Two Men and a Baby - Isla Olsen Page 0,16

ends the call and sets her phone back on the counter, her eyes landing on Chase with a tinge of remorse.

“Everything okay?”

She snaps an annoyed gaze in my direction. “Does it sound like everything’s okay?”

Okay, yeah, maybe that was a stupid question. “Sorry. Figure of speech.”

She rakes a frustrated hand through her hair, casting Chase another regretful look. “My mom usually takes the baby while I’m at work, but she’s just told me she’s unwell and can’t take him.”

“Oh. Um…so he’s not in daycare?”

Her annoyance turns into a full-blown icy glare. “Do you know of any daycares that are open ’til midnight? You know, that aren’t run by crack dealers?”

Fuck, why do I keep saying the completely wrong thing? I let out a supremely awkward chuckle. “Guess you have a point. Otherwise it’d be called ‘nightcare’.”

She ignores me, raking both her hands through her hair now. “Fuck, I’m going to have to call in to work. Again.”

“I can take him.” Um…what? Where the hell did that come from?

Laura seems to be thinking the same thing, because she looks up at me with wide, unblinking eyes. “What?”

Now that I’ve put the idea out there I decide I can’t back out. This is my first test as a father and I have every intention of passing it. “I can watch him. While you’re at work. No biggie.”

She lets out a rueful laugh, shaking her head. “You know what, it’s fine. There’s a guy who lives upstairs who I’m sure won’t mind watching him. I mean, I’m pretty sure he sells pot to teenagers but you can’t have everything, right?”

I know she wouldn’t actually leave her son with a pot-dealing stranger, but still, the comparison stings a little. She doesn’t know anything about me—which I guess is most of the problem. I look her directly in the eye, making sure to keep my expression free of the worlds of apprehension and doubt I’m experiencing right now. “You can trust me with this. I’m his dad—I’m not going to let anything happen to him.”

“I don’t even know you,” she says wearily. “Basically all I know is your name and that you don’t mind hooking up with random people in airport bathrooms when your flight’s delayed.”

I arch an eyebrow at her. “To be fair, that’s pretty much all I know about you as well.”

The corner of her mouth twitches up. “Touche.”

“Here’s what you need to know right now—I have ten siblings, and from those siblings I have nine nieces and nephews. I love kids. I’m great with them. I know what I’m doing. And most importantly, family is everything to me—you can trust me to take care of my son. And if I need help with anything I can just call one of my sisters and they’ll come rushing right over.”

“I—” she breaks off, her expression still doubtful.

“Have you ever heard the expression ‘don’t look a gift horse in the face’?” I ask her. “Let me do this. And it’ll give me time to bond with the little guy.”

Finally, she looses a resigned sigh and nods. “Okay, fine.”

I have a confession to make: a lot of what I said to Laura about me being totally awesome with kids was absolute bullshit. I love my nieces and nephews but I haven’t been around them on a regular basis for a long time, and I have a distinct recollection of making myself as scarce as possible when I was in high school and Bridie’s kids and Liam’s older ones were all babies. But even if I have no fucking clue what I’m doing, I meant every word when I said I’d never let anything happen to my son. And I couldn’t just stand there while Laura was stressing about work and not step up.

Fortunately, I know someone who is an expert on babies.

“Hey, did you hurt your thumbs or something?” Josh says in an amused tone when he answers the call.

“Huh?”

“Just not used to you calling. You usually text,” he explains.

“Oh, god, you seriously have the lamest jokes.”

“I try,” he says with a chuckle. “What’s up?”

I hesitate, not really sure how to explain the situation. “Um…well, I kind of need a favor.”

“Is the favor that you need me to go out with you?” he asks suspiciously.

I can’t help grinning, even while most of me is still stressing out. “Well, yeah I do need that, but that’s not what I’m calling about now.”

“Okay…what do you need?”

I glance down at Chase, who’s sitting quietly in his stroller and clutching