He nodded once. Didn’t say anything else.
The next afternoon Cal texted he couldn’t make the baby store run. Something about Syd, family drama, her dad again, she was “falling apart.” He said he had to go. Left his black card on the counter with a Post-it: Use it. Whatever you need.
Eli had tutoring until six. Zariah was in Las Vegas, flourishing, and moving on, I told her what happened between Syd and Holland and she practically blocked him. I stared at the card for ten minutes before I called Kei.
He picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Hads.”
“Hey. Are you busy?”
“Nah. Just got out of a writing session. What’s up?”
“I need to go baby shopping. Cal can’t make it. Eli’s with the tutor. I… I don’t want to do it alone.”
Silence for half a second. Then, " I’ll be there in twenty.”
He showed up in a faded hoodie and jeans, hair messy, no pretense.
We drove to the baby store in his truck. He kept the radio low, some old indie playlist. Didn’t fill the silence with bullshit.
Inside the store smelled like new plastic and lavender. I pushed the cart. Kei walked beside me.
“Pick whatever,” he said. “Cal’s card has no limit. Might as well abuse it.”
I laughed. “I’m not trying to bankrupt him.”
“You won’t. Trust me.”
We started with basics. Crib sheets. Diapers. A changing pad. Kei held up a tiny pair of socks with guitars on them.
“Too on the nose?”
“Perfect,” I said.
He dropped them in the cart.
We moved to bottles. Pacifiers. A breast pump I wasn’t sure I’d even use.
Kei grabbed a pack of burp cloths. “These are lifesavers. My sister had a kid last year. She said she went through like fifty a day at first.”
“You have a sister?”
“Yeah. Younger. Lives in Portland now. Married. Two kids. She’s the functional one.”
I smiled. “What about you?”
“Me? Still trying to figure out how to be an adult without breaking everything.”
We laughed. Quiet. Easy.
In the furniture aisle we found the crib I’d been eyeing online, gray, simple, convertible.
Kei crouched, checked the assembly instructions on the box. “This one’s solid. Good reviews. You want it?”
“Yeah.”
He flagged down an employee. Paid with Cal’s card like it was nothing.
Back at the house he insisted on helping carry everything up. Eli was still with the tutor, so we had the place to ourselves.
