Two Men and a Baby - Isla Olsen Page 0,15

get involved. Like telling me was something she thought she had to do, not that she really wanted to do.

When I finally meet her again a couple hours later, she’s changed out of her scrubs and has a backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Here. There’s a whole album of pictures on here.” She hands me her phone, which is already unlocked and open to the album she’s referring to.

The moment I see him, I know it’s all true. He looks exactly like my nephew Wyatt did when he was a baby, so unless she’s been hooking up with Liam—in which case she should get the hell out of town before Melinda finds out and chops her into little pieces—I’m going to assume I’m this kid’s father.

“He looks like me,” I say, my voice hoarse.

She nods. “He has your eyes.”

“And your freckles.”

God, this is so fucking surreal.

“You don’t have to do anything,” she says quietly. “I’m not expecting anything.”

My eyes snap up from the pictures on the phone. “What, you think I’m just going to walk away and pretend he doesn’t exist?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“I want to meet him. Please,” I add in a softer tone.”

Eventually, she nods. “Okay.”

7

Connor

I manage to convince Laura to let me come over the next day. It’s a Wednesday and I’m supposed to be working but there’s no way I’d be able to concentrate on anything anyway, so I call in, telling my boss I ate a bad burrito. No one ever asks questions when it’s stomach stuff because the last thing they want is to visualize one of their workers spewing from both ends of their body.

Besides, it’s not entirely a lie; I did eat a burrito last night and right now I feel like I’m about to throw up. Who says that’s not connected?

I draw in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, then I reach out to press the buzzer for apartment 14 at the address Laura gave me. Interestingly, her building’s not too far from Cait’s place and for a brief second I consider stopping by to visit my sister after I’m done here, but then I remind myself she’s still in hospital because she had a baby yesterday.

I rub my hands together as I wait, moving around to keep warm. I’m kind of regretting not wearing a thicker coat, but honestly I’m so used to Denver winters the last couple months in New York have felt incredibly mild.

The intercom crackles and I hear Laura’s voice. “Yep?”

“It’s Connor.”

The door buzzes and I pull it open before dashing up the stairs to the second floor.

“You look like you’re about to throw up,” Laura comments, eyeing me with a furrowed brow as she opens the door.

“I kind of feel like it.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“What? I’m not allowed to be nervous meeting my kid? What if he hates me?”

“He’s four and a half months old,” Laura says, ushering me in and closing the apartment door. “He’s not that perceptive.”

I remove my coat and Laura takes it, folding it over a chair.

“If you think babies aren’t perceptive you’ve clearly never seen a little movie called The Boss Baby,” I tell her. “Or any episode of Family Guy.”

She stares at me for a moment, blinking slowly. “I never realized they were documentaries. Thanks for enlightening me.”

She leads me farther into the apartment to where Chase is sprawled out on a playmat, staring up at some stuffed animals that are hanging from a bar overhead. Every now and then he lifts an arm to bat at one of them, giggling as it makes a rattling or tinkling sound.

It’s like the breath has been knocked out of me and I’m completely rooted to the spot as I watch him playing and laughing. “Holy shit…he’s so…real.”

“You thought he’d be made of plastic?” Laura asks dryly.

“Hey, you’ve had over a year to get used to this. I’ve had less than twenty-four hours.”

“Fair,” she concedes. “You want to pick him up?”

I shake my head. “He’s happy like this. I don’t want to disturb him.”

Laura’s phone goes off on the kitchen counter and she rushes over to answer it. I see her frown at the screen before hitting the accept call icon. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?” As soon as her mom starts talking, Laura’s face crumples and I can tell it’s taking a lot of effort for her not to show her disappointment in her voice. “No, no, it’s okay. I’ll work something out. You just focus on getting well, okay?”

She