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Minutes later, he sank down on his haunches and took a deep breath. He cooked for hundreds of people every day. He’d taught children how to wield sharp utensils without killing themselves or each other. Surely, he could change a baby’s diaper and live to tell the tale.
He wiped his brow with his arm. He’d worked up a sweat from the hard work. Or maybe from nerves.
“Aren’t you done yet?” Veronica stood in the doorway to the living room with a beer in one hand, her shoulder resting against the frame and a smile on her face.
“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” he grumbled.
She held up her hand and squeezed her thumb and forefinger together. “Like, this much.”
She sauntered to his spot on the floor and knelt beside him. “All right. I have an idea.” She rummaged through the baby bag.
Kylie screamed with her sudden movements. Trying to soothe her, he rocked her body back and forth. “Whatever it is, hurry.”
She pulled out a squeeze bottle. “Bring the baby.” She skipped out of the room.
“Where are you going?”
Before she stepped through the doorway she turned. “To run a bath for her.”
A bath? Brilliant. Why hadn’t he thought of that?
He wrapped the baby in a towel and followed Veronica to the kitchen. Warm water flowed out of the tap into one side of the double sink.
“Take off the rest of her clothes.”
He did as she asked while Kylie continued to scream like she was being tortured by the Russian Mafia.
“How long is she going to cry?” he yelled over the baby’s wailing.
Veronica shrugged. “Maybe this will help.” She took the sprayer, tested the water temperature on her wrist, and hosed off the baby’s backside over the empty sink, then motioned Finn to put her into the soothingly warm water filling the other side.
He lowered Kylie into the bath and held her carefully, while Veronica gently washed her skin. The baby squirmed for a minute, then she settled and he heard her quiet sigh, followed by Veronica’s.
They both hunched over the counter while the baby cooed and splashed in the water.
He turned his head and locked eyes with Veronica. Despite the severe trepidation still pounding in his chest, he was happy they were together. He had shown up here today to talk with her about their future, and he had been given this small taste of heaven—his dream of family come true, complete with a baby.
But on second thought, maybe she had been right all along. Babies were really tough to take care of, not to mention unpredictable. And he had just seen for himself that when push came to shove, he couldn’t hack it.
Maybe it was time to find a new dream.
Eventually, Kylie settled and passed out on the warm, soft blanket Veronica had laid out for her on the floor.
“That was…exhausting.”
Veronica smiled wryly. “And just as awful as I’d always imagined.”
He didn’t comment. Yesterday, his response would have been, “Are you crazy?” but today, after being manhandled by an actual infant,
he wasn’t so sure anymore.
“She is cute as a button, but taking care of her is way more trouble than those few moments of peaceful sweetness. Hopefully, it lasts a for a while.”
“I appreciate the help more than I can say. But for the record, you stink with babies.”
He pushed out a shaky breath. “I noticed.”
They enjoyed the blissful silence for a few minutes, then she asked, “Why did you come over, anyway? If you’re not here to see Cal.”
