Page 87 of I Choose You
I followed her into the house, my chance to tell her behind me. But honestly, I still wasn’t sure if I should or not.
Claire went to set up her laptop in the bedroom and make sure everything was caught up before the weekend when Wyatt walked in without knocking, carrying Jane.
“Hey, big girl.” I took Jane from Wyatt’s arm and settled her on my hip. “We are going to have the best time today, aren’t we?” I snuggled my nose under her chin and pretended to eat her chubby little neck. It always made her laugh. She tried to mimic my actions back to me, leaving a mess of drool in her wake.
“You do that to yourself, you know,” Wyatt said sagely as he passed me a paper towel.
“It’s worth it.” I shrugged.
After giving me a quick rundown of his plans, Wyatt dropped the diaper bag on the counter, gave Jane a kiss, and left to meet Maeve for their doctor’s appointment.
Claire came down the hall, having changed into yoga pants and one of my T-shirts, her blonde hair pulled into a hair clip.
“Sorry I missed Wyatt. I was just getting changed intosomething more comfortable.”
“He’ll be fine.” My gaze raked her up and down.
“Hi, Janey Bee,” Claire sang to her as she waved wildly in my arms. “Are you ready to have a fun-filled day with Uncle Reid?”
Jane leaned toward her, ready to tumble out of my arms to get to Claire. She pulled Jane onto her hip like she was made for it. My chest suddenly felt tight. I could see Claire in the future, a baby of her own on her hip. My baby.
I put the TV on cartoons for Jane, not that she watched them. She was mobile now and was far more interested in all the things she could get into.
“Hey, sweet girl. What are you doing?” I cooed to her. She was crawling over the couch, throwing the pillows onto the floor and laughing. I would pick them up, and Jane would throw them onto the floor again and again. She was entertained by literally everything. It made me laugh.
Jane nearly tumbled off the couch, but I scooped her up before she could fall. Putting her on the floor, I sat with her, pulling out some of the small toys Wyatt had left.
Claire sat with us. She picked up Jane’s squishy pink camper van and drove it up her arm and over her head, coming down the other side. Jane laughed so hard she fell over backward. Reflexes had my hand cushioning her head before it hit the ground.
“I’d have one of these one day,” I said.
“What? A baby?” Claire asked, her gaze shooting to mine.
“Yeah. For a minute, I wasn’t sure, but growing up, I always saw myself as a father.”
“Really? I don’t know why, but I guess I never really thought about guys specifically wanting to be fathers. I always thoughtthat was a girl’s thing, wanting to be moms.”
“Hey,” I scoffed. “Guys want to be dads too. If you saw my dad when I was growing up, you would want to be just like him too.”
“That is the cutest thing,” she said, a bright smile on her face.
“Just what every guy wants to hear,” I deadpanned, shooting her a look with my brows furrowed.
She just laughed at me. “Seriously though, what did you see for yourself growing up? How many kids did young Reid want to have.”
“Four.” My answer was quicker than I expected. I hadn’t thought about this future in a long time. My plans and dreams had changed over time, but young me—and current me—wanted a big family.
“Wow. That’s a lot of kids.”
Jane was hitting Claire along the side of her face with the camper van in her version of playing. Claire placed her hand on top of Jane’s and guided her up and over Claire’s head.
“So, what about you? What did young Claire see for her future self?”
“What did I see for my future, or what did I want?” she asked.
“Are those two different things?”
She leaned against the back of the couch next to me, reaching out to stroke Jane’s head once. She had a smile on her face, but it was one of her sad ones. The kind that dimmed the light in her eyes.
