Page 24 of Blue Lines and Lullabies

Gabe: What’s the point of tummy time?

Me: Strengthening neck muscles and making sure she doesn’t have a flat head. The bones in her skull are still developing and fusing together. If she spends too much time on her back, her skull bones will fuse together in a different position than what is ideal.

Gabe: Wow. I had no idea. The baby book I’m reading hasn’t covered tummy time yet.

Me: You’re reading a baby book?

Gabe: Yeah. I put the Kindle app on my phone and found some books I can read there.

Me: That’s actually really cool. My Kindle doesn’t have many nonfiction books.

Honestly, I don’t think there’s one nonfiction book on my Kindle. I like what I like, and I don’t deviate from it. The world is a dumpster fire most of the time, so it’s nice to escape into a romance book when I need a pick-me-up.

Gabe: What are you currently reading?

Me: A fictional story about a sports professional who finds a baby dropped on his doorstep and navigates new fatherhood while simultaneously engaging in a romantic relationship with his best friend’s daughter.

Gabe: So you’re reading porn?

Me: IT IS NOT PORN.

Me: Well, it kinda is.

Gabe: Title, please.

Me: No.

Gabe: Come on. We have a five-hour flight tomorrow. I can only read so much about babies. Porn will be a nice change.

Me: Are you going to judge me about the content?

Gabe: No.

Me: …

Gabe: Maybe a little.

Me: …

Gabe: It might teach me some things.

Me: Lovely.

Gabe: Just give me the title.

Me: A Major Puck Up by Brittanée Nicole.

Gabe: It’s porn.

Me: It is NOT.

Gabe: Alright, it’s borderline porn. Is this what women like to read? About grown men fucking teenagers?

Me: She’s twenty-two in the book, Gabe.

Gabe: Fine. Fucking ALMOST teenagers.

Me: Ew. No. Well, I guess some women probably do like to read that stuff. I’m not about to yuck someone’s yum.

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