Page 64
Finn grimaces. “I don’t have any juice. I had groceries delivered today, but that’s before I knew we were going to have company.”
“That’s okay. She’s not supposed to have more than one sippy cup of juice a day, and we’re supposed to cut that with water. Layla gave me way too many details before I left her house, and then she sent me about sixty texts with instructions.” I laugh. “I’m pretty sure she’s already had her juice today, and even if she hasn’t, we’re not going to give her sugar this late.”
“Ah, good point. We definitely need the little princess to sleep tonight.”
I twirl Sunny in a circle. “How about some milk?”
“No.” She shakes her head adamantly. “No, no.”
Finn shrugs. “Let’s try it anyway.” He plucks the backup sippy cup that Layla sent with him off the counter and fills it with milk. “I have a few meetings tomorrow morning that will last into the afternoon, but I’m off Wednesday. Are you good with Sunny tomorrow? I can be back around three, maybe four.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I told my office that I’d check in tomorrow and that I’d do what I can, but I didn’t know how productive I’d be this week.”
He brings the cup to Sunny, who takes it without objection. Thank God.
“Well, I have no other plans on Wednesday, so if you need to do anything, I got you covered,” he says.
A slow grin slips across my lips as one bit of uncertainty eases, making it easier to breathe. Because although Finn is great, we’ve never been here before. It’s never been his job or mine, his time or mine. We’ve always kept our lives separate so that those choices didn’t need to be made.
A memory I buried a long time ago is triggered and fires through my mind.
“Don’t be fucking stupid, Poppy.” His eyes narrowed into serpent-like slits. “You make minimum wage. Don’t act like anything you do matters because it doesn’t. Hell, you barely fucking matter.”
“Hey,” Finn says, his brows pulled tight. “What’s the matter?”
I smile, shaking my head. “Nothing. Nothing at all.” I take a deep, shaky breath as the dark eyes fade from my mind. “Thanks for letting me know about Tuesday.”
“Yeah, of course.” His gaze lingers on me for a long moment before he lets it go—superficially, anyway. I’m not sure Finn lets anything out of his head. “Since you’ll be here with her tomorrow, do you want me to take the car seat out of my vehicle and put it in yours?”
“No. I can’t imagine we’ll go anywhere.”
“The stroller is in the garage if you want to take a walk.”
“Great. Thanks.”
He turns but watches me out of the corner of his eye. Nope. He did not let it go.
“Hey, have you heard from Layla or Branch?” I ask, carrying Sunny to the living room and setting her on the floor.
Finn opens the fridge and peers inside. “I haven’t. Well, I did get a text from my sister a bit ago that they were leaving for the airport. Branch was antsy, and they didn’t want to get caught in traffic, so they left super early.” He closes the door. “Are you hungry?”
My stomach growls at the question, as if it’s afraid I’ll overlook its emptiness.
“I am,” I say. “I didn’t eat lunch. We had meetings all morning, and then I took a little break to text you, and then Layla called.”
“I only have snacks because I figured we’d be too …”—he glances at Sunny—”preoccupied all night to have an actual meal.”
“Yeah, I think tonight will look a lot different from what we imagined.”
“Hey, even babies have to sleep sometime.” He grins. “Sunny, are you going to sleep for Uncle Finn tonight?”
“No,” she says around her sippy.
We laugh.
Finn and I sit on the couch while Sunny stretches out on the floor. She plays with her hair like she does when she’s sleepy. I want to hold her and cuddle her, but I’m afraid that, if I do, she’ll be jostled out of her milk coma and want her mom.
I’m not sure how to play this, but leaving her be seems to be the winning option.
