The Cowboy's Unexpected Baby, page 8
After an awkward transfer, Garrett copied the hand position and movement he’d seen Ash do and it worked for him, too. The supersecret-pediatrician baby hold wouldn’t help the not-sleeping situation, but at least maybe he’d be able to calm her down.
Ash nodded his approval. “Good, you got it. Okay, so here’s what you need to know. Five weeks is one of those times when you can get a double whammy with newborns. They’re growing so fast that sometimes they need extra feedings or to have the amount of formula increased.”
Abby nodded. “I gave her an extra bottle this morning and it seemed to help.”
“The second thing is what some call Wonder Weeks. You might notice that she’s holding eye contact better. She may get more control of her head. Stretch out her sleeping time at night. Stuff like that. New parents call us all the time saying their easygoing baby is inconsolable. A few days later, that baby will roll over or start crawling or say their first words. And then they’re like, oh...”
Abby shrugged and met Garrett’s eyes. “I did notice she was very alert this morning. Maybe there’s something to this.”
“There is something to it, trust me.” Ash reached in his bag and pulled out an instrument that Garrett recognized as the thing doctors use to look in ears. The doctor checked Charlotte’s ears, took the cover off and used the light to check her throat and then asked Garrett to lay her down. After he listened to her heart and felt her belly, he draped his stethoscope around his neck. “I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, but you can always bring her in if things don’t get better.”
Abby scooped Charlotte up. “I’ll change her diaper.”
Garrett walked Ash to the door. “I appreciate you coming by. I know it’s not normally part of the service.”
Ash raised one smooth brow. “You need to take a nap. Charlotte’s fine but you look like day-old stew someone left out all night.”
“Yeah. I’m aware.”
“All right then, see you Saturday at the Winter Carnival?”
“Sure.” Garrett closed the door behind Ash. If he was actually able to break away for the carnival, he’d probably end up napping on a blanket while the party went on around him. This newborn thing wasn’t for the weak. He sighed.
For now, though, he had a more pressing duty. Turning to Abby, he noted that she had put clothes on Charlotte, which made him feel worse. “I’m sorry I was a jerk.”
With the baby on her shoulder, she shoved a few ibuprofen across the surface of the table. “I’m going to drive you home so you can take a nap. Get rid of your headache and then we can talk.”
He wanted to argue but he felt so horrible that he just did what she said. He took the ibuprofen. He let Abby drive him home. He pulled his tie off and dropped it on the floor before falling face-first onto his bed, asleep before he even closed his eyes.
Two hours later, he woke up with a start, not sure where he was. He squinted at the window. The sun was low in the sky, sending stripes of light through the blinds. He took stock of himself.
Headache down to a dull roar.
Body aches almost gone.
Court case still a nightmare.
Baby girl...quiet?
He smoothed the cover of the bed into place before walking out to the family room. Abby was in his oversized chair, her feet propped on the ottoman, with the sleeping baby on her chest. It was a punch in the gut to see her there, comforting the baby that he’d somehow claimed as his own.
Abby was beautiful, but it wasn’t her beauty that drew him. It was her generosity, even after he’d showed his worst side. She had her eyes closed and at first, he thought she was asleep, but every once in a while, her hand moved on Charlotte’s back. She was tired too, fighting emotional and physical exhaustion, the very reason she was in Red Hill Springs to begin with.
She opened her eyes and looked straight at him.
He smiled, despite the nagging feeling of guilt. “How long has she been out?”
“Almost as long as you have. But she’s going to need a bottle soon.”
“I’ll make it.” He crossed to the kitchen counter. “Thanks for letting me sleep. I feel almost human.”
“What happened today?” she asked softly.
“One of the lawyers didn’t show up for court, so instead of my client getting her kids back, they have to wait three more months. Three more months of the kids being in foster care when they could be with their parents. It’s maddening.” He went through the motions of making the bottle, everything second nature to him now. At least this one thing was easy.
“I’m sorry, Garrett.”
“I’ll never stop getting mad about stuff like this, but usually I handle it better than I did today. I think the situation with Charlotte and not being able to find her mom is stressing me out more than I thought it was.”
“That’s understandable. Have you heard from her?”
“Brooklyn? No. Every day I text her and hope this will be the day she responds. And every day I’m disappointed.”
He looked at Charlotte, who was still completely tuckered out. “I’ll take her. I’m sure you’re ready to go home. You can drive my car back to the office. I’ll get Devin to chauffeur me to work tomorrow.”
Abby didn’t say anything, just handed the baby to him. Charlotte squirmed, but her eyes stayed firmly shut. Probably saving up her energy to keep him awake tonight.
He touched Abby’s arm. “I really am sorry. I was a jerk about the clothes. I guess all new parents get cranky with each other.”
Her eyes went wide and he realized—and immediately regretted—that he’d made it sound like they were the parents.
“It’s fine, Garrett. I know you’ve had a rough couple of days.” She stayed at arm’s length, but gave him a too-bright smile as she opened the door. “Okay, hope you two have a better night. Just shoot me a text if you need a ride in the morning.”
