“I forgot to call Colin,” Bree realized, ignoring her mom, who was now upright in the corner and eating a doctor-ordered Uncrustables sandwich. “Am I going to forget about my baby? Sometimes I forget to close the garage door when I go to work, and it’s open all day long. Is that the kind of mother I’m going to be?”
“I promise you’re not going to forget about your baby. They cry a lot, so you can’t forget about them.” Lainey leaned her torso over Bree’s head to fluff her pillow. “And I think Elliot called him.” He’d said he would sometime between the car and the forehead kiss.
“Oh good.” Bree was relieved.
Just as Bree started to push, Colin slid into the room, his sneakers squealing on the tile.
“I’m here! I’m here! Have I missed any of the important bits?” he asked, his voice dropping all posh pretenses and settling into a slightly more intelligible Guy Ritchie. He raced to hook up their “Push It” playlist, getting “Blackbird” by the Beatles cued up while Bree shouted at him to hurry up so she could push.
Four pushes later, the doctor introduced the room to baby Elodie. After a little cleanup, she was wrapped up in a blanket and placed into her mother’s exhausted arms.
“Do you like it?” Bree whispered over the little person between them. Colin stood over her, staring down at his daughter with soft, adoring eyes as “Blackbird” played softly on the speaker.
“The name? Of course. It’s beautiful. She’s beautiful.” Lainey peered down at her set of tiny eyelashes and little Cupid’s-bow lips under the dimmed lights. “She’s so little,” Lainey said out loud, even though it was a ridiculous thought. She was a baby—of course she was little—but there was something about how perfectly scaled down to size she was. Tiny little nails on tiny little fingers. Lainey wasn’t sure she’d ever get over it.
Bree smiled a droopy, blissed-out smile. “I’m so glad. We named her after you. Kind of. Like a cuter version of your name. That was rude. Not cuter. You’re adorable. I’m very tired, and have spent too much time with my mother today.”
Lainey laughed as “Blackbird” ended and started over again.
“I get it. It’s an honor to have inspired the name of a future…world leader? Olympian?”
“Pianist,” Bree corrected. “Have you seen how long those fingers are?”
Lainey nodded in agreement. “Can I hold her?”
Bree lifted Elodie half an inch before Colin sprang to action.
“Hand sanitizer?” he offered urgently, pulling a bulk container of pink liquid gel out of thin air.
“Uh, okay,” Lainey replied, accepting a generous pump of gloop.
“It’d probably be best if you sit in the chair, and I bring her to you.” He pointed at the recliner with a wild expression.
Lainey frowned but sat in the chair like a child holding a sibling for the first time as Colin placed Elodie gently into her arms like a warm loaf of bread. “I probably shouldn’t drop her, huh?”
Colin’s eyes grew to the size of golf balls. “No, definitely not!”
Bree fluttered her eyes shut. “She’s joking, Colin. Why don’t you go track down another pudding cup for me? Butterscotch.”
“Butterscotch. Yes. Anything. Of course.” He scampered into the hallway.
Bree let out a long breath. “They don’t have butterscotch, so we probably have fifteen minutes before he figures that out.”
“Be nice to him. He seems so excited.”
“No, you’re right. It’s good. It’s just a lot to share something like this with someone you just broke up with.”
“I couldn’t imagine going through this with Elliot right now.” Lainey gently brushed the glimpse of exposed forehead between Elodie’s closed eyelids and her striped cotton cap.
Bree scoffed. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you and I are not in remotely similar situations.You’remarried to someone you’re in love with.”
Lainey clutched her niece protectively. “I never said anything about loving him.”
“Please.” Bree rolled her eyes. “You’re deciding whether youcan still trust this man who clearly loves you back. Whereas I’m married to someone I do not love and does not love me, and last night, I dreamed I officiated his wedding to Mrs. Pac-Man.”
Bree’s logic seemed irrefutable. Lainey pursed her lips. “Point taken.”
Her forehead still burned with the memory of that brush of his kiss. That simple act of casual care. The way it promised he’d see her later, rather than saying goodbye.
