“Better be,” Josiah said. “Or it puts that nursing Madonna vision we found in the closet into a whole new freaky perspective.”
Eli grinned.
“Yeah, she’s hers,” I replied.
“What’s her name?” Lu asked Cecilia as she came back into the room.
“Oh.” She looked down at the baby. “She doesn’t have one yet.”
“You haven’t named your kid?” Ephraim said in surprise.
“I’m waiting to see what fits her personality,” she replied, the words sounding almost like a question.
“Good luck with that,” Eli said uncertainly.
“I think you should name her Cecilia,” Lu said, hopping onto the counter next to Wilson.
“So they’ll have the same name?” Josiah shot back.
“Men do it all the time,” Lu replied with a shrug. I could tell by her tone and the set of her shoulders that she was just winding up, and I didn’t want to be there for the eventual debate.
“You ready?” I asked Cecilia.
“Yep. Hopefully, we don’t get pulled over,” she said as she strode toward me. “I left her car seat behind tonight.”
“Shoulda thought to grab it,” I replied, opening the door and letting her go ahead of me.
“We’ll lock up when we leave,” Ephraim called.
“Sounds good,” I muttered. I wasn’t even sure if he heard me over the sound of Lu defending the merits of Cecilia naming her baby after herself.
“Good thing I have a back seat,” I told Cecilia as I led her to my truck. “Probably safer for you two to ride back there.”
“Good call,” she said. “Thanks for taking me to the store.”
“No worries.”
I opened the door and spotted her as she climbed in one-handed. I was trying not to stare at her ass, but it was impossible not to notice the shape of her. She didn’t look like she’d just had a baby. Sure, she was a little curvier than she’d been when we were kids, but that was normal. No one stayed the same size as they were at eighteen. If anything, Cecilia looked even better now that she had a little extra meat on her bones. She’s always been beautiful, but she’d matured into something even better.
I let out a slow breath as I closed the door behind her, determined to stop thinking about the damn shape of her body. It didn’t matter what Cecilia looked like. She’d be gone as soon as her parents came to get her and then she’d be out of my life again, and things could go back to the way they’d been before her pop called me.
“You know, I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to get at the store, either,” she confessed after we were on the road. “I mean, hypothetically, I know what she needs to survive. Diapers, clothes and food. But what kind? And how many?”
“You’ll figure it out,” I replied, glancing at her in the mirror. “You just need enough to last until tomorrow, right? Once your parents pick you up, you guys can go back to your place and grab the rest of her stuff.” Shit, I was an idiot. “Or we can go over right now, if you want. I should’ve asked if you wanted me to take you home. I guess I’m so used to imagining you in Oregon, I didn’t even think about the fact that you have a place down here.”
“That’s okay,” she said, looking out the window. “I don’t really have anything for her at home.” She huffed. “I’m woefully unprepared.”
“We can go to the store first,” I offered. “Get you set up before I take you home.”
She was quiet for a while.
“I’d rather stay at your place, if that’s okay,” she finally said, her voice low. I knew the effort it took to ignore her pride and utter those words. “Just for tonight.”
“No worries,” I replied, relief hitting me harder than I wanted to admit. “I already made the bed. Someone might as well sleep in it.”
We were quiet for the rest of the ride and I tried not to think about the fact that Cecilia Butler, my Cecilia, was sitting two feet from me, and I was backsliding into shit that I thought I’d put behind me years ago. It had taken me a long ass time to get past the fact that she was no longer in my life. Looking back, I’d always assumed that I’d taken it so hard because we’d been so young when it all went down, but now I wasn’t so sure. Puppy love doesn’t make a