Poor Will. When we walked back, I noticed the deep bags under his eyes. He looked like he could fall asleep on his feet. In despair, he looked over at Mike and asked, “Dude, can you hold her a minute?”
Mike was scared of the baby, but he didn’t have any other option, sohe took her, hands shaking, and held her against his chest. Miraculously, silence ensued. She had stopped crying. Everyone was shocked, Will most of all.
“Mike, you’re amazing!” Sue said.
Jack waved me back to the bedroom. “Come on, fast, let’s go to sleep.”
Mike whispered, on the verge of panic, “Don’t leave me here! I don’t know what to do!”
“He’ll help you,” Sue said maliciously, pointing to Will, who was on the couch and had already fallen asleep. “Have fun babysitting!”
I saw the look of horror on his face as Jack shut the door carefully, lay down on his stomach, and closed his eyes, leaving me nowhere to squeeze in.
“Jack, make some space for me,” I said.
“No. Just sleep on top of me.”
“You asked for it,” I mumbled and flopped down on his back. He grunted from discomfort but was too lazy to move. After a moment, I added, “There’s no way you can actually sleep like this.”
“I can, though. I’m doing it.”
“Liar. You’re talking to me.”
“I’m sleeptalking.”
“Yeah, you’re an idiot, too,” I said.
“I never told you otherwise.”
I started bouncing up and down, shaking him. The thing with the neighbor had gotten my blood pumping, and I wasn’t tired anymore. “Get up,” I told him. “I want to talk. I don’t think I can fall asleep yet.”
“Listen, Jen,” he said wearily, “I got on my knees at Christmas time, I asked you to marry me and you laughed at me, and that means thefor better and for worseclause in our vows isn’t active yet. So seriously, much as I love you, you’re killing me. Just let me sleep.”
“Fine. Give me some space then.”
“Whatever.” Jack rolled onto his side, and I climbed between the sheets. He looked so cute there with his eyes closed, his lips fluttering when he breathed out. I covered him with a blanket and tried to go to sleep myself.
Naya had turned into a zombie. She wandered around the apartment in a pink robe, her hair poking out in all directions, her eyes surrounded by worrisome black circles. She usually had the baby in one hand and a bottle or toy in the other.
There were days when I offered to take care of Jane so she could go out for a little bit, but I couldn’t always deal with her. School was taking up tons of time, in class, in my workshops, and when I had to study. And when I needed to relax, I preferred to do it by calling Spencer or Shannon or drawing, not by changing a baby’s diapers.
Still, there were days when I felt so bad for Naya. Like one afternoon when I’d gotten home early and taken a long hot shower, and I came out to find her passed out on the couch with Will—asleep, they looked like the perfect couple—while Jane stared back and forth between Sue, Mike, and the TV.
“There she is,” Sue said when I emerged. “Superaunt. I’ll bet you’ll be popping out a baby of your own pretty soon.”
“Not funny, Sue,” I replied.
“I’m not kidding,” she said.
That was one of those moments when ordinarily, Mike would have cracked a joke, but all that was over ever since he’d kissed me. I hadn’t told Jack about it. I was pretty sure I should, but it was long ago enough now that I didn’t know how to bring it up. And at a certain point, I think I just decided it was dead and buried.
I had expected Mike to apologize, but unsurprisingly, he never did. Instead, there was just distance. No more pervy comments, nouncomfortably long hugs. In fact, he barely looked at me. It was better in a way, but I also didn’t like the weirdness that had settled in between us.
Will jolted awake, looked around until he saw his two girls, then smiled and relaxed, rubbing his eyes. “Hey, Jenna.”
“How’s the world’s best father doing?” I asked. He smiled, I think. Or maybe it was a frown.
“Do you guys know if Naya fed her?” he inquired.
