I watched her for a second with a smile on my face. I’d gotten the degrees and advanced to where I wanted in my career, but Paris had been my greatest accomplishment.
When I found out I was pregnant, I panicked. I never wanted to be a single mother, but that was the hand I’d been dealt. Between my career and the lack of a dating life, I knew Paris was my only chance of having a baby. At least that was what I thought at the time, and an abortion never crossed my mind. I had a conversation with my parents and my best friends, and everyone said they would help as much as they possibly could, and they did.
It was still overwhelming at times because, essentially, it was just Paris and me in the house. The nights when she cried all night or she was sick, I was the only one who dealt with that. I hadn’t had a break since I had her. I never complained, but I could use a full day to myself. I never wanted to ask anyone to do more than they already had done. Even with all of that, I wasn’t opposed to having another one if the opportunity presented itself.
“Let’s try this again.” I fed Paris some oatmeal, and she spit it right back out.
I laughed and wiped her face. “I guess that’s a no go.” It was a good thing I made some chicken the night before, so I heated it up, then finely chopped it for her. While she ate, I heated up my breakfast and made myself a smoothie. I liked to meal prep, so I had a week’s worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I even put all the ingredients of my smoothies in baggies in the freezer, so I only had to add them to the blender along with the juice or yogurt I wanted to use. Doing things the way I did made things so much easier for me. On Sundays, I planned out our outfits for the week. Paris had a room at my parents’ house, and she had plenty of clothes and stuff over there, so I never had to worry about packing too much for her. The main thing I sent was breast milk.
The alarm in the kitchen went off, letting me know that I had to put a move on things if I wanted to get to work on time.
I took Paris back upstairs and sat in the chair in my room to breastfeed. After she was full and burped, I took her back into her room so I could shower.
When my final alarm went off, we left the house. I took her to my parents and headed to work with ten minutes to spare. I had a long day of meetings ahead, and I couldn’t wait for the day to be over before it even started.
At the insistenceof my parents, after work, I met up with Torryn and Hannah at a restaurant. I protested, but they weren’t trying to hear it. Torryn threatened to drag me out of my office if I didn’t go, so I did.
“Why did y’all act like it was a life and death situation if I didn’t show up?” I asked as I slid into the booth next to Hannah.
“Because it kind of is. You haven’t taken a breather since Paris was born. Yes, we see you, but when was the last time you got off work and just relaxed? Hell, when was the last time you had a drink?” Torryn asked.
“Did you forget the last time I had a drink I ended up on a stranger’s dick and now have a baby by said stranger?”
It was some good dick, though.
I picked up the menu to see what I wanted. I was pretty hungry since I never got the chance to eat my lunch.
“Well,” Hannah sang. “That brings me to why we asked you to come.”
I lowered my menu and turned to face her.
“Absolutely not.” I shook my head.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say,” Hannah said.
“Unless you are telling me you found my baby daddy, I don’t want to hear it.”
I focused on the menu again when I saw the waitress headed in our direction. She took our orders and assured us that our food wouldn’t take long since it wasn’t that busy. It was in the middle of the week, so the restaurant was pretty scarce. That was fine with me because after dealing with people all day, I didn’t want to hear too much noise.
“I don’t know where or who your baby daddy is, but I know someone that is single, and I kinda told him about you.” Hannah smiled, and I rolled my eyes.
“Why would you do that? And what guy?” I asked.
I hadn’t thought about dating since I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t want to meet random guys, and for sure wasn’t going to introduce men to my daughter if they weren’t going to last. My house would never be a revolving door for men. I might have been reckless that one time, but that was where thingsended. My college days didn’t count, because that was before my frontal lobe fully developed. Boy, were they some wild times.
“All I can say is he’s a nice guy, and I think you should go on a date with him,” Hannah suggested.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Come on, London. What’s the worst that could happen?” Torryn asked.
“I can trip on his dick and end up with another baby. Or he could kill me. I mean, the possibilities are endless.” I shrugged and took a sip of the water the waitress placed on the table.
Torryn scoffed while Hannah looked at me like I was crazy.
“For one, the man has a career, and I doubt he’s trying to blow that by killing you. And maybe you shouldn’t be so clumsy.” The three of us cackled, and the people at the table near us looked over at us.
I thought about it for a second. Hannah had known me for most of my life, and she knew what kind of men I liked and didn’t like. If she could vouch for this guy, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. It had been a while since I went on a date. I could use a night out.
