Page 45 of Denim & Diamonds

Brock

“That can’t be right.” I lifted a piece of fabric dangling almost to the ground. “The kid will fall right through.”

Nick, one of my laborers, scratched his head. “Let me tie it around myself. A baby sling is like a tie; it’s hard to do when it’s on someone else.”

I yanked the hippie-looking fabric from my body, but the knot around my neck didn’t budge. Fiddling with it didn’t help, so I sighed and turned, pointing to my back. “Can you please give me a hand getting this thing off?”

Unfortunately, my brother Elvin pulled up at that moment. He looked at the baby-carrying contraption tied around my body and an amused smile spread across his face. Great. Just what I need—ball busting.

He hopped out of his truck, grabbed his crutches, and slammed the cab door closed. “What do we have going on here? Playing dress up, big brother? I didn’t realize they made those things in three-XL.”

“Go away,” I grumbled.

Elvin chuckled. “You know, they make formed baby carriers that just snap around your back. Much easier than those sling things.”

I turned to my worker, who had finally untied the knot. “Is he screwing with me?”

Nick shrugged. “No. They make ones that look like hiking backpacks, except you wear them on the front. You clip it in the back and the baby just slips in on your chest.”

My eyes narrowed. “So why the hell would you use this thing then? It’s like tying a blanket with holes around your body and expecting it to hold a kid.”

“This is made of hemp and is good for the environment.”

I shook my head. “I should damn well fire you.”

Elvin smiled and thumbed toward his truck. “You ready to go, Brock? I promised Linda I’d be home in time for dinner tonight. I’ve been working late the last few days.”

“Go where?”

“You said you’d take a ride with me to pick out roofing materials. Linda isn’t too happy with the blue tarp I have covering the leak in the living room. When it’s windy at night, it flaps around and wakes her up.”

“Shit.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I forgot. I’ve been so busy with work and the bar, not to mention trying to figure out all this baby shit, that it must’ve slipped my mind.”

“The forgetfulness only gets worse after the kid’s born.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled. “Just what I needed to hear.” I turned to Nick. “Think you and Tim can finish up milling the rest of the log pile without me? ”

He nodded. “We’ll get it done, boss.”

“Thanks.” I nodded toward my truck and spoke to my brother. “We’ll probably be over the weight limit for your truck. Roofing shingles are heavy. So let’s take mine. You always have half your bed packed with personal shit anyway.”

“Just wait. That’s where you’ll be keeping your most valuable possessions, too, someday—when the kids take over every inch of space in the house and garage.”

Kids. As in plural. I wasn’t sure I was going to survive one, let alone multiple. But I kept my mouth shut, and Elvin and I climbed into my truck. Sullivan Roofing Supply was a twenty-minute drive.

“How you feeling about the baby coming?” he asked. “You seem a little calmer than the other day when I saw you.”

I glanced over at Elvin. “I must be hiding it better. I’ll kick your ass if you share this with any of our knucklehead brothers, but I’m scared shitless.

I feel like I’m going to fuck up. Though at the same time, part of me is starting to get excited to meet my kid.

I guess I’ve warmed up to the idea a bit in the last few days. ”

“It’s only been, what, ten days since Nina dropped the bomb?

It’s good that you’re already settling into the idea of being a dad.

And you are going to fuck up. We all do as parents.

We’re still human, after all. Screwing up is basically part of the job description.

Becoming a father is like assembling furniture from IKEA.

Half the time you have leftover pieces, and sometimes you put it together backward.

But hey, the kid will still turn out fine. Probably.”

I shook my head. “Thanks for the encouraging words. ”

“No problem.” Elvin’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket, checked the screen, and tucked it back into his jacket. “You’ll do fine.”

I sighed. “It’s just not the way I pictured things when I thought about having a family someday.”

“And I pictured myself living in the Lost City of Kitezh with Angelina Jolie.”

I smirked. “I forgot all about your Angelina Jolie obsession when we were kids. Remember the time you wrote her a love letter and mailed it with that terrible drawing you did of her as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider ? The sword looked like she had a big dick in her hands?”

“What are you talking about? You never mentioned that.”

