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“I put my mom in charge,” he said. “It made her feel included and saved me a lot of time.”
“It was very thoughtful.”
“We’ll be able to see and hear him from our room,” he said. “And I have two units, one for each side of the bed, so we’ll both be able to see and hear him even if the other one of us gets up.”
“It’s perfect. Thank you.” I looked around. “Did you bring up the diaper bag? I have a bottle in there.”
“Yeah, I think everything’s in my closet. Hang on, let me get it.”
I sank into the rocking chair, letting Jeremy settle against my chest. His eyes closed almost immediately, and he started to drift off. It seemed like he was already at home, and when Zeke came back in with the bag and the bottle, I motioned for him to be quiet.
I carefully laid Jeremy in the crib, and he didn’t move.
Zeke put the bag down, threaded his fingers through mine, and tugged me back to our room.
27
Zeke
“Shouldn’t we go back downstairs?” she asked as I pulled her toward the bed.
“Nope.” I climbed up the three steps of the pedestal, scooped her up, and tossed her onto the bed before I joined her.
“There is zero chance of any funny business in the middle of the day while your parents and my aunt are downstairs having lunch.” She was attempting to sound stern, but her lips twitched with mirth.
“There’s going to be funny business at all hours of the day and night now that you’re here,” I said, leaning back lazily. “But right this minute I want to talk.”
“Um, okay. What’s up?” She eyed me curiously.
“First, are you okay with the set-up for Jeremy?”
“It’s perfect,” she whispered, leaning over to kiss me. “Thank you for thinking of everything.”
“I may not have thought of everything, but I tried.” I toyed with a lock of her hair, really wishing we could get naked. Sometimes being an adult with responsibilities was a pain in the ass.
“I appreciate it.”
“After lunch, my thought was we leave Jeremy here with my parents while we go get Meg settled. I know it’s not ideal since he doesn’t know them yet, but I promise he’ll be fine with them. I honestly think it would just be a lot of chaos to take him to the rehab center with us while we check Meg in and make her comfortable.”
“I agree,” she said. “I was wondering what I would do with him if your mother couldn’t watch him. I need to make sure Meg is okay before I leave her anywhere.”
“Okay, perfect. We’ll come back afterward, have dinner, get Jeremy settled for the night, and then we both need to get a good night’s sleep. I have a long day tomorrow because we’re behind schedule. That being said, I don’t want you to feel like I abandoned you with two people you don’t even know yet, so I’ve got options for you.”
She chuckled. “I know you have to work. My plan was to take Jeremy to go see Aunt Meg tomorrow morning. Then come home so he can nap and I can try to unpack some of our stuff.”
“That’s a good plan, but my mother is going to go into full-on grandmother mode the minute we allow it, which means you’ll have more time on your hands than you think.”
“So, what are my options then?” she asked.
“Well, option one is you can come to the studio and listen for a while, maybe around lunchtime? We usually take a break around one, and I’d like you to meet the guys. It’ll also give you a chance to talk to Carter, so you can set up a time for your interview.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” she said. “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks.”
“I know, but this is your chance to get the magazine updated and ready for a re-launch. I mentioned it to my publicist, and she said she’d be happy to put the word out about a new rock mag. Her name is Dorian and I’ll introduce you to her too.”
“Zeke, you don’t have to do all this,” she said softly. “I’m not here because of what you can do for me. This is about Jeremy. And us.”
Hearing her say that felt good, but I still felt like I owed her. If she decided not to pursue her e-zine, or if she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom until Jeremy was older, that was okay too. I just had to make sure it wasn’t because I hadn’t done what I’d promised her. She hadn’t asked for anything, but I’d told her I would make it happen, and I wouldn’t go back on my word. If for no other reason than to assuage my guilt. I’d been such a dick to her last year.
