Calypso glances up. “Yeah. I tried to tell you that.”
A minute later, I dry off the little rubber mute button and hand it over, watching as she drags it across Emme’s lips until Emme latches on.
“Go to bed, Crew,” she says as she glides across the living room to the recliner. She floats down into the seat, positioning Emme across her chest and draping the baby blanket across her back. “I’ve got this.”
The crying is over. Emme sniffles, her cheek pressed flat against Calypso’s chest as she settles in.#p#分页标题#e#
I watch for only a moment before stepping toward the hall.
“Why are you lingering?” Her voice is a hair above a whisper. “Do you not trust me?”
“I don’t know.” Something tells me that three-thirty in the morning isn’t the best time for brutal honesty.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“Not quite sure what to make of you yet.”
God, I’m such a fucking asshole. This woman is rocking my baby in her arms at three in the morning so I can sleep, and I’m telling her I’m halfway afraid she’s going to make off with my kid like some baby-snatching lunatic.
“Sleep on the couch if it makes you feel better,” she says. “I understand, Crew. You don’t know me.”
I’ll feel like the biggest jackass on the planet for supervising her as she rocks my baby, but I can put my ego aside if it means protecting my daughter on the off-chance Calypso is some baby-snatching lunatic.
“I’ll just sit here for a little bit,” I say, taking the far end of the sofa next to the recliner. “In case you need anything.”
She and I both know my excuse is pure bullshit, but neither of us have the energy to deal with it.
It is what it is.
“Thanks for all this,” I say, leaning back into a throw pillow and watching the chair swivel back and forth. The faintest baby snore fills the quiet living room. Emme’s already out.
“Sorry for yesterday,” she says, our eyes meeting in the dark for a quick second. “I shouldn’t have judged you. It was rude. I don’t know your situation.”
Conversations like this, where shit gets real and people speak from their heart, have always made me uncomfortable. Perhaps I owe her an apology for forcing her to listen through the walls as I fucked my way through half of Vegas the last several months, but following her apology with one of my own only cheapens it.
“We’re cool, Calypso.”
Heavy eyelids steal me away before I have a chance to fight it. When I wake in the morning, the recliner is empty and the apartment is silent.
SIX
Calypso
“Jesus. Fuck.” Crew’s hand slams against the door to Emme’s nursery as I change her diaper the next morning. He’s panting, his jaw as hard as his flared nostrils. His dark hair is matted in every direction. On anyone else it’d be off-putting, but on Crew, it makes my stomach do a little somersault. “You scared the shit out of me. Don’t do that.”
“What, you thought I ran off with her?” I can’t help but laugh, though I blame it on the lack of sleep.
He rushes to her side, scooping her up. She’s in a fresh outfit, sporting a clean diaper and combed hair. I’ve never seen a baby with so much hair before. It’s downy soft, dark as coal, and it sticks up in little tufts.
“Here.” I hand Emme to Crew and squeeze past. “I’ll make a bottle and then I’m out. I’ve got to go to work.”
By the time the bottle’s ready, Crew meets me in the kitchen with a cooing Emme in his arms.
“I appreciate everything,” he says. “We’ll try and keep it down from now on.”
There’s a hint of a smile in his tone, and his sparkling blue eyes catch in the morning sunlight streaming in from the window above the sink.
“Two of a kind.” I gently tickle her little foot.
There’s a lingering stillness between us, and if I stick around any longer, I know one of us will be tempted to fill it with some kind of small talk. That’ll just lead to more conversation, and then we’ll be obligated to get to know one another and maybe even take things a step beyond cordial.#p#分页标题#e#
It’s not my intention at all, and I’d be better off nipping it in the bud.
“Alright. I’m out.” I give him a quick nod and brush past the two of them so quickly he doesn’t have a chance to utter another word.
I don’t know his situation. I don’t want to know it. If I get to know him better, there’s a slight chance I might like him. And if there’s anything I’ve learned in my young life, it’s that romantic relationships do nothing but weigh you down. And when they’re over, they send you packing with a whole lot of baggage.