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“Yeah.” EJ clears his throat. “Anyway, I asked for you guys because I don’t want to miss this game, but my mom’s flight doesn’t land until this afternoon. Do you think any of your women would be willing to watch her until my mom gets here to help me sort this mess?”
“Meredith might want to,” Noah says. “Let me call her.” He steps out of the room.
“If she can’t, I know Sylvia can,” Scott tells him.
“Sydney can’t. She’s sick.”
He nods and glances down at the baby as she makes a fuss. She’s a tiny little thing. “She’s only a week old,” he whispers. “What the fuck am I going to do with a baby?”
“Don’t worry about that just yet,” Noah says as he comes back in. “Mere’s on her way. Let her take care of her until your mom gets here and then you can focus on hockey.”
“You’re going to want to get a paternity test, though. Just to be sure,” Marc adds. “If she was a drug addict, she may have left her with you because she knows you’ll take care of her and you have the means to do so. Your mom will help you figure things out and we’re here for you, too.”
EJ nods. “Thanks.”
“Don’t feel guilty about letting your mom take over for right now either. Hockey will help clear your head from what’s happened,” Scotty tells him. “You can figure some things out after this trip and before the next one.”
“At least she’s cute,” Nathan pipes up.
EJ looks down at her as she starts crying again. He’s already in love with her. I can tell. He’s spent one day with her, is freaked the fuck out, but he’s already enamored with her. “Yeah, she’s beautiful.”
“What’s her name?” Marc asks.
“Bree.” EJ bounces her in her arms and she stops crying. He already knows how to soothe her.
“You’ve told Coach and everyone, right?” Brayden asks. I didn’t even realize he was here. Why would EJ call him? He doesn’t have a woman that I know of who could keep little Bree for EJ.
“Yeah. I did that before you guys showed up.”
“Can I hold her?” I blurt out.
EJ seems surprised, but he nods. Once she’s in my arms, I start to feel a little enamored with her myself. Her eyes are wide open as she stares at me. Her arms move about and she ends up grabbing hold of my beard. Her nose scrunches. Maybe she doesn’t like it because she lets go. I wonder if Savannah was this tiny or if she was a little bigger.
“I’m here,” Meredith says as she bursts into the room. “Oh, she’s so cute!” She peers at her and I can tell she’s itching to hold her.
“Want to hold her?”
“Please!” She melts the moment the baby is in her arms. “Oh, EJ, she’s beautiful.”
“Thanks,” he replies awkwardly. “Could you watch her at my house? I had to buy some supplies yesterday and most of it is there. Then, when my mom gets here, she can go straight there.”
“Yeah, of course. Whatever you want. When does her flight land?”
“At one. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all!” They exchange numbers and EJ gives her his address while they put the baby back in the car seat before we all head outside. Meredith moves over to Noah and takes his hand. I’m walking right behind them, so I hear her whisper, “I want one. I think I have baby fever; just that quick.”
He laughs. “Don’t speed up my plan, yeah?”
“Whatever. Just think of all the sex we’d have and how cute our baby would be.” Okay. I’m hearing way too much. Meredith’s voice lowers, but I can still hear her. “If we’re lucky enough, that is.”
Noah wraps an arm around her. “It’s part of the plan, Mere. It’ll happen. For now, enjoy Bree and your baby fever.”
Hell, I think I have a bit of baby fever. I almost envy EJ, if only because he’s going to experience parts of Bree’s life that I missed with Savannah. I want to experience that some day. For now, I need to focus on keeping my life together and figuring out how I’m going to work things out with my father.
Things have been going well lately. I finally got over that virus. Ian called his father, though the conversations are still tense. So far, I think they’ve been avoiding the actual issue and Ian just talks to him about Savannah. It’s a start. They’ll eventually have to confront the tension between them.
Right now, Savannah and I are sitting in a restaurant, waiting on Ian. We were going to wait outside, but it’s freezing. I’m glad we didn’t because it’s been twenty minutes and he still hasn’t shown up.
