Chapter 7
Quincy
Even though I was sure Juniper would sleep for at least a couple of hours, maybe more, I could tell Knox was terrified of being alone with her, so I waited with him until Ava returned.
He baked us a frozen pizza, and we ate it with a beer as we got to know each other better.
Nothing too deep, just the basics, almost like a first date except it wasn’t.
At all. I told myself that several times, because the more I got to know about him, the more I liked him.
He seemed smart and thoughtful, concerned for the baby in his care, and determined to succeed at his new fiction career with Ava.
As we finished tidying up the kitchen, Ava returned with a trunk full of baby gear.
“I don’t even know what half of this is,” Knox said as he and Ava hauled everything into the house.
“You’ll learn soon enough,” Ava said lightly.
“Are you sure I’ll need all of this? I don’t even know how long she’ll be here.”
“What are the odds of Gina driving up and asking for her daughter back?” Ava asked. “And on the off chance she did, would you let her take her?”
Knox frowned but didn’t answer. I shared a look of concern with Ava because both points were valid.
“I’m sorry to bolt so fast, but I should get home before Cash does,” Ava said once the car was unloaded.
From what I gathered, she was in a difficult place, trying to keep peace between Knox and Cash, who was upset that Knox had lied to everyone about his identity. I knew Cash’s temper well enough to understand Ava would have to balance carefully between her writing partner and her life partner.
“He’s cooking for me when he gets home from work,” she continued. “Kind of our private celebration of getting engaged.”
“You’ve gone above and beyond,” Knox acknowledged. “I appreciate your help more than you know, particularly in light of your fiancé’s opinion of me.”
“He’ll get over it.” Ava blew out a breath. “It just might take some time.”
“Lucky for me, Quincy’s here to save me. Or really, to save Juniper from me.” Knox laughed uneasily.
“You’re going to do fine,” I said confidently. “We’ll get you comfortable with her.”
His brows shot up, as if he didn’t know if that was possible. I found it endearing that this competent guy, who had to be so super smart to be a technical writer and a fiction writer, could be so insecure around a small human.
“Quincy will get you whipped into shape,” Ava said. “Thank God for you, Quincy, because I’m as out of my element as Knox.”
“Most of this is just experience,” I told them. “I was twelve when my sister Hannah was born. Then Brayden and then Molly. I’ve changed a lot of diapers.”
As Ava opened the front door, a cry sounded from the guest room.
“Shit,” Knox said, visibly tensing.
“I’ll go get her while you see Ava out. Good night,” I said to Ava. “Have a happy celebration dinner with your fiancé.”
As she said goodbye, Juniper’s volume increased to a full-out, I’m-hungry howl.
I went into the dim bedroom to find she’d worked her way out of the swaddle and was lying on her tummy, screaming her lungs out. So she was capable of rolling over then. Good thing Ava had picked up a playpen for her to sleep in tonight.
“Come here, sweet pea,” I said as I picked her up. “Shh. It’s okay. We’ll get you a bottle.” I laid her on the bed and checked her diaper. “And a dry diaper and some brand-new pajamas.”
“Another blowout?” Knox asked as he entered the room behind me.
“Just wet, I think. Could you flip on that lamp?”
He went to the nightstand and turned it on.
“Are you ready to change your first diaper?” I asked him.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready, but let’s do this.” He rubbed his hands together as he came closer to Juniper, who’d paused in her crying to watch him, her head tilted and eyes curious.
I stepped aside so he was front and center and handed him a fresh diaper.
I talked him through the steps, watching his every tentative move, resisting the urge to reach in and help him get the ointment rubbed in and show him how to fasten the tape tightly enough.
The more he did on his own, the more his confidence would grow.
I handed him the pajamas with the pastel rainbow llamas on them and talked him through putting them on, holding back a grin at the inexperienced fumbling of his large hands that I was sure were competent at lots of other things—just not dressing a baby.
