Page 28 of Trusting You
10
Locke
I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing. All I know is, I have to prove Carter wrong.
The chick moves like she can’t stand me, her expression even further evidence that she’s waiting for the moment I’ll fuck up and she can step in. Prove she’s the better parent.
Which is why I can’t understand the need I have to be funny and make her smile.
One would think it was to make Carter like me. But if I’m honest with myself, it’s because I like how it looks on her. Animated. Intoxicating. Addictive.
And I love how I’m the one causing it.
Lily’s biting at my heels—well no, that’s what a dog does, but you get the point—as I open and shut cupboards and fill the water to the right amount in the electric bottle warmer Ben convinced me to buy. It was actually more like, Here dude, get this, it looks like fancy baby shit, but I threw it in the cart anyway, thinking my kid deserved warm milk.
I’m squinting at the measurements in the side of the machine, muttering as I pour water from a cup, when Carter walks in.
She steps over Lily and hands me my phone. “You left this in the nursery. It’s vibrating.”
I set the baby mechanics down and grab my cell, noticing who was calling. I inwardly cringe as I answer. “Hey.”
“Is she there?”
In a normal environment, my sister’s voice has abnormal decibels. When excited, she risks causing a noise shortage within a two-mile radius.
“Yes,” I say, then go about finishing what I started. The light flicks on; I plop the bottle in. There, job well done.
“Well, what’s she like? What are you like? How is she? When can I see her?”
I know what Astor’s doing. She’s at her office, heels kicked off for her lunch break and back from court. Inwardly, she’s all over the place and excited about an unexpected niece (that she took a good month to come to terms with). Outwardly, she’d remained smooth, controlled, not a hair out of place. Corporate lawyers were like that, even ones only a year into their career.
“Not yet. You promised you’d give me time alone, remember?” I reply.
“Ugh, I know. But then I remembered she comes from no family. She should be around family, Locke. Her father, grandfather, aunt.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say, but can’t help smiling. “Let me figure out how not to be an idiot, then you can come by.”
“It’s been what, three hours? And she’s still alive. You’re doing a great job so far.”
“Thanks. Listen, let me call you back when I don’t have my hands full.”
“That’ll be about…never. You have a baby now, Locke.”
“I appreciate the reminder. Totally forgot.”
“I’m giving you twenty-four hours. Then I’m coming over there and jumping on that baby and smothering her with kisses.”
“I don’t think that’s legal.”
“Fair warning.”
“I’ll see ya, Astor.”
“Send me a picture. Love you, bro.”
“A picture of my gorgeous self will hit your inbox soon,” I joke. “Love you, too.”
I click off and notice the bottle’s ready, too. Carter has gone to the ground with Lily, somehow discovering where my pots were and a wooden spoon I had no idea I had and is handing them to Lily as an improvised drum set. When she sees me bend down to offer Lily the bottle, she might as well possess shark teeth for eyes.