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“You are not built like a boy. You’re built like Giselle.” We make our way to her minivan and climb inside. “How is Chris doing? I saw him the other day at the grocery store, and he looks good.”
I don’t want to admit that I’ve definitely noticed how good he looks; he’s tan, built, and bright eyed—so different from the guy I saw the day I told him I was pregnant. I am not going to tell Abby I’m extremely attracted to him and that sometimes I just want to jump him.
“Oh my God, you like him,” she squeals.
My cheeks immediately burn, turning bright red—I’m sure. “Noooo…I do not.” I cover my face as I squeal. “I don’t, I can’t.”
“Honey, why can’t you?” She pulls my hands from my face.
I shrug. “I don’t know, it would complicate things. Plus, I don’t think he’d ever really be into me.” I look down at my lap.
“You like him,” Abby says softly.
“Ugh…I do. I watch him with Madison and he’s so good with her. She loves him so much already, and when she hears his voice—she’ll look around for him. Then when I’m there we hang out and talk. He’ll tuck my hair behind my ear or touch my arm and I don’t know. I just look forward to seeing him.” I close my eyes and rest my head against the headrest.
“Of course, she loves her daddy, and you—well, he’d be crazy not to see what a catch you are, but I do think you should be cautious. I haven’t used in a really long time, but that doesn’t mean that every now and then I don’t think about it.” My eyes widen. “You know what I do, I call Cash.” That’s Abby’s biological dad. “He’s been sober a very long time and he knows what I need to hear, and then it passes and I tell Ben.”
I shake my head. “Okay, but what are you saying?”
Abby smiles at me. “I just want you to make sure you’re going to be able to stay strong when he gets the urge to use, because he will, and that’s not saying anything bad about him, it’s just the truth.”
“I get what you’re saying. I’m not sure he thinks of me as anything more than Madison’s mom.”
Abby gives me a smile. “We’ll see.” Luckily, she doesn’t say anything else about it.
We get back to her house and when we step inside, I find my niece Natalie holding Madison while sitting next to her dad. They smile and I notice little Pay Pay is standing next to her big sister’s legs, holding her cousin’s hand. “Hey guys. How was she?”
Ben stands and kisses the top of my head before wrapping his arm around my sister. “She was perfect. She and the girls had tummy time while the boys destroyed their room.”
“Well, thank you for watching her. I appreciate it.” I smile up at him.
He kisses my sister and then smiles at me. “I like getting my baby fix, and since we’re done having babies…” He pouts. “I’ll have to get my baby snuggles where I can.”
“Uh…I think four children are enough.” Abby looks at me. “He wouldn’t care if I wanted four more.”
Ben shrugs. “Hey, we make pretty great kids.”
They help me get Madison in her carrier and walk me out. “I’ll talk to you two lovebirds later.”
On my way home, my phone rings and on the display, I see it’s Graham. “Hey you. How’s it going?”
“Hey beautiful. I wanted to see if you wanted to grab lunch.” My stomach growls immediately and his laugh comes through the phone. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Yes, definitely. I’ll warn you, I just got done doing Crossfit with Abby, so I’m gross.”
“Not possible. Do you want to meet at the little diner on Main?” Graham says, as I turn on my blinker to turn and head toward Main.
I nod, even though he can’t see me. “Yep, we’re heading there now.”
“Sweet, I’ll see you in a few.” He disconnects and my music comes back on.
“Madison, we’re meeting Uncle Graham for lunch,” I announce to my girl, who has no clue what I said, but I talk to her anyway. She gurgles in response, and I smile. I find a spot to park right on Main Street.
I slip on my backpack and then grab Madison’s carrier out of the backseat. I step inside and Graham is already here. He waves at me from his booth, standing up as I approach. “Give me that baby.”
I hand the carrier over to him and he kisses my cheek. He sets the carrier in the booth as I sit down and quickly undoes her harness, picking her up. “There is my beautiful girl.” Graham kisses her head and baby girl smiles up at him. “How are things going?”
Our waitress interrupts us to take our drink order, and once she leaves, I answer him. “We’re good. Just work and taking care of baby girl. I did Crossfit with Abby today and I feel like Jell-O.”
