Page 98 of Hold You Close
London
~ Fourteen Months Later ~
“Ian!”I call out. “I need a diaper!”
You would think the man would replenish the diaper holder after he uses the last one, but no, he leaves it empty so I have to stand here with crap in the baby’s butt and no way to change her.
I look down at Sabrina and shake my head. “Your Daddy is a mess, Brina. A big mess. What are we going to do with him, huh?”
She’s only four months old, so she just kicks her legs and smiles.
“Here!” Ian enters the room as though he just saved the world, holding the pack of diapers. “You’re welcome.”
“I wouldn’t have had to ask if you filled them to begin with . . .”
“Yes, but then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get told what to do, and I just love that,” he says with heavy sarcasm.
“I hate you.”
He laughs. “You only wish you did, baby.” Then the jerkface slaps my ass.
Ian wasted no time getting me pregnant. I think he took a bet with someone over how fast he could do it, because it was his damn mission. We both wanted a baby, and we both imagined time wasn’t on our side. I never thought it would happen in the first month, but here we are.
“Where is Christopher?” I ask.
Christopher has started dating, he’s a senior now, and he’s his uncle. A ladies’ man.
“He’s in the game room.”
“With his girlfriend?”
“Yes, why?”
I just stand there and look at him.
Ian suddenly bolts out of the room. “Chris!” I hear him yelling. “You better have your damn pants on!”
I cradle Sabrina in my arms. “You’re going to be a good girl, aren’t you? You’re not going to like stinky boys because your daddy might just shoot one that comes to the door.”
I head down to the living room where Ruby is on the couch, eating crackers and watching Frozen for the thirtieth time.
Seriously, this movie embeds itself in your brain until you’re singing the words in the shower without meaning to.
“Can we go shopping, Aunt London?” Morgan asks.
In the last year, this girl has gone from semi-Tomboy to full out girly-girl. She only wears a mix of pink or teal, her hair is always done, and I think she rivals Sephora with her makeup collection. Ian was the idiot who took her shopping the first time. When they rang her up, I think he might have had a stroke because he doesn’t remember actually ringing his card through.
“No, you can’t possibly need anything.”
She huffs. “Whatever. Brina gets anything she wants.”
“She’s a baby!”
I swear, this girl. When I was pregnant, Morgan was my best friend. She was always asking if I needed anything or if I was comfortable. We spoke with the kids at great length about naming her. Neither Ian nor I wanted them to be upset, and they were ecstatic that we were giving her their mother’s name. Then Sabrina came home with us, and I swear, they suddenly became completely different children.
“Still, she got new clothes!”
Thirteen is the worst age ever. I’m completely convinced.
