All I could think was ‘fucking Frozen again!’ Hadn’t that God-forsaken movie infiltrated enough parts of my life? No. Obviously not because now we were standing here telling jokes about the damn thing!
“I don’t know, Isla. Why can’t you give Elsa balloons for her birthday?” I asked, waiting for the inevitable, terrible punch line.
Stepping back from me, Isla threw her hands up in the air. “Because, Dad, she’ll let it go! Let it go!” Thankfully, she started singing and twirling in circles and didn’t catch me rolling my eyes.
“It’s not her worst,” Mrs. Neal offered with a shrug as she handed me Isla’s backpack.
Sadly, she was spot on there. I’d heard much, much worse.
“How was school today, sweetheart?” I asked.
“Katie did her hair in braids with pink sparkly ribbon. And Joshua jumped in the puddles,” Isla told me.
“And what about you? What did you do?” I tried again to get Isla to tell me about her day, not her friends.
“Um …”
While Isla pulled her shoes off and tried to remember what she’d gotten up to today, I turned to Mrs. Neal.
“Thank you for staying with her last night.”
“Oh, hush. You know I love that little munchkin.” She waved off my appreciation.
“I know, and I appreciate that,” I reminded her honestly. Seriously without her in my life, I had no idea where Isla and I would be. She’d saved me when I was drowning in single dad naivety.
“So last night didn’t go to plan then?”
And just when I thought I was going to be able to avoid talking about it. I mean, it hadn’t been all bad. Charlotte was an amazing woman. Even when she was talking about barometric pressure and storm cells, she had me hanging on her every word. The moment she’d opened the door wearing that little black dress that clung to her curves and propped up her perky tits she had me salivating at the sight. Pair that with those heels that made her legs look a mile long and the soft silky strands of her hair hanging down around her shoulders and there was no doubt I was in over my head. The sexual tension between us was combustible and had it not been for her friend going into labor, I had no illusions that I’d be feeling a hell of a lot less frustrated than I was now.
After the call came through, everything got scrambled, and instead of ending the evening naked, sweaty, and tangled in her sheets, we’d spent hours sitting on uncomfortable plastic chairs, sharing a bag of pretzels, and drinking dirty dishwater that was passed off as coffee. I lost count of how many times Charlotte apologized for ruining our night and telling me I didn’t have to wait with her, but even though it wasn’t what I had planned, I found that I didn’t want to leave. Any moment with Charlotte was more important than where we were and what we were doing.
It was a little after three when Mason Flynn, basketball cult hero, strutted into the waiting room and announced he was the proud father of a healthy baby girl. Watching Charlotte’s reaction when Mason wrapped her in a bear hug, one that had me monitoring the positioning of his hands and confirming that both Mum and bub were doing well had me filled with emotions. I might be a guy, and I mightn’t be supposed to cry, but I was also a dad and I knew the exact feeling Mason was going through.
“Mase, this is my friend Luke Steele.” Charlotte introduced me to him and unable to wipe the beaming smile from his face, Mason ignored my extended hand, instead I got a bear hug. Guess the guy was full of love right now.
“Congratulations,” I replied.
“Thanks, man. Do you guys want to come and see them?”
“Can we?” Charlotte almost bounced on the balls of her feet. Her heels had been abandoned hours ago.
“Yeah. You can’t stay for long, but I know Hannah would want to see you,” Mason confirmed before leading us down the corridors.
Without stopping, Mason stepped straight into the room before sitting down beside a tired-looking Hannah who was nursing an armful of blankets.
“You’re a mum,” Charlotte cried as she came to a stop at the end of the bed.
Feeling like an intruder, I hung back in the doorway letting them have their moment. It wasn’t lost on me that this is how my life should’ve been. Selina and I never had this moment. The moment Isla was born, Selina signed the papers, rolled over, and dismissed us. Before the day was out, I was walking out the hospital’s doors completely clueless with the most adorable baby girl depending on me.
“Do you want to hold her?” Hannah asked, and a teary-eyed Charlotte moved quick as a flash to her friend's side and reached for the newest addition.
She was beautiful. A complete natural with the baby. My heart ached. This is how it should’ve been.
“Oh, my god, Charlotte!” Hannah exclaimed.
“What? What’s wrong?” The panic was thick, and she pushed the blankets away from the baby’s face.
Tears were streaming down Hannah’s face. I had no idea what was going on.