I smiled. “Mom and I laughed our asses off when you weren’t around. Why the hell did you think I asked you if she wrote back a million times?”

Elvin shook his head. “You’re such a dick.”

“You all had pipe dreams. Fritz wanted to be a YouTuber who reviewed snacks.”

“And Trevor wanted to be an actor. Remember when we convinced him he should make some videos to put together an audition reel, and you and Maddox wrote a script for him? He was supposed to pretend he’d just witnessed a murder and call the cops in a panic.

Except Mad actually dialed nine-one-one, and the police showed up with lights and sirens blaring. ”

“Mom was pissed.” I smiled. “Especially because we busted the coffee table filming the pre-murder fight scene.”

Elvin chuckled. “I guess none of us is exactly living the dream we had when we were kids. What did you want to be when you grew up? I don’t remember. ”

I stared at the road, not really seeing it. Good thing they were usually empty around here, and I could drive them blindfolded. “I wanted to build log cabins.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “Grandpa gave me a set of Lincoln Logs when I was three. By four I was building shit out of twigs in the yard.”

“ Huh . I guess some dreams do come true.”

I didn’t have a single complaint about my job.

In fact, I didn’t have much to complain about when it came to my life.

I spent my days doing what I loved and my nights keeping company with beautiful women or shooting the shit with the local guys at my bar.

It was a simple life, but a content one.

At least it had been until a certain coatless redhead wandered into it.

February might not have been part of my dreams growing up, but these days I couldn’t imagine a life without her.

“Dreams can change,” I said.

Elvin looked over, and our eyes met for a brief second. That was all it took for him to know what I was thinking.

“You think you and February can figure out how to make things work?”

I frowned. “We had figured it out. We were going to take baby steps, alternate visiting each other on the weekends. But how the hell am I going to go to New York with a kid? How do you drive ten hours in a baby sling?”

My brother snickered. “You don’t, asshole. You put him in an infant carrier and strap it down in the backseat.”

“An infant carrier? You mean a car seat?”

“No, I mean an infant carrier.”

“What’s the difference?”

“They’re sort of the same, except a baby goes in an infant carrier and a toddler goes in a car seat. A kid needs to be a certain size to move into the type where they sit up. I think it’s like thirty pounds and thirty inches or some shit like that.”

“Jesus Christ, I didn’t buy an infant carrier. I bought a damn car seat.”

“There’s a Target down the block from the roofing supply place. We can stop and pick one up, if you want.”

“What the hell else don’t I have that I need? I don’t have a clue how to take care of a baby.”

“Relax.” My brother patted my shoulder. “Everyone feels that way when they bring their first kid home from the hospital. Doesn’t matter if you had nine months to prepare or nine days. You always feel unprepared. But you’ll do fine.”

I felt like I was unraveling. “I don’t have anyone to cover me at the bar or at work, and I need to take a CPR class and learn to swaddle— whatever the hell that means —and I’ve watched a dozen YouTube videos on changing diapers and still couldn’t figure out what type to get when I went to the store.

I feel like I’m running out of time and don’t even know what to prioritize anymore. ”

“The kid,” Elvin said pointedly. “That’s what you’re going to prioritize for the rest of your life.

Once that baby is in your arms, your decisions actually become easier, because nothing else seems important, other than keeping him safe and happy.

Being a parent means your child trumps everything.

If the ship goes down, that’s who you’re saving.

If you only have enough money for food for one, you’ re going hungry.

” My brother snort-laughed. “When you’re about to dip inside your woman after weeks of being turned down because she’s exhausted and then that baby cries—you’re taking care of the kid and coming back to a snoring wife and jerking off in the shower the next day.

Again. That kid sets the priorities from the moment it arrives. ”

“Sounds like that last part is personal experience...”

“You have no damn idea, brother.”

A few minutes later, we pulled up at the roofing store.

Elvin unclicked his seatbelt but didn’t reach for the door handle.

“Listen, I know you’re crazy about this February.

Nevertheless, the bottom line is that you can love her all you want, but she’s going to have to bend more than you now if you have any shot of making things work.

She’s going to need to love that baby so much that she makes him a priority too. ”

I felt more deflated than ever. February didn’t even want kids, so how far could I expect her to bend before she broke?

***