“What do you think?” Locke asked.
“It’s perfect!” I tightened my hold on his hand and practically dragged him into the store. It was bigger than I’d thought, with stairs leading to a second story. I paused in the doorway, not knowing where to start.
Thankfully, Locke did, walking straight up to a fancy-looking armchair. “We’ll definitely need one of these.”
“An E-Z Rocker?” I said, my eyes widening at the price tag.
Locke ran his hand across the short hairs on his jaw. He looked thoughtful, but there was a crinkle of excitement in his eyes. “I’ve been researching, and the reviews are very positive. Though I prefer the gray one.”
This one was cream colored.
“I’m sure we can order it in,” he added. “Or we can get one of each.”
“Two?” I exclaimed.
“One for your place and one for mine.” He sat down in the chair, groaning as he threw his head back. “Aye, it’ll be great for the middle of the night when the baby is fussy.”
“This is too much,” I insisted.
He got to his feet. “Just try it andthentell me it’s too much.”
He looked so damn eager that I sank down in the chair, swallowed by the puffy cushions. It was part cloud, part rocking chair, and I groaned. “Oh my God, just leave me here.”
Locke laughed. “Right? And wait,” he said, fiddling with a button on the side of the chair, leaning across me. My breath hitched as I was engulfed in his cologne. “The forums say recline mode is the best.”
The chair reclined, my legs kicked out, and I snuggled back. “Oooo. Okay, yes. I get it now.”
He seemed pleased that his deep dive had paid off, and my chest warmed at the thought of him poring over baby research in between making business deals. He turned to a row of display strollers.
“We’ll need to get a pram as well. Something small that can fold down to fit in the boot of that clunker you call a car.”
“Leave Lottie alone,” I said. “She’s cute and reliable.”
He collapsed one of the strollers as I stood. “Here, try this. Is it too heavy?”
I held the collapsed stroller, doing a couple bicep curls. “I wrestle Ranger into the tub for baths. I think I can handle a stroller. Besides, once I start toting around a baby constantly, I’m going to be jacked.”
He smirked. “Speaking of…”
“Being jacked?”
“No.” He pulled his phone out. “I found this great app that helps track the stages of growth during pregnancy. And it organizes what you need to be doing from week to week.”
I leaned against his arm as he walked me through the app.
“There’s a calendar that tells you which appointments you should be scheduling. Reminders of when you should startstocking up on essentials like diapers. Lists of must-haves and nice-to-haves before the baby gets here.”
“Oh, that’s handy,” I said, pulling out my phone to download the same app. “I checked out a couple, but I wasn’t sure which one was best.”
“A lot of the parenting forums I read through mentioned this one, so I think it’s a good place to start. And it’ll let us link our accounts,” he said, clicking on my settings icon and inputting his information.
Link our accounts? That felt…couple-y. Like forrealcouples, not fake ones. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
Locke kept talking, not noticing the tug-o’-war in my head. “It’s quite practical. We can share notifications and checklists.” He looked at me. “And unlink our accounts at any time.”
And we’re back to business, even though I did appreciate the effort.
“Thank you for looking into all of this,” I said sincerely. I would have made this work on my own, but I couldn’t deny that it was nice to have a co-parent in my corner to help carry some of the load. And regardless of how we’d gotten here, it was reassuring to see how much effort Locke was already putting into this dad thing.