Yet. Eventually Juniper was fully suited up in her new pajamas, and Knox exhaled as if he’d thought he’d never make it through.
Next up was another bottle, which she went through quickly again.
This time, she didn’t immediately fall asleep, so I showed Knox how to burp her.
While he walked around, burping her and talking to her about nonsense things like llamas, I got the playpen out of the box and set it up.
When I finished, I glanced at the baby and saw her lids were closed.
“She’s sleepy again. Keep that up for another five minutes and I think she’ll be out fully. Then we can put her to bed.”
He nodded.
“Once we get her down, I need to run home to grab some things for the night. It won’t take long at all.”
Knox sucked in a deep breath, then nodded again. “I should be okay,” he said in a low voice.
“You will be.”
After checking out the other two spare bedrooms and finding that one was an office and one had stacks of boxes and nothing else, I maneuvered the playpen into the guest room where she’d napped.
“We can put her in my office,” Knox whispered from the doorway. “So she doesn’t keep you awake.”
“She won’t keep me awake, but since we don’t have a monitor, this way I’ll hear her when she stirs.”
“You’re the boss,” he said. “Do you think she’ll wake up in the night and need something?”
“Most likely a bottle and a diaper change or two.”
When he frowned, I reassured him, “Totally normal. Sleeping through the night at her age would be the anomaly.”
“Do people really have babies on purpose?” he asked, and I laughed quietly. Juniper appeared to be passed out good. The real test would be when we laid her down.
In the darkened bedroom, Knox carefully handed her off to me, our shoulders brushing in the process.
Though I could barely see him, I caught a hint of his masculine scent and felt the air he blew out when Juniper was safely in my hold.
There was something about our shared mission in the dark room that created an intimacy between us.
Or maybe that was me being ridiculous and in need of a boyfriend. Preferably one my own age. Someone who wasn’t paying me to spend the night.
Two minutes later, Juniper was in her playpen, still sound asleep, and Knox and I tiptoed out. We exhaled in unison and high-fived as soon as I pulled the door shut.
“Go get your stuff,” he said quietly. “I’ll be fine. As long as you hurry.” His lips curved up in the slightest hint of a smile. I suddenly longed to see more of that smile, to see it light up his eyes. That was probably asking too much after the day he’d had.
“I’ll be back in a half hour,” I told him.
“Promise?” he asked, his tone lighthearted.
“Promise.”
By the time I walked up the stairs to my apartment, I was damp clear through from the chilly October mist and wishing I’d taken my car that morning.
The lights were still on in Oopsie Daisies, even though it’d been closed for an hour. Piper was likely in the back, prepping for her busy weekend. Normally I’d go in and check on her, but I needed to hurry.
I entered the apartment and saw Jewel’s bedroom light on, heard talking, either her or her TV, behind her closed door.
Relieved that she was occupied, I hurried to my room to pack a bag.
I wasn’t sure why, but I was hesitant to talk to my roomies face-to-face about my day.
It’d be easier to text them both my plans for the night once I was back at Knox’s.
In my room, I grabbed a couple of changes of clothes and some leggings and a sweatshirt to sleep in, knowing I’d be up at least once or twice and that the middle of the night would be cold. I hurried to the hall bathroom Jewel and I shared and started stuffing necessities into my bag.
“What’s with the sneaking around?” Jewel asked from right behind me, startling me.
“I could ask you the same,” I said. “You scared me to death.”
“Where are you going?”
I met her gaze in the mirror. Her face was makeup free, her dark hair pulled sloppily into a ponytail at her nape, and she had deep shadows under her eyes.
“You look like crap,” I said.
“Fucking shots.” She rolled her eyes and smiled sheepishly. “Whose idea was all that?”
I laughed. “Hundred percent yours, Ms. Bar Manager.”
