Page 17 of Bear In A Bookstore
It was obvious that Allie was about dead on her feet. Absently, she handed the other bag over and patted the baby through the sling with one hand. Facing off with the door code panel, she rubbed a hand over her eyes and sighed. “I’m such an idiot. I forgot the code to my own bakery.”
She tried again and the door lock geared open. “I was two numbers off. God.”
Kora followed her inside with the bags. “I imagine you’re not getting much sleep. How old are the babies?”
“Six weeks. About a hundred more to go before they sleep through the night, or so I hear.”
She knew little to nothing about babies, but sleepless nights were nothing new to her.
Moving behind the counter, Allie groaned when the other baby started to cry. She walked with a bouncy step, trying to soothe them.
“Is there anything else I can do?”
“Sure, want to hold a baby?”
“Oh.” That’s something she’d actually never done. “Ah, I should—I should sit down first, right?”
Allie looked at her funny, then nodded. Kora sat at one of the café tables with a pretty yellow and white gingham tablecloth. Allie slipped a baby from the sling and carefully handed him over. Kora put her arms out straight then realized that wasn’t going to work, so bent her elbows.
“Bring your arms closer to your body. There you go.”
She tensed as Allie placed the warm little body in her arms. Holy shit. Didn’t she have to hold his head or something?
“Have you ever held a baby?”
“Nope.”
“I guess I’d better not ask you to change a diaper then.”
“That might be a bigger mess for you than you were expecting.”
Allie chuckled. “Here, just hold his head like this . . . and put his arms here. Snuggle him against your chest like this. There! Mission accomplished.”
Tense and afraid to move, she sat stiffly against the back of the chair with her spine rigid. The baby was a soft, warm weight in her arm. The scent of shampoo and baby powder wafted off him. Light blond lashes rest against his fat cheeks, a mop of dark blond hair pointed in all directions on his head. Her pulse picked up as she assessed his little face.
“What’s his name?”
“Beau. And his brother is Jack.”
Kora grinned, her body relaxing some. Beau’s face scrunched as if he were about to scream, but he yawned and went to sleep.
She’d never thought about having kids of her own. It wasn’t something she’d pictured for herself. After college, she worked as an investigative reporter for a major newspaper while dabbling in writing fiction on the side. A couple years later, she shopped her first book around, got an agent, a three-book deal and four years after that, a movie deal. Life had happened so fast that she’d never taken the time to think about a family. Babies were something her friends had.
She’d even dated a man fourteen years older than her because his children were grown, and that part of his life was well behind him. It had completely removed the option off the table, so she hadn’t had to think about it. Geoff had turned out to be a major loser anyway, and it was a blessing they’d never started a family together. Now, things were messy and a family of her own still seemed completely off the table.
“You good with him for a minute? I want to take a look around before my staff gets here. My dad Benjamin has been running the show while I’m on maternity leave, and let’s just say his talent is burning things. Besides, I want to be sure things are good after last night.”
Dragging her gaze away from the baby, Kora felt a little dazed. “Yeah, sure. We’ll be right here.”
She noticed the other baby had quieted, too, leaving a strange hush though the bakery. Her senses slowly came into focus, the tantalizing aroma of baked goods and sugar filling her nose. The room was pleasantly warm, helping her relax more until she was sitting comfortably in the chair, cradling the infant against her breast.
It dawned on her what Allie had said. Last night? Had something happened?
A sound to her left drew her attention. Glancing up, Kora found Desi standing halfway between her and the door, his eyes locked on her. She hadn’t heard him come in. He appeared riveted to the sight of the baby in her arms. This was his nephew. Maybe he was feeling protective over her holding Beau?
“Allie asked me to hold him,” she said hurriedly. “She’s in the back.”
Desi didn’t move. Didn’t acknowledge that he’d heard her at all. Her pulse jumped.
