Page 15 of I Won't Be In On Monday

"That's not going to work," she says. "What little girl wants to walk into her room and see a bunch of boxes on one side? There's not even a bed in here for her. Nothing cute, nothing that's going to make her fall in love with this space."

"I haven't had time to hire someone to paint a mural on the wall or buy a princess bed or whatever else little girls like." I runmy fingers through my hair and groan. "Shit. What am I going to do?"

"It's okay," she says softly, stepping forward and touching me on the arm. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said."

I stare into her eyes for a couple of seconds and shake my head. "It's not your fault. It's the truth. I'm not ready to be a dad. I'm not ready to take on this responsibility. I'm not even ready for her to come and live with me. What am I going to do?"

"We'll figure it out. I mean, we can..." She looks around the room and sips more of her macchiato. "I don't even know what to say, but we can figure something out." She blinks. "Hold on. Let me check something."

"Okay," I say, as she heads out of the room. I follow behind her as she walks into the living room.

"Is that a couch that turns into a bed?" She looks back at me, and I nod.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Maybe Canyon can sleep there."

"Sleep on the couch?" I stare at her.

"Yeah, you can tell her you didn't get her a bed because you wanted her to choose one she really liked."

"I mean, I was thinking she might like to choose her own bed, but I don't want her to feel like I don't even have a room prepared for her. I don't want her to feel like she has to sleep on the couch."

"But the fact is that you don't have a bed for her, and I hate to say this Remington, but we're not going to get a bed within the next couple of hours and sheets and pack up this stuff and go to the grocery store and..." She bites down on her lower lip. "You have to be in the office in a few hours to pick her up, right?"

"Yeah." I nod and let out a deep sigh. "My life is spinning out of control, Juniper. I have to figure out how to take care of a littlegirl in a few hours. How am I going to do that? I've never even been around kids before."

"I think you have."

"No, I haven't." I shake my head.

"Well, you were around kids when you were a kid, right?"

"That was many many years ago."

"I mean sure, it was a while ago.” She giggles. “What was it like living with the dinosaurs?”

"What do you mean,sure it was a while ago?" I grin at her. "I'm not that old."

"You're the one who said it." She giggles. "Anyway, we need to stop bickering and come up with a plan of action. Do you have a pen and paper?"

"I do. But what's that going to do?"

"We are going to create a list of everything we need to do."

She blinks as she gazes up at me. I watch as she gathers her hair and ties it in a bun on the top of her head. She gives me a stern look and heads back to the spare room.

"First things first, you need to move all this stuff to your room."

"What?" I stare at her.

"I mean, unless you want us to just chuck it out without seeing what it is."

"No, I mean I don't want to trash it yet. I just don't..."

"So then you need to move it to your room. Do you have one or two bathrooms here?"

"It's a one-and-a-half bath," I say. "I didn't really think I would need another full bathroom because it's only me and I'm a confirmed bachelor and..."

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