She shook her head. “Yay, me. It’s lucky today was my day off. You must be exhausted after working all day.” She narrowed her eyes as I threw in my toothbrush and toothpaste. “Did I miss something last night? Did you meet a guy?”
“You missed a lot of somethings last night, but no, I didn’t meet a guy.”
“Last time I’m going to ask nicely. Where are you heading? Watching Molly for your stepmoron?”
“No.” I grinned like I always did when she called my stepmom an immature but accurate name. “I’m spending the night with Knox Breckenridge. In his guest room. Taking care of his baby.”
“Wait… What?” The look she gave me said I was crazy. I laughed, because I’d done that on purpose.
Knowing the news of the dropped-off baby was already filtering through town—Ava had said that Chloe had already heard, and not from Seth, Cash, or Holden—I told my roommate about it.
Jewel frowned. “You’re spending the night at some old dude’s house you don’t know?”
Throwing my cleanser and some makeup basics in my bag, I said, “I know him. I’ve waited on his table half a dozen times before.”
My roommate’s brows shot up. “Oh, well, then I’m sure everything’ll be just fine,” she said sarcastically.
“The Henrys know him. Technically he is a Henry.”
“I heard about that.” She leaned her back against the doorframe and crossed her arms. “That doesn’t make him okay. The very fact that he hid it from them for months just means he can hide things.”
“We all hide things,” I said. “I don’t get the serial-killer vibe from him. I’ll be fine, Mom. Besides, the baby is cute as a freaking button. And he needs help with her, believe me. He’d never held a baby before today.”
“Which begs the question, why would someone leave a baby with him?”
“Because he’s a good-hearted man who wouldn’t hurt a baby.”
“And you know this how?”
“I just do.”
Call it gut instinct or whatever you wanted to call it, but I knew in my bones that Knox would never hurt a baby. Not on purpose, and I doubted he’d even manage to accidentally hurt Juniper. He was too concerned to let anything happen to her.
When I had everything I needed, I turned to find Jewel still leaning there, arms crossed, looking disapproving.
“Come on,” I said. “He’s been in town for months. Lots of people know him.”
“You don’t.”
“I sort of do. I’ve been with him all afternoon.”
“What happened to work?”
I swept past her, into the living room, as I told her about Knox and Ava bringing the baby into Henry’s and how he’d promised to pay me if I helped him. “He wants what’s best for the baby even with the weird circumstances,” I said. When Jewel was still quiet, I said, “What?”
“It’s just… I worry about you.” Her voice had gone from worried mom to concerned friend. “You want to be part of a family so badly. A good, loving family, I mean. One where the stepmonster doesn’t run things. This is, like, a hot guy and a baby. Ready-made family.”
I laughed. “I’m staying overnight, not moving in and doing the guy.” I put some dry sneakers on. “And now he’s a hot guy? I thought he was an old dude,” I added, slinging her words back at her for fun. She wasn’t upsetting me. In fact, I appreciated that she cared.
“I’m not blind. He’s good-looking in an older-guy way.”
She did not lie about that.
I went to Jewel and threw my arms around her. “I love you for worrying about me. I’ll be fine.”
She hugged me back. “Just watch yourself. And text me if he sneaks into your bedroom for any reason.”
I laughed. “Maybe we’ll have wild monkey sex on the nanny cam. I can send you a link.” There was, of course, no nanny cam, nor would there be sex, wild monkey or any other kind.
She shuddered with exaggeration. “Don’t you dare. Love you.”
“Love you. Get some sleep tonight so you don’t look like you got in a bar fight.”
“Did I?”
Laughing, I said, “Not that I’m aware of. Tell Piper where I am if you see her. Then you two can gossip about how foolish I am.”
“For sure,” she said, laughing back as I walked out the door.
I went downstairs and got in my car this time. I didn’t want to leave Knox alone with Juniper any longer than I had to—because I knew he was so nervous.
Not because he was a hot guy who caused butterflies in my belly at the thought of seeing him again.