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How in the hell was I supposed to not melt when he wanted me to say hi to my baby for him?
“Elliot says hi, Joey-Girl. He likes postscripts as much as Mommy, it seems.”
Her arms flailed like she was waving.
I understood that flailing feeling. I’d been doing a lot of it lately.
“We’re going to be productive today.” I showed her my phone. “I have a list of day cares. I’m going to call all of them and convince them they want to take care of you. It’s that, or into the drawer you go. And I promise, as cozy as a drawer might sound, it probably gets boring quickly. Plus, there would be lots of grown-ups around, talking about serious grown-up things you wouldn’t be interested in. Although Daddy Ray’s there, so there’s that…”
Thankfully, Elliot didn’t walk in on this conversation. That was the only high point of my morning. The rest was akin to banging my head against the wall.
No decent day care had openings. The wait lists were miles long.
Elliot was being kind and understanding now, but I doubted he would stay that way when I had to bring my baby to work.
I groaned as I slurped up another scoop of Pad Thai. As usual these days, I was fighting starvation, and Elliot had brought home a Thai feast. He’d loaded my plate with all of my favorites, then taken my baby from me so I could enjoy all of it.
Elliot chuckled. “That good?”
My face heated, and I wiped my mouth with my napkin. I’d been in a slight daze, shoveling food in my mouth as fast as I could, definitely not like a lady, as my mother had taught me.
“It’s incredible,” I answered once I’d swallowed. “You should really join me. I hate that you’re letting your food get cold.”
“Not a problem, Catherine.” Joey’s body was extended along his forearm, her head nestled in his palm. She was content hanging out with him, and for his part, he seemed perfectly fine holding her while I ate. “Have you ever known me not to voice when I’m not pleased?”
“No.” I breathed a laugh. “You have no problem expressing your displeasure.”
“Then trust that I would tell you if I have an issue with our current circumstances.”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll try to remember that. I guess it’s a mom thing, feeling guilty about not taking care of her every second of every day.”
“Hmm. How are you going to handle day care?”
Puffing up my cheeks, I blew out a long, heavy breath. “That might not be a problem since I can’t get her in anywhere. My current plan is keeping her in my bottom drawer.”
His brow winged. “No. That’ll never work.”
My shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I know. I—”
“Your bottom drawer is far too narrow. The rate she eats, she’ll outgrow it within a month.”
I stared at him, blinking. To my utter surprise, he cocked a small grin.
He was teasing me.
Elliot Levy was teasing me.
What in the freaking world?
“Damn. Since the drawer’s out, I’ll have to come up with a PlanB,” I played along. “Maybe one of your drawers will do.”
“Have you thought about a nanny? One-on-one attention would be ideal anyway.”
I chuffed. “Sure, I’ve thought of it, and it would be great. But I’ve checked, and a nanny isn’t anywhere close to within my budget.”
His brow dropped. “Admittedly, nannies are one thing I haven’t researched—”
“Let me figure it out. It’s my job.”
