THIRTY-SEVEN
BLAIR
Baby is the size of a four quart calf bottle
“Knock, knock,” someone calls through the screen door of the cabin.
Now that the weather’s getting nicer, Colt’s gotten me started on turning off the air conditioner and leaving the windows and doors open for the breeze to go through the cabin during the day.
I think he’d intended for it to just be a weekend thing, nostalgia from his childhood that he wanted to partake in during this new chapter of his life, but I actually liked it a lot now that summer was over.
“Come in!” I shout back, hopefully loud enough to reach them. I can’t see who it is from the nursery, but I’m sure it’s one of the Whittaker sisters. I just haven’t gotten the differences in their voices down yet.
It shocks me when it’s Bailey that pokes her head through the doorway, and even more so when she leans against the door jamb with her hands shoved in her pockets.
Bailey hasn’t necessarily been unkind to me, but she’s been distant.
I assumed she was just protective over her twin brother and didn’t take it personally.
I’d been in enough foster homes to know that additions to the family weren’t always welcomed by all, even if they were by some.
“Hey,” I say, with more cheer than I feel, struggling to get up off the floor where I was sitting and going through all of the clothes we’d received for the baby to prepare them to be washed.
She’s quick to push off the frame and hold out a hand.
“You don’t have to get up. I can sit down there with you.”
I give up with a grateful sigh.
“Thank you, I appreciate it. I swear, I’ve loved being pregnant for the most part, but I think that’s about to change.”
Bailey swallows as she takes a seat among the pile of clothes. I’d actually been going through the massive container of outfits she’d gifted us before she came in.
“Yeah, I’ve heard the last trimester’s the most uncomfortable. You’re killing it though.”
The compliment feels strained, but I smile at her anyway. “Thanks, Bailey. And thank you for the clothes. They’re all so adorable. I can’t believe you got us so much.”
She picks up one of the dresses with a polite smile, grabbing the scissors I’d been using to cut off the sales tag, and putting it with the pile of other dresses.
We trade the scissors back and forth for a few minutes in silence, but it’s awkward and heavy for some reason.
I get the feeling she doesn’t want me to fill it, so I don’t.
Maybe she was just bored and needed something to do.
Maybe this is just her way of trying to bond with me.
Maybe Colt put her up to this.
“I’ve been saving them for a few years,” she finally says quietly, thumbing across the ruffles on a pair of bloomers. “Just figured I’d pass them on to someone who will actually get some use out of them.”
I swallow the lump in my throat as things start to, unfortunately, make a bit more sense. Bailey didn’t hate me. It was just difficult for her to be around me. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize it was baby-related, I just had no idea what to say .
“Keep that between us though, if you would,” she says. “Colt would ask too many questions and I… This is the only thing I’ve ever kept from him. I know I’m asking a lot of you, but?—”
“Colt doesn’t need to know everything,” I cut her off. “He’s already got a big enough head as it is.”
Bailey smiles the first real smile I think I’ve ever seen her direct my way.
“He does have an awfully big head. I don’t know where he finds hats to fit it.”
“Between you and me, I think he has them custom made.”
She snorts. “I honestly wouldn’t doubt it. Especially with how ridiculous some of the phrases on them are. There’s no way he found that in a store.”
I pass her the scissors with a laugh.
“Do you have a favorite? I’m sort of partial to the one he has that says cowboy lover on it. I’ve been thinking about stealing it from him, but it’s not adjustable.”
“Oh, yeah, it definitely wouldn’t fit you then,” Bailey jokes back, cutting the string that’s holding a pair of booties together. “I think I like the one about the boat the best. I can’t remember exactly how it goes, but it rhymed.”
“ If you’ve got a boat, I’ve got a throat ,” I say with the dorkiest smile in the world, I’d imagine. “He was actually wearing that one when we met.”
Bailey snorts again. “Figures. If you weren’t already pregnant and in love with him, I’d tell you to leave while you can. He’ll only get cheesier.”
I bite my bottom lip to hold back my grin. Colt and I had yet to exchange the “L” word and I suppose I couldn’t exactly speak for him, but I was ridiculously head over heels for the man.
“Ugh, I think you two are grosser than Tate and Tyler,” my future sister-in-law complains, stacking the last onesie into the now-toppling stack.
She looks around the nursery with a sort of wistfulness that makes me want to rip out my eyes so I’ll never have to see it again.
“I know it’s not the same,” I say quietly, not even sure if this is the right thing to bring up, if it could possibly help her in any way—especially when I don’t know the specifics of her sadness.
“But any time you want to come see her or love on her when she’s born, you’re welcome to.
I’m sure there’ll be times when Colt and I want to keep company away, like if she’s sick or something, but as a general rule?—”
“Thanks, Blair,” Bailey cuts me off with a sad smile and watery eyes. “I’ll be a damn good aunt, I swear.”
I can’t hold myself back from reaching out for her anymore, wrapping her into a hug she barely returns.
“I know. You Whittakers don’t seem to do anything by halves.”
Bailey ends up sticking around for quite a while, helping me fold and hang the first load of baby bear’s clothes after they get done in the dryer while we crack jokes—mainly at Colt’s expense.
It surprises me how well we actually end up getting along, so well that when Colt comes home and sees us laughing together on the couch, he stops short in the doorway.
“Hey, Bails,” he says with a cocked brow as his eyes flick between us.
“Hey! How was work?”
Colt snaps out of it, walking over to kiss me on the forehead, just like he does every night when he gets home.
“Fine…”
“I’ll get out of your hair, but text me tomorrow if you need help with anything,” Bailey offers, setting the stack of folded clothes aside so she can stand up.
“Does Maddie know you’re gossiping at my house on the clock?” Colt jokes.
I smack him and Bailey gives him a saccharine smile and the middle finger on her way out the door.
“If you run her off after I just had literally the best afternoon with her, I’ll be very angry, Colton Whittaker,” I scold him again while using his arm to hoist myself up off the couch.
He reaches out to help me collect the small piles of baby clothes, but I hand him the ones on hangers instead so he can still help without having to actually touch the clothes with dirty hands.
“I wasn’t trying to scare her away. I was just surprised to find her here.”
I feel a bit sick knowing I can’t tell him why she came over… or at least why I suspect she did—to hint at why she’d been distant and try to mend the bridge between us—but it’s not my place to tell Colt something so personal.
“I think she just wanted to bond a bit before baby bear comes.”
I set the folded clothes down in the Whittaker family crib and reach out for the hangers. Colt looks at me like he’s trying to solve a mystery, and I try my absolute best not to look back like I’m wearing a giant sign on my forehead that reads I’m hiding your sister’s secret!
“I just can’t remember the last time I saw her laugh like that, that’s all,” he finally says, passing me the hangers. The pit in my stomach fills in a little and I promise myself to spend more afternoons like this with Bailey.
I didn’t realize how much I missed having a friend to laugh with, and Colt definitely deserved more opportunities to see his twin sister smile.