7. Sutton #2
Did he think it was too much? I didn’t want to be stuck without something she needed but it was taking up a lot of space. It didn’t look very organized in here.
I hadn’t ever had to do this with her before, so it wasn’t exactly a skill I had honed. Since Quinn wasn’t here today I had no meetings so I didn’t think it was a big deal.
But maybe it was.
“My babysitter is sick today and I hate the idea of leaving her at daycare—she’s a little young for that, you know. But I’ll make sure I clean it all up and not leave anything behind. Quinn said it was fine but—”
A thumb brushing along my jaw stopped my spiral. His hand was gone in an instant, so quick I almost thought I imagined it.
“Sutton.”
I locked eyes with him. My name sounded better when he said it in that soft tone.
“I wasn’t judging you.”
“Sorry.” I bit my lip, a little embarrassed. “I’m used to having to explain myself. And I just want to do a good job here. This job matters to me, for a lot of reasons.” I tipped my chin to Sophie.
“Quinn says you’re doing a good job.”
I blushed and looked down. Stupid that such a small compliment turned me bright red but that was where I was at these days.
“Well…thanks.”
He leaned back against my desk, still holding Sophie.
Sophie may be a sweet little baby but she was usually slow to warm up to strangers.
She had tried to cling to me the first few times I passed her off to Iris and cried so much I felt like the worst person in the world.
These days if I was talking to someone in public, she’d tuck herself into my neck and hold me tighter.
But with Asher, she didn’t seem to be having any problems. Her head was on his chest and her blinking was slow, her thumb still in her mouth.
I knew I only had a few minutes before she fell asleep.
And if that happened, she would get very cranky when she woke up from being pulled away from Asher. She had never transferred well.
“You didn’t have anyone else that could watch her? Not a judgment,” he clarified quickly.
“No, I only moved here about six months ago and with her being so young I haven’t had a lot of time to build a system.
All my friends from before I was pregnant were also my ex’s friends.
One thing he was good at was being a manipulative jerk, so he got them in our breakup. I don’t talk to any of them.”
I was oversharing but something about his quiet demeanor really threw me off kilter. I noticed his jaw tightened throughout my story.
“He involved at all?” His voice had a little extra rumble to it and I wasn’t sure exactly what he was mad at.
“Nope. I asked him if he wanted to meet her after she was born and he made it clear he wanted no involvement. Plus, at the end of my pregnancy I was pretty sick and then Sophie was born premature. I spent some time in the NICU, so I was a little distracted.” I reached over, careful not to touch Asher, as I brushed my hand over Sophie’s head.
“That why she’s so small?” he asked after a moment.
“Yeah, but she’s all good now.”
Our eyes met over her head and there was something so intense in his gaze. Yet I couldn’t look away.
The phone rang, breaking our trance. I smiled shyly at him as I moved around the desk to answer.
He folded his massive body to gently put Sophie on the blanket I had laid out.
He looked at her for a moment, his eyes warm, before he walked into Quinn’s office and returned moments later with a manila envelope.
He didn’t wait for me to get off the phone, just waved once and then was gone. I tried not to be disappointed.
Clearly Sophie was feeling the same since she let out a little cry for the first time all day.
On Monday, Iris was thankfully feeling better so she was able to keep Sophie.
I’d spent all weekend making her soup and ensuring she took her cold medicine so she could sleep.
It was nice that I could help her for once, give something back to the woman who had taken us in as her own.
And not working on weekends was something else.
I soaked up the quality time with Sophie.
We went for walks and I put her in the swing at the park and took videos of her laughing.
We made dinner together and read an extra book at bedtime.
I sat in the rocking chair with her way longer than I needed to once she fell asleep, just watching her little breaths and her eyelashes fluttering against her checks.
Once I’d put her down, I’d gone into the bathroom and cried looking at baby pictures of her.
I loved her so much and it was nice to be able to enjoy these moments with her. She was already growing up too fast.
Quinn was still out of town and with fielding her calls, the first hour of the day had flown by. The front receptionist called to let me know a delivery was coming back for me to sign but I had no idea what it might be. I hadn’t ordered anything.
“Delivery for Miss Bennett.” A man came up to me with a clipboard. Three men were behind him carrying boxes.
“I’m sorry. I don’t believe we ordered anything.”
He smiled pleasantly at me. “We’re from Coastal Babies.” His tone made it seem like that was going to explain it.
If anything, I was more confused. I’d been in that store when I was pregnant and shopping around. I had taken a look at one price tag and walked out trying to hide my shock. I may have more money now but I wasn’t dropping it in a place like that.
“No mistake, ma’am. You are Sutton Bennett, correct?”
“I am but—”
He shoved the clipboard in my face. “Sign, please. We were instructed to unbox and leave the items in the storage closet in the office of one Miss West. I’ve been told to give you a note once you sign.
I’m also not allowed to take no for an answer.
” I raised an eyebrow at him, but the polite customer service smile didn’t leave his face.
“I have other deliveries to make but I will wait around.”
Since I was confused and the guy looked determined, I signed the delivery notice and pointed him to the storage closet that I knew was empty since Quinn had told me she should find spare shoes to store in there.
I watched over their shoulders as a pack and play, toys, blankets, and even an electric baby swing were unpacked and loaded in the closet. Once that was done, the delivery man passed me a note, nodded his head, and made his way out.
The note had a number and Asher’s name written underneath.
Not much of a note.
I sat in my chair and dialed before I could think too hard.
“Asher Lawson,” he answered in a gruff voice.
“Sutton Bennett,” I repeated back to him.
“You got my note.”
“Why did you do this?”
“If you need to bring Soph to work you shouldn’t have to lug all that shit back and forth.”
“You shouldn’t have done this, Asher.”
“Why not?”
The man of few words was making me a little angry.
“Because I can take care of myself and my daughter! You didn’t need to buy me stuff. Especially from that place you did. I know it wasn’t cheap. The stuff I had here the other day was just fine. And I can’t pay you back for it. Schedule a pickup and have it returned.”
“I’m not looking for you to pay me back.” He sounded offended. “Just because I bought shit doesn’t mean I think you can’t care for your daughter.”
“You didn’t have to do it.”
“I did have to do it.”
“Asher…”
“Sutton…”
“Ugh! Are we going to get anywhere?”
“No,” he replied.
I would almost bet he was smiling, even if it was super small. From the frowns I’d seen, I’d thought he’d forgotten how.
Too bad I couldn’t see it.
“Thanks. It was really thoughtful,” I muttered quietly into the phone. Accepting help or gifts was not something I knew how to do. “Even though you shouldn’t have done it and I would rather you return it.”
It was part of the reason I was mad at him.
This was very thoughtful and yet we had only met a handful of times.
He had just ensured that I could bring my daughter here easily.
It would be super helpful to not have to lug her stuff with me if I needed to bring her in again.
And the swing would be the perfect place to park her while I worked.
“It was nothing, sweetheart.” His voice was soft and low and I may have melted into a puddle.
He really didn’t understand that it wasn’t nothing—he had thought about me and decided to do something that would make my life easier.
He’d considered not only me, but also my daughter, and that was just about everything.
“Save my number. Call me if you need anything.”
He hung up before I could say goodbye. I fell back into my chair.
He called me sweetheart after calling my daughter sunshine on Friday. He’d bought me stuff without even thinking about it. He was gruff and sweet to me all at the same time.
It had been a long time since someone had cared for me, selflessly. I didn’t even know what to do about that.