The Curve Ball - Samantha Lind Page 0,29
swing off and stop it from swaying side to side so I can take my sleeping daughter out. I’m starting to feel more comfortable with her with each passing day. She’s not as fragile as I thought she’d be. She can easily hold up her own head. I successfully transfer her into the car seat from the swing, all while keeping her asleep. I snap her in, no longer struggling with the buckle like I did just the other day when I first attempted to place her in the seat.
“Ready?” I ask Riley as I turn in her direction, the car seat already hanging from the crook of my elbow.
“Yep,” Riley agrees. “Thank you for dinner,” she tells Derek, lifting up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. He wraps an arm around her, pulling her into a hug.
“Anytime,” he tells her before releasing her from his grip. “Don’t let this punk give you any shit,” he tells her, then flashes a shit-eating grin my way.
“I can hold my own,” she tells him, her backbone firmly showing in her confident answer.
“I know you can, still doesn’t mean I won’t give you some sound advice every once in awhile.”
“Okay,” she says, and I can see the eye roll she gives him as she moves over to Jillian. They pull each other into a hug. “See you later this week; don’t forget to check the time of that appointment.”
“Will do. I’ll text you tomorrow, sound good?”
“Sounds perfect. Good night. Love you both,” Riley says to Jillian and Derek.
“We love you, too,” Jillian tells her as we start walking toward the door. It doesn’t take us long to get loaded into my car. I’m getting faster and faster with snapping in the baby seat to the base in my back seat.
We stay quiet on the drive back to my house. The sun has set, so things outside are just illuminated from the lights that line the street. I pull into the driveway, hitting the button to open the garage door. It fully opens by the time I make it up the driveway and am able to pull right into the garage. I sneak a quick glance at Riley as I shut the engine off and can tell that she’s tired. I quickly get out of the car and get the car seat from the back seat, carrying Evie inside the house.
I take her straight into the nursery, removing her from the car seat and setting her on the changing pad Riley placed on top of the dresser today. I snag a clean sleeper from one of the drawers below, and a diaper from the bin at the end. She stirs as I start to strip her out of her outfit and is fully awake by the time I get her stripped down. She lets me know just how much she hates being changed when I have the audacity to wipe her with a cold wipe as I change her. “You’re just fine,” I coo at my daughter. “Daddy’s got you,” I tell her as I fasten the diaper and then slip the lightweight sleeper on her. It takes me a few seconds to get her arms and legs into it, but thankfully it just zips up, so no buttons for me to fiddle with and ultimately snap together wrong.
“Need any help in here?” Riley asks from the doorway.
“I don’t think so. Why don’t you head to bed? I’ll stay up and give her a bedtime bottle in a little bit. You look like you’re exhausted.”
“Are you sure? You’ve got a game tomorrow and need to be well-rested.”
“I’m positive. You’ve been a huge help these last few days, and you’re going to have her all by yourself in just a few more when I’m out of town.”
“Okay, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to wake me up.”
“We’ll be fine, go to bed, Riley,” I tell her, giving her a determined look. I might not know all there is to raising a kid, but I’m damn well going to figure this shit out. I obviously have to rely on someone else to help raise my kid, but I don’t want her to ever feel like I wasn’t here for her when I could be. Things won’t always be like this. There will come a day that I can no longer play the game I grew up loving, and still love with a fiery passion, and I want to be here for my daughter.
With