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“Okay, so you were in a clinic and then I assume that you were sitting next to this woman and then she leaves the baby with you?”
I nodded my head, because at last one of my friend’s had figured out what was going on.
Chad asked, “Did she leave a note?”
Noah sighed. “Come on.”
Chad shrugged as he turned and spotted another bottle. This time it was the brandy bottle. Fuck, he’s going to empty the brandy bottle.
“Well, at least Candy left you a note. She didn’t just dump the baby on you. She left a note in the basket saying that you were the dad and his name. This one doesn’t even have a name and Dan keeps calling him, ‘it’!”
All my friends exclaimed at the same time as if I’d committed a cardinal sin. I ignored them.
Martin sighed. “I don’t get it. Why call us? Why bring the baby home? Have you lost your mind?”
Chad shouted, “No, just lost his job!”
We fought for my bottle of brandy. He had the upper hand, because I was too slow.
Martin said, “That explains the smell!”
Noah said, “Dan leave Chad with the bottle. Go shower. We’ve got some figuring out to do. And it starts and ends with this little man. As for you, Dan, we’ll deal with you later.”
Like a child that had been sent to the Principal’s office, I head up the stairs. I blocked my nose as I realized that the guys were right. I stunk. A lot more than I realized before I left home, which felt like a few months ago. Seeing all the trash that blocked me easily heading upstairs, I thought about all the wrongs that I’d done and the baby that I now had the responsibility of taking care of and he wasn’t even mine.
Chapter Three
Dan
I headed into the shower, washed, and came out. The stench that I’d been carrying around wouldn’t go away. I debated whether to use more shower gel, but it wasn’t working. I managed to find a bar of soap and got to work, scrubbing myself from head-to-toe as if my life depended on it. When I finally reached the point where I felt human again, I got out of the shower. My mission didn’t stop there as I shaved my beard. The guys were right, because as I looked in the mirror, I didn’t even recognize my own reflection. I looked bad. Fucking horrible. I just couldn’t stand looking at the face that stared back at me in the mirror. Once I shook my head and saw the dark circles under my eyes, I knew that I’d reached a new all-time low. I shook my head again and struggled to find clean clothes in my closet. I headed down the stairs with my head hung low and found Martin sitting in a partially clean living room. He’d done some cleaning, but there was no baby and the guys had gone.
“Phew, the baby’s gone,” I said as I walked towards him.
He laughed. “You’re kidding right? That baby’s gone with Chad and Noah. They’re going to see if they can get some milk, nappies and whatever else they can find for him. I just don’t get it. What were you thinking?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
I shrugged as I headed to the kitchen. I looked in the fridge and the only thing that wasn’t stale were the bottles of beers. Chad probably got rid of those too. I felt hungry, but I didn’t want to eat. What happened earlier had surely curbed my appetite.
“If you’re looking for alcohol, then you’re looking in the wrong place. I thought that you stopped doing all this destructive shit. I should have paid better attention, but we all have kids. Didn’t think…”
I blurted, “What having a friend like me would involve having another kid?”
He shook his head. “No, that you weren’t getting any better. Then again, to lose your job. That’s gotta hurt. Why did they get rid of you?”
I sat beside him on the stool. “I haven’t been up to scratch for a long time. Making mistakes. Missing appointments. I just fucking come home and there’s an empty house. Every single fucking day. All you guys have families.”
“But Dan, you never wanted a family. That’s why Laila left.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Shit, it doesn’t work like that. Just because we’re busy with our kids. Wives. Doesn’t mean that you want it cause you haven’t got it. They’re not fucking toys.”
I avoided looking at him, because I knew that he was right. I was talking about their set-up as if they had the new PS5, and I wanted to have one too. The same thing that I used to do when we were kids.
He put a friendly hand on my shoulder. “So, let me get this straight. You followed Laila into the clinic. Then this girl came in after you. And then left her baby. She must have left it with you for a reason.”
I choked. “Cause she’s nuts. Why else would you leave your baby with a man that looks like a hobo?”
He said, “Because that man could possibly be the father of the kid.”
“No, fucking way. I’m not a daddy. I would have known. Besides I haven’t been with anyone since Laila.”
“Shit, nothing about this makes sense. Lucky for you that I’m a lawyer so I can talk to my investigator and maybe he can find out through the security cameras. He has a way of doing things like that. But that’s just a maybe and besides not sure if he’s working today. I’ll make some calls and the guys will be around later.”
I nodded my head thinking that at least we didn’t need to get the police involved for now. But we needed to find its mother, because I sure as hell was barely coping looking after myself. Let alone a baby.
“The guys are bringing the baby around later. Now, in the meantime get this place cleared up!”
I saluted him.
Back in the day he would have laughed, but this time Martin just shook his head as he hesitated leaving. I knew what he was thinking, whether I could be trusted to be left alone.
He grabbed my keys and said, “I’m taking these as a precaution. Just get this place cleaned up. Then we’ll work at getting this poor baby to his mom. Then again if she left him, maybe she’s not in a good state either. What the fuck? This is such a mess. I’ll come round later. Maybe when the guys bring the baby.”
“Fuck, they’re bringing it back?” I screeched at the idea of having to look after a baby. Something that I didn’t want when I was in a relationship, let alone now that I was out of one.
“Why did you follow Laila?” he asked as he ignored my statement and then stood at the door ready to leave, with my car keys in his hand.
“Because, I wanted to know if she was pregnant? I just wanted to see if she’d moved on. I don’t know.”
He nodded. “I’ll be back later.”
My explanation made no sense to him. The crazy part was that I didn’t know either. As I heard his car leaving my driveway, I curled up on the sofa. I was too tired to clean. Let alone clear up this mess. I wanted to go back to my bench and see if I could get my afternoon coffee at Starbucks and pretend that none of this was happening, but I knew that it wasn't an option. Not only had Martin taken my keys, but my wallet too. I was fucking tired and it was only getting to three. But, so much had happened since this morning, and it had taken every last piece of energy out of me, especially as I started to crave for a drink. Just a little bit. Just something to make me forget every inch of my existence.
***Ten months earlier…***
Chapter Four
Scarlett
I was bored, it was the same drill every single day. I’d get up in the morning and then clean the hotel and then go to bed. I’d finished high school and the only thing that I had to look forward to was living in my parents’ hotel and cleaning it out every day.
Unlike my friends, who I hardly talked to anymore. They’d all gone off to college, leaving me behind, not that I could blame them for that. I wasn’t exactly the best student, let alone getting straight A’s, most of my grades were in the C range, with the worse being a D and my best subject getting a low B. Not good enough for college, maybe not an Ivy League college, but it was good for something.