He stopped. “Abby...”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She closed the door, leaving him standing there staring at it, more confused than ever about what to do next. What happened to the effortless communication they’d seemed to have in the barn?
His brothers teased him about how easily he fell in love, but what he’d felt on Saturday wasn’t just attraction or infatuation. It had seemed real and deep. And he wondered if she felt the same way.
Maybe it was just him.
By the time he’d finished feeding Charlotte her bottle, he’d decided the best—and only—course of action was to pretend the awkward conversation never happened.
Chapter Eight
Abby didn’t hear from Garrett the next day or the next, other than a quick text to let her know that he was working at home. She had an uneasy feeling that the “new parent” comment had messed up the easy relationship they’d built. Surely he hadn’t meant to imply anything except that other people with babies probably dealt with conflict. Crying babies were stressful.
Ugh. It had been so awkward.
Worse, she missed him. Them. She missed them.
Yesterday after work, she’d ended up walking up and down the aisles of the drugstore in bored desperation and had spent her evening trying various colored face masks, which she was completely convinced were overrated. Her skin was not glowing and poreless, thank you very much.
She’d tried reading but couldn’t concentrate, all of which made her wonder if maybe she should consider her boss’s offer to come back to work. So when Wynn asked if Abby wanted to meet up at the park for a walk Thursday morning, she’d jumped on the offer.
Unfortunately, she’d forgotten how out of shape she was.
“What is bugging you? You’ve barely said two words to me since we got here.” Beside her, Wynn was walking at a brisk pace, elbows pumping, ponytail swinging.
Abby wasn’t sure she could breathe, much less talk, but she tried. “I’m fine. Why aren’t you working today?”
“Most of the time, I only take the cases I really want to take and the rest of the time, I work as the mayor. I’ll be in the office to meet with clients this afternoon. Then tomorrow I’ll be helping to get things ready for the Winter Carnival on Saturday. The vendors start setting up at daylight.”
“What’s the Winter Carnival?” Abby wheezed out the words. Her lungs were burning. She couldn’t feel her legs anymore.
Wynn shot her a sideways glance and slowed the pace—marginally. “You’ll love it. We have all kinds of food trucks and craft sellers and bouncy houses for the kids. Bands playing all day. It’s really fun...as long as it doesn’t rain.”
“Is it supposed to?”
“As of an hour ago, there was a forty percent chance, but I don’t even want to think about that. Let’s talk about you and Garrett instead.”
Despite years of practice at keeping a noncommittal expression, Abby was sure her inner feelings were broadcast over her face. She stopped walking, hands on her hips as she sucked in air. “There is no me and Garrett. He’s already...oh, never mind. I’m helping with the baby just like everyone else, and that’s all.”
Wynn slowed to a stop and paced back to Abby, concern in her blue eyes. “I touched a nerve. I’m sorry. I blunder in sometimes without thinking first. But, honey, you know you can talk to me about anything. I care about you.”
Abby sighed, turned Wynn back to the path and started walking beside her. Slowly. “I’m sorry, too. I’m just on edge. I am worried that I might’ve messed things up with Garrett. And on top of that, my boss keeps pressuring me to come back.”
Wynn walked in silence for a few seconds. “Let’s table the Garrett discussion and talk about that last thing. Are you going to?”
“Go back? No. I made the decision that was best for me.” Abby paused, trying to think how to put into words what she was feeling. “There’s a point when you’ve been dealing with trauma for so long that all the intense emotions start to feel normal. Your body can’t live in a heightened state for months or years on end—it’s just not possible.”
“And that’s what happened in Syria?”
Their path wound past the playground. Little kids were playing tag and squealing with laughter. A couple of moms pushed their babies in the swings. And across the green field, there was a group of people doing yoga in the park.
It was peaceful. Happy. What normal should be like. “In a way. I lost my sense of fear and went into an area I shouldn’t have been in. Trusted someone I shouldn’t have trusted.” She shook her head and sighed again. It all still felt so heavy. “I have to find my baseline again.”
“You’re welcome to stay, you know that.” Wynn’s expression was hopeful as she sent Abby a sideways glance.
A laugh, the release of the pent-up tension, burst out. “You really are relentless, aren’t you?”
“I might have heard that a time or two.” Wynn shrugged with a laugh. “But listen, this is important. Any decision you make doesn’t have to be an either-or thing. You can still make a difference even if you don’t go back to traveling the world.”
Abby’s eyes filled and she looked away, across the park. The words felt like what she’d been waiting to hear, which seemed silly. She was an adult and didn’t need anyone’s permission to make decisions.
Still.
Wynn’s voice softened. “I know a little bit about this battle. Changing the world doesn’t have to be on a large scale. Because with every single thing you do, you have the power to change one person’s world.”
“I guess I feel like I’m giving up. Running away.”
Wynn stopped walking and faced her. “Don’t take this the wrong way, okay?”
