I needed to get the hell out of the museum.
I reached down and grabbed my hoodie from under the stroller. Thank Christ I’d had the wherewithal to take it off. It was mostly dry. I shoved it in her direction. I didn’t trust myself to look directly at her. Or to speak, apparently.
“Are you giving that to me?” she asked.
I nodded.
“That’s okay, you should wear it.”
I shook my head. Then I forced myself to find my words. “I’m fine. I’m super hot. Seriously, take it or I’ll just put it back under the stroller for now.”
Ellie hesitated, then finally took it from me. “Okay. If you insist.”
She pulled it over her head. I waited until I was pretty sure she’d tugged it all the way down before deeming her safe to look at again.
I was wrong. It was not safe. I thought the hoodie would be baggy on her, but it was snug over her breasts. And it wasmyhoodie. On her. Like I’d claimed her somehow.
Fuck.
She looked so good. But I felt like a garbage bag would look amazing on Ellie.
“I swear it wasn’t supposed to rain,” I said, dropping down on the bench in defeat. I’d have to just learn how to deal with Ellie looking hot all the time.
Ellie laughed as she sat down across from me. “It’s not your fault.” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the loud thundering of rain on the roof. “Anyway, it’s kind of beautiful.”
Henry shrieked again and Ellie reached down under the stroller, pulling out a baby blanket, which she stretched over Henry, and a bottle.
Henry reached for it with grabby hands. “Bik!” he exclaimed.
It sounded a little like milk. He threw the thing back and started guzzling.
I was amazed. “He really likes milk, huh?”
“Breastmilk, anyway.”
“Is that what—” My cheeks heated. “Oh.”
“I started pumping when I went back to work,” she explained, lowering her voice slightly as the rain eased a little. “Now he refuses to breastfeed. So pumping it is. Silly goof. I couldn’t do it with Tommy though, so I’m happy doing it for a while longer.”
At my bewildered expression, she laughed. “Sorry. You don’t need to know the details.”
“No, I do. I mean, I want to. It’s just all new.”
Henry looked between us as he drank, like he wanted to hear it too. I couldn’t help laughing.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, slightly more noticeable now without the cover of the heavy rain. Henry’s bottle fell from his face again, his expression concerned.
“It’s okay buddy.” Ellie gently guided the bottle back to him, where he took it up again.
“Do you have questions?” Ellie asked me.
“About milk?”
She smiled. “Yes. Or any baby stuff.”
I felt like an idiot, but she was looking at me like she genuinely wanted to help.
“How do you pump your breasts?” I blurted out.
