Series Starter Firsts in Series Collection - Kaylee Ryan Page 0,30

and a pleasure. And she might have hinted to Reagan that she needs to give her more grandkids. She and Dad are shopping today; Mom insists that Knox have the comforts of home at their house as well.

“All right, little man, I think we’re good to go,” I tell my son after strapping him into his car seat. He’s snoozing away. I double-check the diaper bag: diapers, wipes, clothes, blanket, bottles and toys. Not that he plays with them, but hey, you never know when you might need it. Oh, and the binky. Gotta have the binky.

“Ready?” Reagan asks.

“Yeah, I think I have everything.” I grab the envelope from the counter that has all his paperwork already filled out. Gotta love the Internet.

Reagan grabs the diaper bag while I take Knox out to the truck and strap him in. In the past three days, I have never been more relieved that I purchased a crew cab truck. Not having a backseat would mean buying a new car, and that’s not something I want to worry about right now. I have enough on my plate as it is.

Reagan hops in the backseat, wearing a mile-wide grin. Knox has been getting lots of attention since he’s been home. I read online that if you hold them too much you spoil them, but when I brought this up to Mom and Reagan, they blew me off. I believe Mom’s exact words were, “You love them, Ridge. You can’t ever give them too much love.” I dropped it after that.

The ride to the office is quick. The lady at the desk looks impressed that the forms are filled out and ready to go. I run my own company; you can’t be successful half-assing everything.

“Since—” she looks at my forms “—Knox is under three months of age, we’ll take you on back to a room. We don’t like the smaller babies to be out here with the illnesses.”

Good policy. She meets us at the door and takes us to an exam room. “They’ll need him undressed down to his diaper,” she tells us then shuts the door.

Laying his blanket on the exam table, I lift him from his seat and he stretches. I let him work it out of his system before laying him on the blanket to undress him. This is still something I take my time with, as I don’t want to hurt him, even though Mom assures me that as long as I’m gentle and watch his head, I’ll be fine. Once he’s stripped down to his diaper, I wrap the blanket around him to keep him warm.

“This place hasn’t changed a bit,” Reagan comments.

I cradle Knox in my arms and survey the room. “Not a bit,” I agree.

“Knock, knock,” a female voice says before entering the room.

“Kendall?” Reagan greets her. “I didn’t know you worked here. I thought you were working over in Mason? How have you been?”

“Yeah, I transferred here about six months ago. It was time for a change, and I was ready to come home. Although, as soon as I did, my parents’ packed up and moved to Florida,” she chuckles. “How are you?”

“Wonderful, just coming to my nephew’s first doctor visit.” She points to Knox. “You remember Ridge, right?”

“Ridge, it’s good to see you. Cute little guy you have there.”

“Thanks.”

“All right, so let’s get him weighed and then the doctor will be in to check him out.”

I follow her out of the exam room and down the hall. “All right, Dad, I just need you to lay him on the scales.”

I look at the small white scale that is curved on the sides—I assume to keep kids from rolling off. There’s a blue padded strip that almost looks like a diaper covering it. “You want me to set him there? Really? What if he falls off?” I question.

“He won’t. I’ll be right beside him the entire time. We need to get his weight.”

Reagan nudges my arm, and begrudgingly, I unwrap him from his blanket and lay him on the scale. I stand right next to it, ready if I’m needed.

Kendall smiles and starts taking off his diaper.

What the hell? “What are you doing?” Why is she getting my kid naked?

“We have to get an accurate weight. It’s crucial when they are this young to ensure they’re gaining weight. He should gain steadily at each visit. We can’t have the diaper interfering with that number,” Kendall explains.

I nod, biting my lip. I watch as Kendall expertly removes his