Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 26
* * *
February
My phone chimed in the middle of a meeting at work. I looked down to find a text.
Brock: There are way too many nipples to choose from.
My mouth went agape. What?
February: I thought men liked nipples.
Brock: The kind that go on bottles, Red. How am I supposed to choose? There are too many different kinds.
February: Ah. You’re baby shopping. All alone?
Brock: Yep.
February: Someone send help! LOL
Brock: You’re not kidding. I wrote out a list of stuff I needed. But I’m not clear on which brands are best. This shit is confusing as hell.
I grinned as I imagined big Brock standing clueless in the baby aisle. Some hungry woman would spot him and offer to rescue him any minute now. I figured I’d beat her to the punch.
February: Do you want me to FaceTime you? We can shop together.
Brock: I’d never refuse a chance to see your face. That would be awesome. But aren’t you in the middle of your workday?
February: One of the perks of being the boss is that I can take a break whenever the hell I want to. I’ll call you in a few.
After telling my coworkers I had an important phone call—technically the truth—I excused myself from the meeting and headed to my office, closing the door behind me.
While Brock and I hadn’t made any formal declarations about the status of our relationship, we’d talked each day since I’d come home from Meadowbrook three days ago, and I lived for these little surprise moments of contact. Even if our future was unclear, I still wanted to be there to support him in any way I could from afar. Since neither of us knew how we were going to feel once his son arrived, it seemed best to just take it day by day for now.
I placed the call, and when his handsome face popped up on the screen, the butterflies in my stomach came alive.
“Hey, Brock.”
“Hey, beautiful. How are you?”
“I’m good. How are you?”
“Better now that you’re here.” He smiled.
I leaned back in my seat and exhaled. “So…nipples, huh? That’s where we’re starting.” He paused, looking defeated. “I decided to formula feed him. The whole wet-nurse thing freaks me out. I don’t want him to be drinking some strange woman’s breastmilk.”
My eyes went wide. “You were considering hiring someone for milk?”
He shrugged. “It was Nina’s suggestion—before she basically handed me a baby how-to guide and ran. She thought breastmilk would be better for him.”
My cheeks felt hot, the need to punch that woman growing by the second. “Well, really nice of her to be so conscientious when she’s not going to be the one feeding him.”
“I know.” He shook his head. “The fucking irony, right?” He sighed. “I feel guilty about not giving the baby what’s best for him, but I need to go with my gut on this.”
“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with formula,” I assured him. “I was formula fed. I turned out okay, right?”
He scratched his chin. “Hmm... Now, you have me second-guessing it.”
“Hey!” I giggled.
“Kidding, Red. You’re damn near perfect.”
A chill ran down my spine. Our eyes lingered for a moment before I cleared my throat and willed myself to focus on the task at hand.
“Okay…” I typed into my computer. “Nipples. Let’s do some research.”
“Not exactly the kind of nipple play I like with you.” He winked.
I quickly scanned some articles to find baby bottle recommendations and suggested a brand he was able to find at the store and place in his cart.
“Thank you, Red,” he said after making his selection. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”
“Well, that was only one item on your list. We have a long way to go. What’s next?”
“Diapers. I’ve narrowed it down to two brands, but how do you know which size?”
“I think the newborn size is pretty safe to start.”
“But this is my baby. What if he comes out huge and skips right over that?”
He had a point.
“Then buy a few packages of the next biggest size, too. It’s not like you won’t need them eventually, you know?”
“Good point.”
There should’ve been someone in Brock’s life who could’ve gone baby shopping with him today. But his mom wasn’t around anymore, and his brothers were probably as helpless as he was. Despite my need to protect myself, I wished so badly that I could be there in person.
“This list is long. It’ll take us all day.” He wiped sweat from his forehead, and I felt compelled to step in. Well, as much as I could from afar.
“Tell you what,” I said. “Let me take this off your hands.”
He drew in his brows. “What do you mean?”
“Send me the list. Take a photo of it and text it. I’ll research the best products, and then I’ll order everything and have it shipped to you.”
He shook his head. “I can’t let you do that.”