Chapter 3
Some months later
“Ugh.” I slammed my hand down to stop my alarm clock. I set the alarm on my phone as well because I wanted to be prepared if the electricity ever randomly went out.
Pushing the covers off my body, I sat up on the side of the bed and grabbed my phone. I canceled the alarm before it could go off, then checked the monitor on the bedside table.
I smiled as I watched my baby girl occupy herself. Since she was good, I got up and went to the bathroom. After I relieved myself, I washed my hands, brushed my teeth, then washed my face.
My shower would have to wait until after I laid eyes on Paris.
Life had taken a drastic turn that I never expected.
I had an eight-month-old baby and no clue where her father was.
I knew Gary and I had used condoms the night we had sex, but at some point, we ran out and ended up going without one.
He was supposed to pull out, and I thought he did, but the little girl babbling in her crib proved otherwise.
I was reckless as heck that night, and that was unlike me.
I could blame it on the number of drinks I had, but there really wasn’t an excuse for what I had done.
I worked hard and deserved a night to let myself go, and that I did.
Multiple times. I thought about Gary, his dick, and his tongue multiple times over the last year, but I never saw him again.
I didn’t even know the first place to look for him.
I should have gotten his number because I did have a good time with him, but something made me panic when I woke up naked in a stranger’s bed.
After I was done in the bathroom, I walked down the hall to Paris’s room. Her little face lit up as soon as she saw me.
“Hey, little mama.” I picked her up as she squealed and kicked her legs. I kissed her chubby cheeks then hugged her. I carried her to the changing table to wipe her down and change her diaper before we went to the kitchen for breakfast.
Her room was Paris themed. My father painted the Eiffel Tower on the wall behind her crib.
Everything was pink, black, and white. The small couch I just had to have in there had pink and white pillows with a blanket that had the Eiffel Tower on it as well.
I loved the theme, and I prayed she’d love it as much as she got older.
Once she was clean, we went downstairs to the kitchen.
I placed her in her high chair, then made her breakfast. Each week, I introduced something new for her to try.
The first time she tried oatmeal, she didn’t like it, so I decided to try it at least one more time.
If she was absolutely against it this time, that would be the end of it.
I had been trying to ween her off breast milk, but we hadn’t had much success.
It didn’t bother me, though, because I loved being able to provide for her, and it gave more time for us to bond.
She spent a lot of time with my parents while I worked, so I pumped and sent bottles with her.
When I was at work, I would pump and store it in a fridge in my office.
Whenever it was possible, she would feed right from the source.
“How about we try some oatmeal again?” I stirred the oatmeal and placed it to the side for it to cool off.
Paris babbled something and laughed. I had no clue what she said, but I just laughed with her, which caused her to laugh even more.
“Silly girl.” I lightly pinched her cheeks, then placed the bowl of mashed bananas in front of her. Before I could even remove my hand, she dug right in and shoved some into her mouth.
I watched her for a second with a smile on my face. I’d gotten the degrees and advanced to where I wanted in my career, but Paris had been my greatest accomplishment.
When I found out I was pregnant, I panicked.
I never wanted to be a single mother, but that was the hand I’d been dealt.
Between my career and the lack of a dating life, I knew Paris was my only chance of having a baby.
At least that was what I thought at the time, and an abortion never crossed my mind.
I had a conversation with my parents and my best friends, and everyone said they would help as much as they possibly could, and they did.
It was still overwhelming at times because, essentially, it was just Paris and me in the house.
The nights when she cried all night or she was sick, I was the only one who dealt with that.
I hadn’t had a break since I had her. I never complained, but I could use a full day to myself.
I never wanted to ask anyone to do more than they already had done.
Even with all of that, I wasn’t opposed to having another one if the opportunity presented itself.
“Let’s try this again.” I fed Paris some oatmeal, and she spit it right back out.
I laughed and wiped her face. “I guess that’s a no go.
” It was a good thing I made some chicken the night before, so I heated it up, then finely chopped it for her.
While she ate, I heated up my breakfast and made myself a smoothie.
I liked to meal prep, so I had a week’s worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I even put all the ingredients of my smoothies in baggies in the freezer, so I only had to add them to the blender along with the juice or yogurt I wanted to use.
Doing things the way I did made things so much easier for me.
On Sundays, I planned out our outfits for the week.
Paris had a room at my parents’ house, and she had plenty of clothes and stuff over there, so I never had to worry about packing too much for her. The main thing I sent was breast milk.
