Two Men and a Baby - Isla Olsen Page 0,17

his toy monkey in his mittened hands while we ride the subway back to my apartment—which, of course, is about as far from Brooklyn as you can get in New York. Letting out a soft sigh, I tell Josh, “It’s kind of hard to explain. It’ll be better if you see for yourself. Do you know where my apartment is? Can you get there?”

“You want me to come to your place?” he asks warily.

I groan in frustration. “This is one of those Boy Who Cried Wolf situations, isn’t it? If I promise not to make a move on you will you come over? You have to promise to keep your hands to yourself as well, though—don’t act like this is a one way street,” I tease.

“I promise. And yeah, okay, I’ll come over. You’re at Brendan’s old place, right?”

“Yup.”

“Fine, I’ll be there in about half an hour.”

8

Josh

It’s my curiosity getting the better of me that prompts me to agree to go over to Connor’s place. I’m about eighty percent certain this plea for help is a move to get me to go out with him, but the other twenty percent isn’t so sure. He sounded pretty desperate on the phone, and despite his relentless “wooing” over the past couple months, he’s never actually called me before now. So either he’s upped his game or he genuinely needs help with something.

I arrive at Connor’s building at almost the same time he does. And I’m stunned to see he’s not exactly alone… I step toward him warily, my eyes zeroing in on the stroller in front of him and the baby inside it.

“Um…what’s that?”

“It’s a baby. I figured you’d know that—aren’t you some kind of expert on them or something?”

I roll my eyes. “I know it’s a baby. I meant where did it come from? Whose baby is this?”

“He’s mine,” Connor says.

My eyes snap to his face and, for the first time, I notice how pale and freaked out he looks. Jesus, he’s actually serious right now.

“Wha—how? When?” I stammer out.

Connor lifts his hands to scrub over his face. “I found out yesterday. His mom is a nurse at the hospital where Cait had her baby.”

Right, of course. Dec texted me last night to tell me Cait’s baby had come early; if I’m being honest I was a little bummed the news had come from him and not Connor. Now I can see Con clearly had other things on his mind yesterday.

“Okay. And now?”

He lets out a long, heavy sigh. “I may have volunteered to take him tonight because earlier when I went to meet him Laura got a call that her mom’s sick and can’t care for him while she’s at work.”

“And she just left him with you, no questions or concerns?”

“Not exactly…” he glances away for a moment, his cheeks tinging with red. “I may have led her to believe I’m kind of an expert with babies and I also told her my sisters all have kids and I could get their help.”

“Connor…”

“What? It’s not that much of a stretch—my sisters would help if I asked. And you’re an expert on babies, which is why I called you in. See—not exactly lying.”

I shake my head in exasperation. “Don’t you think she—Laura, is it?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you think Laura deserves to know who’s looking after her son?”

“He’s my son too,” Connor says. “And it’s not like I’m taking him to meet hardened criminals. Look, if you don’t want to help it’s fine. I can take him to Alannah’s, I guess—I just figured she has so much going on right now with starting her new job and everything I didn’t want to bother her.”

Considering Alannah lives almost an hour away in Brooklyn, I’m going to assume this is something of an empty suggestion.

I sigh. “No, it’s fine. I’ll help you.” Truthfully, I was a total goner from the second I saw this baby, because damn is he cute. Right now he’s sitting quietly in his stroller, all bundled up in winter gear and sucking on the ear of a stuffed monkey as he stares out at the world. There’s no question he’s Connor’s son, not with those big blue eyes and the nose that are absolutely identical to his father’s.

Connor’s eyes fall closed in what is obviously relief. “Thank you. Seriously, you’re amazing.”

I can’t help smiling at that. “I know. So, how long is he going to be with you tonight?”

Connor lifts a hand to rake through his hair. “Well, Laura said she usually