought about doing that today with her, but I was nervous. What do I do about the sun? Can babies wear sunscreen? Is it even warm enough outside yet for her to be in the pool?”
It’s quiet for a moment. I expect Charlotte to answer my questions, or at least comment, but she doesn’t say anything.
I try to wait patiently for her response, pouring water over Ava to keep her warm, but the silence eventually gets the best of me.
I look over at Charlotte and find her staring at me with a soft smile gracing her perfect pink lips.
My eyes narrow. “What?”
Her lips twitch for a moment. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth in an attempt to fight her smile, but it doesn’t work. Her entire face lights up, and she beams at me. “Nothing,” she responds.
My mouth falls open. “No, you can’t say nothing. I asked you questions, and you didn’t answer any of them. And why are you smiling?”
Her nose crinkles when her smile grows even wider, and fuck, why is she so adorable?
I’ve always been attracted to Charlotte.
There’s no denying she’s absolutely gorgeous.
With her long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and heart-shaped face, she makes every man do a double-take at the club.
But it’s different now. I see her, and it’s not that I’m just attracted to her.
There’s a pull I feel to her that I’ve never felt before.
I’m starting to notice everything about her—the crinkle to her nose when she smiles, the way she blushes a perfect shade of red, or when she bites her lip when she’s nervous.
None of these are things I’ve noticed before.
“Char,” I prod, speaking up to get out of my head and stop obsessing over the fact that I’m starting to get a little too attracted to my best friend. “Why are you smiling and not answering my questions?”
She shakes her head and bites her lip again, and fuck…why do I want to be the one biting her lip instead? Would she like that? I desperately want to find out.
“It’s just kind of cute when you’re worrying about Ava. I obviously have never seen this side of you. I like it.”
I swallow, ripping my gaze from hers. My ears feel hot, and I think it’s her turn to make me blush.
No one ever makes me blush, but something about her compliment makes my entire face feel hot.
“Did you hear that, baby girl?” I ask Ava, pulling out the bottle of soap from the basket next to me.
“Charlotte just called me cute again. Do you think she likes me?”
Charlotte scoffs from my side before softly pushing my shoulder with her wet hand. “I give you one compliment, and it goes to your head. That’ll be the last time you get one from me.”
I give her a cocky smile over my shoulder. “No it won’t.”
Charlotte rolls her eyes before leaning forward and turning the water back on. “Stop flirting and finish cleaning Ava. I want to give her snuggles.”
I do as I’m told, loving how right it feels to do something so simple as giving my daughter a bath with Charlotte.
I’m really going to love having her here with us this summer.
I just hope I don’t love having her here a little too much.