Chapter 19 #2
“Your personal life is getting out of control,” Javier said. “Have you spoken to Jonas?”
“He won’t answer my calls.”
Javier ran his hand through his hair. “Fucking hell, Adam. We have training tomorrow. I will not have drama.”
“I’ll sort it,” Adam said. “I promise.”
“You’d better.”
The call went dead. Adam sank down on the sofa and put his head in his hands. How the fuck had life become so complicated?
The door slowly opened. Jen had her jacket on and Olive in her arms.
“No,” he said, springing to his feet. “Please don’t take her.”
Jen’s eyes were red. “I can’t deal with all this. I need to get my head straight.”
“Where are you going to go?”
“I’ll tell you when I get there.”
“It’s just one stupid article,” he said.
He was fully aware that he was begging at this point. He didn’t care. The idea of being apart from Olive was unbearable.
“No it isn’t,” Jen replied. “The Mail have done a piece comparing my current look with when we were out on the town. I can’t take being picked apart like this.”
Words failed him. Everything she said was fair and he had to let her do what she needed to. No matter how much it hurt.
“I understand.”
To his astonishment, Jen crossed the room and handed Olive to him.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll be gone for a few days. You said you’d do whatever it took. If you can’t handle it, I’ll come back. I need space to think.”
Olive reached for his stubble.
“Jen—”
“She’s your daughter too.”
Jen kissed the top of Olive’s head and breathed in her smell. As she squeezed Adam’s arm, he felt her trembling.
“Go,” he said quietly. “We will be fine. This will blow over. I promise.”
She nodded and walked out of the door. He stood frozen to the spot until he heard the front door go.
Shit.
He stared down at his daughter.
“I guess it’s you and me for a while.”
This evidently didn’t please Olive as she began to wail. His first instinct was to chase Jen down the drive. Yet, she’d been honest enough to tell him how to help. What kind of man would he be if he didn’t?
“Don’t give me that,” he said, jiggling her. “Be a good girl for Daddy.”
There was a smell coming from Olive that suggested what the problem was.
Okay. I can do this.
In the name of bonding, he’d assisted Jen on a few nappy missions. He’d never led.
They went upstairs to the spare room. Jen had left all the stuff out on the dresser. Gently, he laid Olive on the changing mat. She didn’t let up her bawling.
“Clean bum. Cream bum. Clean nappy,” he repeated like a mantra.
With trembling fingers, Adam took Olive’s clothes off.
“Wait, do I put the cream on first? Is it like bathroom cleaner? What did Jen say?”
The din from Olive was confusing him.
“Daddy will fix you in no time.”
The scene that greeted him when he undid the tabs on her nappy made him heave.
“Oh bloody hell,” he said. “Oh bloody, bloody hell.”
In a flurry, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and dialled.
“I need help.”
Olive hadn’t let up crying. Adam had tried his best to clean her but he wasn’t sure that he’d done it right. In the end he’d put the cream on first and last. It had made the contents of Olive’s nappy a very strange consistency.
“I will not call your mother,” Adam said. “You have to run out of steam at some point.”
It didn’t seem as if that were likely. Thankfully he reached the gates of Goran and Paloma’s house. He furiously pressed the intercom.
Once the gates swung open, Adam drove up to the main house to find an astonished Goran on his doorstep. His jaw dropped even farther when Adam produced Olive from the backseat.
“I thought you were taking the piss. What the fuck?”
“Get in the house. What do I do? Is it clean cream clean or fucking cream clean cream clean? I think I’m losing my mind.”
“Do I have to slap you?” Goran asked. “Get a hold of yourself. Jesus.”
Adam handed Olive over to Goran.
“Hey there, little lady,” Goran said. “Who are you?”
“She’s mine and she won’t stop crying.”
“Where’s Jen?”
Adam shook his head. “She needed some space. The media thing tipped her over the edge. What is wrong with her? I changed her nappy. Well I think I did.”
Goran looked as stressed as Adam. “How should I know?”
“You have a child, remember?”
“Have you fed her?”
“Jen left formula. What do I do with it?”
“Paloma is breast feeding. I haven’t a clue.”
Adam paced the room. Olive could hurt her throat at this rate.
Goran jiggled her up and down, but nothing worked.
“Where’s Paloma?” Adam asked.
“At a friend’s in town. Some brunch thing.”
“Call her,” Adam instructed. “Quickly.”
Goran handed a furious Olive over and dashed out of the room.
Adam took Olive over to the window.
“What can we see? Are there any birdies?”
Mercifully this occupied Olive enough for her to forget to cry for a second. The break was intoxicating.
“She’ll be here as quickly as possible,” Goran boomed.
Olive jumped and immediately resumed her wailing.
Fuck’s sake.
Adam took a seat at the kitchen island. He tried to distract Olive with a wooden spoon. She wasn’t having any of it.
“How long is she gone for?” Goran asked.
“A few days. Maybe a week. Until all this shit blows over.”
“And she left a baby with you?”
“I’m her father.”
“What does Jonas think of this?”
Adam shifted Olive onto his shoulder. She seemed to settle there.
“I haven’t told him yet,” Adam said. “No one knows. Not even Javier. I told him Jen was going through something and had come to stay.”
“You’re not back together, are you?”
“God, no. I’m with Jonas.”
“You sure about that?”