Abby crossed her arms with a sigh. “When someone says, ‘Don’t get offended,’ that’s usually a sign you’re about to be offended.”
“Okay, you’re right.” Wynn laughed. “But seriously. Is it possible you’ve been running all this time and now it’s time to stop? I know from experience that children right here in my hometown need people willing to wade into trauma with them. People who can help them see there’s more to life than just survival. You and Elvis could do that.”
Despite her vow to not get offended, Abby felt the words hit home. She stepped off the path to let a jogger pass them, and took a calming breath. “That’s definitely something to consider. Thank you for being honest with me.”
“I’m sorry.” Wynn put her arm around Abby and steered them both back to the path. “I know it’s hard. Believe me.”
It was hard. Hard to think about giving up the thing that she’d felt defined her for so many years, but maybe Wynn was right. Maybe work, with its emotional demands and need for constant travel, had given her a convenient excuse to not build ties.
She’d known from an early age that it hurt when bonds with people were broken. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that her mother’s rejection had created a deep mistrust within her. So maybe Wynn was right that she’d used work to keep other people at a distance. Maybe even to escape conversations like the one she needed to have with Garrett.
Helping other people through their pain and fear came easily for her.
Facing her own fear?
Not so easy at all.
* * *
With Charlotte asleep in the swing beside him, Garrett studied the plan he’d put together for the case he was trying on Monday. The witness list was complete. His line of questions for each of his witnesses and each of the witnesses from the other side made sense.
He heard a little sigh from Charlotte, but when he glanced over, she was still sleeping soundly. The growth spurt—or whatever it had been—seemed to be over, at least this time around. And taking these few days to really get her on a solid schedule was the best thing he could’ve done for his sanity.
Unfortunately, it did nothing for the fact that he missed seeing Abby. Which was weird, in itself. In just a month, she’d become a part of his life that he missed. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was actually falling for her. Was it possible that just when he’d stopped looking, the woman he’d been looking for walked into his life?
Even if it was, the panicked look on her face when he’d said they were “new parents” indicated she probably wasn’t feeling the same way.
Garrett dragged his thoughts back to work. His strategy was strong. He just needed to go through the files one more time over the weekend to make sure he had all the moving pieces straight in his mind before he headed into court. Well, that, and pray everyone showed up, which seemed to be as big a problem in family court as anything else.
As he was putting his files back into the accordion folder he took to court, he heard a soft knock at the front door. He glanced at his watch. He wasn’t expecting anyone.
He took a peek at Charlotte, who was still sleeping, and crossed to the door. When he pulled it open, he saw Abby heading down the stairs, back toward the farmhouse. “Hey, where are you going?”
“Oh, you’re here.” She stopped and slowly turned around, a blush rising on her cheeks. “I dropped by because I wanted to make sure we were okay, but then I figured if you wanted to see me, you would’ve.”
A bright turquoise umbrella formed a halo around her head. She had on some kind of flowy floral shirt with her jeans and those bright yellow rain boots. She looked like sunshine.
“Come on in. I’ve got some coffee on.” He held the door open. “I should warn you, it’s kind of a mess in here.”
Abby folded her umbrella and set it beside the door, but when she caught sight of his paper-strewn dining room table, she faltered to a stop. “You’re working. I really should go.”
“You’re here. Please stay for coffee?”
She slid her hands down the front of her jeans, a nervous gesture that seemed so out of place with her normally serene personality. “Water, please?”
“I have water.” In the kitchen, he pulled a clean glass out of the dishwasher and filled it with ice, while she stopped to steal a look at Charlotte, who was still asleep. “So what’s up? How’s your day been?”
“Fine. I went for a walk in the park with Wynn. Red Hill Springs is so pretty. I understand why you guys like living here.”
“It’s a nice place to live. I appreciate it more now that I’m older. Everyone knowing my business doesn’t bother me as much.” He added water to the glass from his filter system and slid it across the counter to her.
She took a sip and wandered the room. It didn’t take long. “I like the flowered couch. It’s you.”
He smirked at her. “It was free. Also my mom’s. When we were kids, it was in her sitting room where we boys were never allowed to barge in. I get a kick out of thinking how mad she would be that I put my feet on her coffee table and drink juice while I’m sitting on her yellow couch.”
“I’m sure she’d be happy you’re using it.” Abby stopped beside him, placed her glass on the island countertop and drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry about the other afternoon. I was bossy and we were both stressed about Charlotte crying.”
“No, I’m sorry about what I said. Like we were Mom and Dad or something...”
“It’s fine. I just don’t want there to be something weird hanging between us. I don’t have many people in my life that I care about, but I do care about you. And Charlotte, of course.” Her cheeks were pink again, words tumbling out in awkward succession.
Garrett looked into her pretty hazel eyes, so full of consternation. Later he could wonder why he’d been so bold. Why he didn’t just tell her it was no big deal and move on. But right now he wasn’t thinking. Instead, he put his hands on her waist, tugged her forward into his arms and settled his mouth on hers, stopping the words with his lips.