The alarm in the kitchen went off, letting me know that I had to put a move on things if I wanted to get to work on time.
I took Paris back upstairs and sat in the chair in my room to breastfeed. After she was full and burped, I took her back into her room so I could shower.
When my final alarm went off, we left the house. I took her to my parents and headed to work with ten minutes to spare. I had a long day of meetings ahead, and I couldn’t wait for the day to be over before it even started.
At the insistence of my parents, after work, I met up with Torryn and Hannah at a restaurant. I protested, but they weren’t trying to hear it. Torryn threatened to drag me out of my office if I didn’t go, so I did.
“Why did y’all act like it was a life and death situation if I didn’t show up?” I asked as I slid into the booth next to Hannah.
“Because it kind of is. You haven’t taken a breather since Paris was born. Yes, we see you, but when was the last time you got off work and just relaxed? Hell, when was the last time you had a drink?” Torryn asked.
“Did you forget the last time I had a drink I ended up on a stranger’s dick and now have a baby by said stranger?”
It was some good dick, though.
I picked up the menu to see what I wanted. I was pretty hungry since I never got the chance to eat my lunch.
“Well,” Hannah sang. “That brings me to why we asked you to come.”
I lowered my menu and turned to face her.
“Absolutely not.” I shook my head.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say,” Hannah said.
“Unless you are telling me you found my baby daddy, I don’t want to hear it.”
I focused on the menu again when I saw the waitress headed in our direction.
She took our orders and assured us that our food wouldn’t take long since it wasn’t that busy.
It was in the middle of the week, so the restaurant was pretty scarce.
That was fine with me because after dealing with people all day, I didn’t want to hear too much noise.
“I don’t know where or who your baby daddy is, but I know someone that is single, and I kinda told him about you.” Hannah smiled, and I rolled my eyes.
“Why would you do that? And what guy?” I asked.
I hadn’t thought about dating since I found out I was pregnant.
I didn’t want to meet random guys, and for sure wasn’t going to introduce men to my daughter if they weren’t going to last. My house would never be a revolving door for men.
I might have been reckless that one time, but that was where things ended.
My college days didn’t count, because that was before my frontal lobe fully developed. Boy, were they some wild times.
“All I can say is he’s a nice guy, and I think you should go on a date with him,” Hannah suggested.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Come on, London. What’s the worst that could happen?” Torryn asked.
“I can trip on his dick and end up with another baby. Or he could kill me. I mean, the possibilities are endless.” I shrugged and took a sip of the water the waitress placed on the table.
Torryn scoffed while Hannah looked at me like I was crazy.
“For one, the man has a career, and I doubt he’s trying to blow that by killing you. And maybe you shouldn’t be so clumsy.” The three of us cackled, and the people at the table near us looked over at us.
I thought about it for a second. Hannah had known me for most of my life, and she knew what kind of men I liked and didn’t like. If she could vouch for this guy, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. It had been a while since I went on a date. I could use a night out.
“What does he look like?”
“I can’t tell you all of that.”
I squinted my eyes as I looked at Hannah. “What do you mean?”
“It’s a blind date.”
The waitress returned with our food, so I halted what I planned to say. Once she made sure we were good, she walked away.
As I cut into my steak, I looked over at my best friend.
“Do you not remember that book we read about Ocean going on terrible blind dates? Are you trying to set me up for disaster?”
The three of us liked to read, but I hadn’t been able to as much since I had Paris. We read a book called This Love Is a Sure Thing, and the main character went on multiple blind dates, and they were all bad.
“True, but she also met her husband during that time,” Torryn reminded me.
“Yeah, but he wasn’t one of her dates.”
“London, you know I wouldn’t set you up with someone I didn’t think you would like.
Just give it a try. The worst that can happen is you don’t like him but get a free meal.
The best-case scenario, you can find that you do like him, and who knows.
” She held her hands up in the prayer position and gave me her sad eyes.
The three of us had gone silent as we ate. They both knew I needed a second to think it over. I guessed it wouldn’t be so bad to dress up for a night.
I felt Hannah look at me every few seconds, but I figured I’d let her sweat a little.
Once I was done eating, I turned toward her. She looked at me with anxious eyes, and I giggled.
“Fine. I’ll go. If it goes bad, I’m kicking your ass.”
She squealed then hugged me. “Okay.”
We spent the rest of the time catching up on our workdays. I couldn’t believe I agreed to a date with someone I’d never seen before, but I’d done worse.
I didn’t know when the date would happen, but I was nervous and a little excited about it.