Page 61 of Mad Love

I swallow and look at Caleb, happily waving his little teether.

“I’d like him to have time with you,” I finally say. “Weston is with his friends in the room back there.” I point over my shoulder. “We can ask if today works for him too.”

“Wonderful.” Lane beams, first at me and then Caleb. “We’ll have so much fun.”

After Weston and I go over what Caleb likes and doesn’t like and when he’ll be ready to eat and nap, Lane laughs and waves us off.

“He’ll be okay, I promise,” she says.

Weston puts Caleb’s car seat in her car and Lane gets in the driver’s seat and looks amused when she glances at us.

“I’ll call if there are any problems, but I don’t anticipate there being any,” she says. “Have fun, you guys. Take your time. Caleb and I will have a blast and your dad will be disappointed if you pick him up before he gets a chance to see him.”

Weston nods and looks like he wants to say more but just nods again. “Thanks, Mom. Let us know how he’s doing, okay?”

“I will.”

We’re both quiet for a few minutes as we drive through Silver Hills. It’s rare that we’re alone with each other.

Weston clears his throat. “I messaged Autumn earlier and she recommended a place in Denver for his crib. But she also said she’d heard about a great place here in town for cute clothes and unique toys. Want to stop there first?”

“Sure. That sounds good.” I glance at him and his smile is sweet, which makes my stomach take a nose-dive.

I’ve got to shake off whatever this is,now.

“It feels weird without the kiddo, doesn’t it?” Weston says.

I laugh. “Yeah, really weird.”

He pulls in front of a boutique and parks. It looks like a place I could never afford to shop in and for the zillionth time, I can’t believe that I’m experiencing this life.

“My mom will take good care of him,” he says. “And she’ll call if he seems unhappy.”

I nod. “I’m not worried. I guess all parents…I mean, allpeoplefeel this way when they leave their baby for the first time.” I shake my head. “I know I’m not his parent. I didn’t mean that…and I’ve left him before…obviously. It just feels different now.”

“You don’t have to call it that if you’re not comfortable with it, but I think of you as his parent. You’re taking care of him, day in and day out. We’re co-parenting him.”

I look down at my hands, willing myself not to cry. Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and turn to him. “Thank you,” I whisper. And then louder, I say, “Let’s do this.”

He grins. “Fuck yeah, let’s do this.”

He lifts up his hand and I clasp it, both of us squeezing for a few seconds and grinning like crazy for no apparent reason.

The boutique is one of the cutest places I’ve ever seen. Cute clothes and cuteeverything. At first I’m reluctant to pick anything out, but Weston keeps holding up adorable outfits and I get dreamy eyes and he laughs and drapes them over his arm. He has quite a pile going already.

“He doesn’t need so many clothes.” I laugh.

“I’ll get a bigger size in this one. Or hell, both sizes,” Weston says. “It’s fucking adorable.”

The salesperson giggles next to us and she waves when we look at her. “Hi, I’m Marcy. Would you like me to set those aside for you?” She stares up at Weston and gasps when she recognizes him. “Weston Shaw,” she breathes. “You are…I am…you are incredible.”

Weston smiles at her like he’s used to being told this all the time, but when he glances at me, his cheeks are pink. “Thank you. Couldn’t do it without my team,” he says. He lifts the arm laden with clothes. “We’re not done shopping, but we’ll take these. Tell me where and I’ll set them down.”

In a trance, Marcy points to the counter.

He nods and walks them over. I start looking at the items on a bookshelf and laugh, picking it up.

“What did you find?” he asks.

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