“I’ll get something from the office,” I said and returned a few minutes later with a notepad and a pen.
He handed me his sleeping son and quickly scribbled something on the piece of paper. “Here. Will that work?” he asked and thrust the paper at me.
I glanced at the note and nodded. “I guess so.”
“You can take him to the house. I’ll bring his stuff over as soon as I finish unloading the truck.”
“Does he have a carrier or something?” I asked, looking down at the baby in my arms. “I don’t have anything to put him in once I get there.”
“Oh, yeah, one second,” he said and opened the door to the truck. “Here you go,” he said and handed me the baby’s car seat.
I placed Kalen in his seat and carried him back to my house. Thirty minutes later, Ben dropped off a few boxes of baby items. “This is everything she left with him. There’s also a few cans of formula and a couple of packages of diapers in one of them.”
“Ben,” I started. I had so many questions, and I wasn’t sure which one to ask first. I didn’t feel comfortable taking care of an infant around the clock for an extended period of time. At least, not without time to prepare. But Ben didn’t give me the chance to voice my concerns.
“You’ll be fine,” he assured me and headed for the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised, and without so much as a second glance at me or his son, he left.
2
BLAKELY
The first day with Kalen was sheer and total hell. He started crying when he woke up to my unfamiliar face, and he didn’t stop until he finally fell asleep an hour and a half later. No matter what I tried, nothing soothed him.
The moment he stopped crying, I started. I didn’t know what to do. He kicked and screamed when I changed his wet diaper. He also peed all over me and the outfit he was wearing. He fought against me as hard as he could while I put clean clothes on him. Then, he pushed the bottle away every time I brought it to his mouth when I tried to feed him.
And there was no one I could call to ask for help. Ben wanted me to keep Kalen’s presence as quiet as possible. And honestly, my options were limited anyway. I couldn’t call Nana and ask for help without her wanting to know why I was asking, and I didn’t want to directly lie to her. Not mentioning Kalen’s presence was one thing, but outright lying to her was another. That left Landon, and I was certain he knew as much, or as little, about babies as I did. So, while Kalen napped, I looked up everything I could find online about caring for a three-month-old baby.
The rest of the day went very much like the first ninety minutes of the morning. On the plus side, the handful of customers who came into the office while Kalen was crying uncontrollably nodded sympathetically and said they’d come back another time.
Then, I did something I’d never done before and hoped I’d never have to do again. I closed the front office two hours early and went home.
I was exhausted and needed some time to regroup without worrying about ringing telephones and customers coming into the store.
When we got back to the house, I fed him a bottle, changed his diaper, and put him in his bed, hoping he was just as tired as I was. He had to be. According to the suggested schedules I’d found online, he’d missed at least one nap and hadn’t slept the recommended time on the others.
Kalen slept for an hour when we got home and woke up crying. We both spent the next hour and a half in tears before he had a bottle and fell asleep. To my surprise, he slept through the night. I, on the other hand, did not. I didn’t know what to expect from him, and I was afraid I wouldn’t hear him if he woke up, so I spent the night tossing and turning.
I’m not sure what changed, if anything, or if the universe decided to cut me some slack, but the next day was much better. I tried my best to stick to the suggested schedule I’d found online, and it seemed to agree with Kalen. He had a few bouts of crying, but it was nothing like the day before. By the end of the second day, I felt much better about the weeks ahead.
* * *
I wasnervous about walking into the office with Kalen. Landon was going to have questions that I still hadn’t decided how to answer. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I wanted to keep my promise to Ben.
“Excuse me. Did you have a baby over the weekend and forget to tell me?” Landon asked and followed me into my office.
“Yes, that’s exactly what happened,” I said flatly.
“Explain, B.”
I sighed. “This is not the truth, but it’s the story I’m telling if anyone asks. My friend Amanda called and asked if I could watch her son while she’s out of town for work. She had somebody lined up, but they had a family emergency. Anyway, she was in a pinch, and I was able to help out, so Kalen will be around for the next few weeks,” I explained while I put my things down and turned to place Kalen in the bouncy seat I set up in the office on Saturday.
“Did you say weeks?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I laughed. “That was my response too.”
“So,” he said slowly. “What’s the real story?”
“If I tell you, it might mean you have to lie to Nana and Papa. Are you okay with that?”
