Page 64

Sam

K elsey picked a romantic comedy for the movie, and we’d only just started it before Crew decided it was time to wake up.

As much as I’d been looking forward to spending extra days with Josie in Texas, staying home and relaxing with Kelsey and Crew would have been nice.

After this last weekend, we could use a break.

Monica had already emailed my attorney and sent over the documents from Matt, the investigator.

If we were lucky, we’d have a conference call tomorrow to devise a plan.

We wouldn’t land in Austin until after five and would be lucky to get to Josie’s by dinnertime.

She’d planned to spend the night in Vermont and was flying first thing in the morning but would only arrive just ahead of us.

She’d warned us Jake was in charge of dinner plans that night, and he’d just started training camp.

Kelsey went up to get Crew while I paused the movie and set up a bath for him. I had always enjoyed my time alone, but now, sharing a space with them, I couldn’t imagine how I would have spent my time any differently .

Kelsey chatted with Crew noisily as they came down the stairs, and he cooed back at her, smiling widely when he saw me. Shit. Fucking adorable.

“I ran a bath for him in the kitchen sink,” I said.

“What’s this?” Kelsey asked as she inspected the seat I had ordered to help bathe him in the sink.

“It’s supposed to support him while you bathe him. I thought it might help while he’s soapy and wet.”

“Oh, thanks. I like the floor gym, and the play mat you ordered will be perfect when he moves around more. Do you mind if I set one of them up here while we watch the movie?”

“You don’t need to ask me. I want this to be as much your space as mine. You don’t need to ask if it’s your home, too, right?”

“What about when I hang baby gates to keep him away from the stairs?” she asked.

“I’d only be upset because you didn’t ask me to do it first. But we have a little time for that, right?”

“Yeah, about six or seven months,” she said as she washed Crew in the sink. Once she’d rinsed the soap from his little body, I held a baby towel open for her to place him in my arms, where I wrapped him up and took another opportunity to snuggle him.

“What about baby food?”

“Soon. I planned to start it when he can sit up on his own. But his diaper changes won’t be easy once that happens.”

“Easy?” The last time I’d changed him, I had forgotten to cover him with a wipe like Kelsey had shown me. I ended up with a face full of pee. I still hadn’t confessed my mistake to Kelsey. “I’ll go upstairs and get some pajamas for him. We’ll be right back. ”

“Do you want some popcorn? Or snacks?”

“I’ll take some popcorn if we have it. I have an app I use for the shopping list. I’ll give you the login. Maria usually only stocks the kitchen for when I have home games, but you can add whatever you want.”

I heard the popcorn popping in the microwave as I changed Crew for bed. When I finished, I held him and carried the play gym in my other hand, returning to the TV room. Kelsey lounged comfortably on the couch, snacked on popcorn, and scrolled through her phone.

“I told Kylie that we found Tom.”

“What does she think?”

“She’s wanted me to try to find him for a while. But mostly because she didn’t like watching me struggle financially.”

“Well, I agree that he should be involved.”

“How would you feel if we had to drop Crew off to a stranger every other weekend?”

“I don’t care how much money I need to throw at attorneys, but he’s not staying anywhere unless you’re one hundred percent comfortable with where he’s going.”

“I think I spent too much time researching on Google, but from what I read, I can probably prevent overnights while I’m still breastfeeding.”

“That’s probably true, but we should wait until we talk to the attorney.” I passed Crew to his mother, settled onto the couch, and pressed play on the movie while Kelsey nursed him.

Crew fell back to sleep, and instead of finishing the movie, we decided to go to bed. I set the alarm, planning to pack for the trip first thing in the morning.