Grace, who had recently turned six months old, was strapped into a kangaroo carrier on my chest once I finally got her out of the car seat. My girl liked being on the move, and riding in a car seat wasn’t her favorite thing to do unless it was close to naptime.
“What the fu—oh! You brought the baby. Hello, pumpkin!” Quinn, the first to appear in the shop, walked over to us and pulled Grace out of the carrier.
He kissed her forehead as she grabbed his beard and didn’t let go. I’d gotten used to it, but I kept my beard trimmed close to keep her from snatching it too often.
Keir had been working for Darren Meyer for a month, and I stayed home with Grace since I’d regained more strength in my arms. There were still blank spots in my memory, but I didn’t stew on them. Life was going along too well for me to give a fuck about things I couldn’t remember.
I unbuckled and slid off the nylon baby carrier to follow my friend into the garage. Immediately, everyone turned to goo at the sight of our beautiful little girl. I did the same every morning when she woke up.
I enjoyed seeing them make fools of themselves as they baby-talked to our little bundle of sunshine. I planned to razz the shit out of them for forgetting how to speak like adults.
When things finally settled, Georgia was dancing behind my chair with Grace in her arms while I had a beer with the guys. “Uh, what do you and Keir want Grace to call you?” Georgia’s nose was wrinkled.
Was she trying to imagine our pet names for each other? That was pretty odd, wasn’t it?
“Is the idea of Keir and me having cute pet names for each other that gross to you?” The guys laughed with me. I’d missed hanging out with everyone.
“No, jack-a-s-s. She needs her diaper changed, and I was going to ask you where the diaper bag is. Like, ‘Daddy, Grace needs a new diaper.’”
“Ah. I see. Well, I’m Papa, and Keir is Daddy if you must know. I’ll change her. Thanks.” I reached for the baby, but Georgia turned to her side to keep me away.
“Give me the diaper bag, Papa. I haven’t changed a diaper in a long time. It makes me sad that my boys are damn near grown, but that just means I’ll be having grandbabies sooner than you.” Georgia laughed at my screwed-up scowl.
My mind then began to wander to how well Keirdidsuck. I’d missed having his mouth on me and mine on him. Between my rehab and the baby, we’d been burning the candle at both ends and not lighting each other’s candles like we used to. That behavior needed to be corrected very soon.
I picked up the diaper bag and followed Georgia into her office. I pulled out the changing pad and placed it on Georgia’s empty desk as I retrieved the wipes and a clean diaper. Georgia put Grace on the pad before pulling down her little denim shorts and opening her Harley onesie.
“Whew! Little girl, what are they feeding you?” Georgia made quick work of the dirty diaper and cleaned Grace’s bottom like a seasoned pro.
“We just started with green vegetables. This was strained spinach that I mixed with a little bit of pear, and she ate it like it was the best thing she’d ever tasted.”
“Look at you, Dashiell Clegg. You’ve got this father thing down to a science.” She redressed Grace and picked her up, letting Grace stand on her plump feet as Georgia made faces at her.Meanwhile, I tried to screw up my courage to ask Georgia for a favor.
“I, uh, I wondered if maybe you might be interested in spending an afternoon with Grace. We need to go furniture shopping, and I thought if maybe Auntie Georgia and Auntie Rena wanted to have a girls’ day—”
Georgia’s sarcastic laugh interrupted the rest of my pitch. “Don’t BS me, Dash. If you wanna have some time with Keir, just say it. Rena and I have nothing going on tomorrow, so you tell me how long you two can be away from her. We’d love to spend time with Grace.”
She had me there. “Tomorrow works. Why don’t you come over at noon? She’ll be ready for her afternoon nap, and everything she needs is right there. How does that sound?”
Georgia kissed my cheek as she handed over Gracie and took the dirty diaper. "Wait, I'll take that with me. We have a pail thingy that keeps the smell contained.”
She laughed. “I owe this to Simp for a trick he played on me earlier in the week. Keep his attention in here.”
I took Gracie and the diaper bag into the garage as I watched Georgia head out the front door and over to Simp’s truck. She opened the driver’s side door and tossed the diaper under the bench seat before closing it quietly and going for a walk around the block. With the sun shining in through the front windshield and the truck windows closed, nobody could pay me enough money to climb into that vehicle at the end of the day.
“When are you guys coming over to see the new house?” I had all of them staring at me while Georgia went to exact her revenge. I’d have to ask Georgia what Simp did to her that brought on the stink bomb she’d planted.
“Dude, invite us over. We won’t come unless you invite us,” Fish said, giving me a hard look.
“I will, I swear. We gotta get some furniture. Our shit burned up, remember?”
I wasn’t trying to make him feel guilty, but he seemed upset with me. I wasn’t standing for it when I’d done nothing wrong—that I could remember.
Simp grabbed Fish by the back of his coveralls as he started to step to me, but I wasn’t taking his accusatory attitude. I handed Grace to Quinn, who was standing next to me, and I got in Fish’s face. “Fisher Worth, what the f-u-c-k is your problem?”
Simp and Quinn both cracked up, which pissed me off. I turned to them. “We don’t curse in front of her.”
Fish ignored me, his scowl saying he didn’t find my explanation the least bit humorous. “You left us, Dash. You didn’t come around very much after you and Keir got married, and then you just disappeared after you went on your honeymoon and sold the shop to Quinn. Now, you hardly show up, and when you do, you only stay for a hot minute before you’re gone again.”
