Page 36 of Matteo

Layla is fighting him, not wanting to open her mouth. Firmly, one hand grips her chin, and the other pries her mouth open enough where he can coat her bottom gums with it. She wails and tries to spit it out.

I rock her. “It tastes awful, but it will help. Just give it a minute, sweetie.”

Matteo watches, his face miserable as she glares at him with betrayed eyes. “I’m sorry, baby girl. Please stop looking at me like that. I’ll give you all the noodles you want.”

Running a hand down her back to try and soothe her, I shake my head. “Don’t go promising her things while you’re suffering now. She’ll play you so hard. It does suck when she’s crying, though. God, it just kills me to hear her sobbing.”

“Yes, especially when she’s normally such a happy baby.” He runs a hand through his hair.

Finally, her little sobs subside. We watch as her head comes up from my shoulder. She’s rubbing her gums together, clearly trying to figure out where the pain went. When she gives us a hesitant smile, we both sigh at the same time. Our eyes meet, and I smile. “Thanks, she can’t say it, so I will.”

He shakes his head. “I’m just glad I thought to add it to the list. I was kind of surprised she didn’t already have at least two teeth already.”

“Is it bad she didn’t have teeth until now?” I worried about it for weeks in the motel.

“No, not necessarily. Remember, not all babies meet milestones at the same time. Although, I would like to take her and do a workup on her to ensure there isn’t anything hiding. She seems so small for her age.” His eyes run over her with concern.

Relief fills me. “I’d really like that.”

The smoke alarm goes off.

“Crap,” Matteo disappears.

I follow him to find a plume of black smoke coming out of his beloved toaster oven. He unplugs it, turns on the vent hood to pull smoke out of the kitchen, and using oven mitts, takes it off the counter.

“Can you get the French doors to the rooftop, please?” He asks.

The black phone beside the French doors begins to ring. He sets the toaster oven on the counter. “Hello? Yes, sorry. It's a cooking fiasco. Everything is fine. Thanks for checking.”

“Who was that? Oh wow. How could you not tell me this was out here? How many floors high are we up?” A gust of cold wind hits me, sending me back inside with Layla.

Matteo laughs. “That’s why, and the phone is for the front desk. We’re on the fifth floor.” He’s only a few feet behind me. Using a towel, he waves it in front of the smoke alarm. It finally stops going off. “I’m sorry, sweetie. That was loud, huh?”

Layla nods and reaches for him. I let her go, and he cuddles her close. “Okay, the bad alarm is done.”

“Front desk?”

“Yes, now your question about how many floors up reminds me. You were completely out of it when I brought you here. We’re on the fifth floor, without a floor above us. Let me take you on a tour of the place.” He gestures to the door.

I look down at the leggings and shirt I’m wearing. “Um…”

“You can throw on some shoes. Don’t worry about changing. We aren’t leaving the building.” He reassures me.

I run back to my room and grab the comfy-looking leather flip-flops. Matteo is waiting with Layla. He opens the door of the condo, and we’re in another entryway.

“Damn, I almost forgot the keycard. I’ll be right back.”

He holds up a gold card. “I’m going to ensure the desk gives me another one of these for you.”

The elevator opens, and we get on. Layla looks around and clings to him when it goes down.

“It’s okay. You remember this, don’t you?” Her wide eyes say she doesn’t.

“You don’t need your keycard to go downstairs, but it only goes to the ground floor. No other floors can be selected without scanning your keycard. But if you want the elevator to open to the parking garage, scan your keycard and press the ground floor button. It will open at the back of the elevator directly into the garage.”

“That’s neat.”

When the elevator opens, we go down a long hallway to doors marked exit.

---