Page 55 of When Alec Met Evie
Juno lifts her head, her cries trailing off as she looks at Alec.
“Are you sure?”
He chuckles. “It might not even work. But yeah. I’m willing to try.”
I shift Juno into his arms. He looks awkward at first, but it only takes a moment for him to relax, Juno tucked firmly against his chest.
He tilts his head toward the tv. “Turn that off?”
I nod and reach for the remote, pausing the video but leaving it on, since it’s the only light to see by. I watch as Alec makes his way around the perimeter of the room, a light bounce in his step as he rubs his hand up and down Juno’s back. It’s not quite a natural movement. He looks like he’s trying really hard, thinkingabout his steps, thinking about the way he’s holding her. But the longer he walks, the more he seems to relax, settling into a rhythm that seems to be working for them both.
And then my heart climbs into my throat because Alec starts to sing.
At first I can’t quite make out what, exactly, he’s singing, but then he turns so he’s facing me again, and I pick up the chorus to Phil Collins’, “You’ll Be in My Heart.” It’s an old song. Stupid old. I only know it from theTarzanmovie that played on repeat in the waiting room of the children’s hospital where my little brother got all his chemo treatments.
But how does Alec know it?
However he does, he sounds good. Completely on key, his tone rich and smooth.
Having spent two years married to a theater major with a minor in vocal performance, I recognize a good voice when I hear one. And based on this little, tiny teaser, I’m betting Alec is as good as some of Devon’s classmates.
I have no idea why Megan has never mentioned that her brother has such a beautiful voice or how I missed this growing up, but I am completely transfixed. Forget his Instagram reels. I just need to record this. Juno will never struggle to sleep again. It’s only been a couple of minutes, and she already looks calmer, her body relaxed, her head resting on Alec’s shoulder.
I, on the other hand, may never sleep again. I’ll just keep replaying this moment over and over.
When he sings the line, “For one so small, you seem so strong,” tears fill my eyes.
I don’t know what’s happening to me. On the one hand, the image of a shirtless Alec cradling my baby girl against his chest while hesings to heris a level of sexy I could not have dreamed up myself. But it’s more than that. Seeing Alec hold Juno brings into stark clarity just how much she’s missing by not having herdad around. Not that I can imagine Devon ever being this gentle, this patient with Juno.
I tug a blanket off the back of the chair and wrap it around my shoulders, then drop onto the end of the couch. Momentum with a dash of desperation has gotten me through the last few months. It propelled me all the way to North Carolina, even though I only feel like I barely know what I’m doing. With Juno, with life, with everything.
But right now, I feel exhaustion all the way down to my bones.
I don’t know how I’m supposed to do this. How I’m supposed to raise a baby all by myself while also figuring out how to have a career and a life. Most of the time, Juno is a great baby. But babies are nothing if not unpredictable, and they’re not exactly known for planning their tantrums and meltdowns around their parents’ work schedules.
Or parentsingular.One parent. Just me.
I lean back onto the couch and close my eyes. Alec has no idea the gift he’s given me. It feels so good to just breathe for a second. To trust that at least for this small moment, Juno is safe in someone else’s arms.
I wake up with my head resting against Alec’s chest as he carries me up the stairs, one arm under my back and the other under my knees. My senses wake up slowly as I try to process where I am and how I got here.
Alec smells amazing, clean and woodsy and masculine, and his skin feels warm and smooth where my arms are draped around his neck.
Even though I’m rocking my post-baby curves like it’s my full-time job, it doesn’t seem like he’s working to carry meat all.I mean, I know he’s a professional athlete, but I’m not some tiny delicate flower of a woman. There’s some heft to this body—to these boobs, which,oh geezI hope my boobs are covered.
Speaking of boobs and the infant they’re responsible for feeding...did Alec leave my baby downstairs to carrymeupstairs?
“Juno,” I whisper.
“Already in her crib,” Alec says, his voice low to match mine.
We reach the top of the stairs, and he carries me through my open bedroom doorway. The room is mostly dark, but the bathroom light is on, so there’s just enough light spilling in for me to see Juno tucked into her portable crib, her chest rising and falling in peaceful sleep. She’s even bundled up in her sleep sack—something Alec must have remembered from when we put Juno to bed the night before he left for the road.
“You’re a magic baby whisperer,” I say as Alec lowers me onto my bed. He tucks my feet under the covers and pulls them up to my chest.
“I don’t know how long it’ll last,” he says, “but I hope you can sleep while it does.”
I close my eyes, suddenly overwhelmed by his kindness. Maybe it’s because my emotions were already so close to the surface when I fell asleep, but tears fill my eyes for the second time tonight, one spilling over onto my cheek.
