Page 23 of Exposed

“Picking you up, buddy.” I cradle him in my arm like a football and hold his little head under the stream of warm water.

His eyes roll contentedly back in his head and his lips form a little “O.”

“He’s freaking adorable. I need my camera,” I murmur.

“If you want to get it, I’ll hold him,” Pepper grins.

“Let me get his towel first. Gotta cover up the family jewels.” I wrap him in a fluffy blue towel, then quickly grab my camera and take a few photos of him. Little water droplets cling to his chubby cheeks, and he wriggles around, pulling his tiny hands out of the towel.

“You’re a natural Simon.” I pull the towel down a little so he can clutch the end of it with his little fingers while he looks at the camera. This is priceless.

“I’ll do a real photo shoot with you tomorrow, little man,” I say after snapping a few more.

“Oh, shit. I didn’t put a diaper on him.” I hurriedly set my camera down and grab a diaper, but I’m too late. The part of the towel covering Simon’s private parts is drenched with pee.

“Dude, I definitely need to put a diaper on you first next time.” Rookie move on my part, but I learned my lesson. Time to clean him up.

Again.

When Simon isall cleaned up and in his zip up sleeper, I brush my teeth. I prepare Simon’s last bottle before bed with him strapped to my chest, because I can do almost everything with my tiny human in this cool carrier.

My tiny human.It’ll take time to process that he’s mine. Before I went shopping today, I stopped at a lab so I couldget paternity testing done. I need to know 100% that he’s my son.

“Did you call a pediatrician today?” Pepper asks as I feed Simon his bottle.

“Yup. Made an appointment for Thursday with the same pediatrician I went to as a kid on Aveline Island.”

I was afraid to tell them I know absolutely nothing about taking care of an infant. If they know how ignorant I am about my own son, would they take him from me? I ended up calling my mom, and she suggested a book to buy. She also gave me advice about how to put him to bed.

Simon’s fallen asleep pretty easily a couple of times today, once in his car seat and once in the baby carrier. I’ll rock him to sleep tonight, and I’m hoping he sleeps well in his new crib.

When he napped today, I read as much as I could about infant care. My knowledge when it comes to infants is next to zilch, and I want to be the best dad I can for Simon.

“He can’t have anything in his crib when he sleeps,” I tell her. “No blanket, not even a stuffed animal.”

“You’re right.”

“If he does, he could suffocate and die. That’s intense shit, huh?” Oops. I need to not cuss in front of my kid.

“When he’s older, he can cuddle with stuff.”

“Yeah. I don’t know how he’s going to sleep through the night,” I sigh.

“He won’t, Matt.”

“Goodbye, sleep,” I say with a wry smile and run my finger down Simon’s cute nose.

“Hey, I need to talk to you,” I tell Pepper as she lays her clean laundry on the bedside table.

“What’s up?” She sits down next to me on my bed where I’m feeding Simon.

“I’ve got a sunset engagement session at the beach tomorrow and one the next day.”

“Lucky you had off today.”

“Yeah. Weekends are busy with weddings, so I always take Mondays off. Anyway, I called my parents, and they’re going to come watch Simon tomorrow. Wanted to give you a heads up that they’ll be here for a couple of hours in the evening.”

She nods in understanding. “That’s fine. I’ll be gone by then.”

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