“I’m not bugging you at work unless I have to. I can handle this. I even fed Hunter and changed his diaper this week. Archer should be a piece of cake after that.”
“Did it scare you holding a baby that tiny?”
He held his fingers up in a pinch after he popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth. He finished chewing. “I’ve gotten my fill of things between a baby, a toddler, and now Archer. I’m going to be a pro soon.”
“I’m not too worried.”
“I think you are,” he said. “But you’ll have to trust me to not damage your child too much. I promise to watch what I say. You know, curb the swear words when he kicks my butt at everything.”
She laughed. “Don’t let him win.”
“I won’t. He really beat me at games the other day. What I’m good at he’s too young to play. I’ve got to work my way up. I bought the NFL game to practice.”
“That was sweet. But again, screen time is limited.”
“I don’t want to stay in the house if I can avoid it. I really do plan on being out and about and entertaining both of us. Maybe I want to feel like a kid again. It’s been so long since I coulddo those things. Then after this week, I guess it’s time to get to work.”
“Work?”
His head went side to side. “My parents were giving me three weeks to decide, even though I’ve been stopping in and checking things out. I’m pretty sure I know what I’m going to do, but I love they are giving me the time to not say. They won’t even take an answer from me until then.”
“Why?”
“They don’t want me to feel pressured. They don’t want me to make a hurried decision and then be afraid to tell them if I change my mind. They are great that way.”
“My parents too. They’ve been an endless stream of support with me doing this on my own.”
“Can I ask what happened to you and your ex or is that off the table?”
“The short version is, he cheated. The long version—he’s a narcissistic prick, but you’d never hear me say that in front of Archer.”
“How did you end up with him then? I just don’t see you falling for that. And you can tell me to mind my own business.”
“It’s fine. He wasn’t like that at first. Or I didn’t see it. I was younger than him. Almost seven years. New to the department. He’d been there about a year. I’m friendly with everyone. I thought, geez is this a game to him, he has to win me to prove he could to the other doctors?”
“Shit. Now I really can’t believe you gave him the time of day.”
She cringed, then sighed. “I got in his face over it. He swore it wasn’t the case. I believed him. That falls on me. Next thing I know we are engaged. I mean why propose if it was just a game?”
“True.”
“I loved him. I know he loved me.” She refused to believe otherwise. “But he loved himself more. We got married pretty quickly. I got pregnant within a month of the wedding, if not even on the honeymoon. Who knows? He was older and wanted kids.”
“Got it.”
“He’s not a great father, which is funny since he pushed for a baby so soon. That was the start of it. He’s too selfish. I understood his job was stressful and important and that he wasn’t around much. I accepted all of that too.”
“But then he was staying out longer for another reason?”
“At the end, yes. But there was more. Things fell apart long before that.”
“And we are getting into that long story now?”
“We are. Not the time for it. But there you go. Once the divorce was final, he decided he wanted to be near the water and moved. He rarely sees Archer other than a few times a year and even then cancels half the time.”
“Asshole. I can say it because Archer isn’t around.”
“Yep, he’s an asshole. I will say it.”
