Page 12 of In Love With My Best Friend

The way she held him in her arms, and how he quieted down as soon as he was in her arms, caused tears to hit my cheeks and I didn’t bother removing them.

Larissa and Elijah are my whole world, and I’m the lucky one to have them both.

“Daddy, do you want to hold him?” Larissa asks, and god do I love that name slipping off her tongue.

“You okay with letting him go?” I joke.

“He’s done nursing for now,” she says with a wink. She saw me watch her the entire time. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of them.

“Yeah, I’ll take my boy. We have man stuff to talk about,” I reply. She rolls her eyes but settles down in bed as I take a seat in the hospital chair.

I unwrap his blanket, wanting to count all of his fingers and toes. To see his eyes open, only to flutter shut. If this is what fatherhood is about, I’m thankful as fuck I get to share it with the two that mean the most. I wrap him back up and hold him to my chest.

Mom and Mack will be here in a little bit ,and I know as much as I want to hoard my son to just me and Larissa, I’ll have to share him.

I lean back in the chair and close my eyes and soak in the day.

I must have dozed off for a while. I hear hushed tones and Larissa’s voice.

“He just fell asleep a little bit ago. Look how adorable they are. Can someone find my phone so I can take a picture?” she asks.

I hear the snapping of the camera and slowly open my eyes, trying not to jostle Eli. The way Larissa is looking at me with warmth in her eyes, it melts me.

“Morning, sleepy head,” she whispers out with a sparkle in her eye. She doesn’t look like she just gave birth. No, she looks happy and as if it’s just a normal day.

“Morning, Baby. I guess it’s time I let the grandparent thieves have Eli, huh?” I don’t want to give him up but the faster I do, hopefully they’ll leave, and I can go back to spoiling him rotten.

“You do have to share. Just because you’re an only child doesn’t mean you get to act like one,” she snickers.

“Always taking the fun out of everything,” I tsk as I get up and lay him on the bed to change his diaper before giving him over to my mom.

“Hey, Jake,” Larissa says getting my attention. I place a hand on Eli’s belly so he can’t move. I don’t care if he’s an infant, I’d never let any harm come to him.

“Larissa, you can’t talk to me like that and expect me not to kiss you senseless,” she’s flush with color, from her cheeks all the way to her chest.

“I..uh, just wanted to say, thank you,” she mumbles.

“I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. You’re it for me, Baby,” I reply, and she hands me a diaper and the wipe box. We navigate changing Eli’s diaper and then Grammie swoops down and takes my boy from me. I grunt and take a seat next to Larissa and hold her in my arms. She snuggles in and closes her eyes. Even with the baby hoarders, this right here. It’s my bliss.

Larissa

6 weeks later

The last six weeks have been a learning curve, not with just Elijah, but with Jake and I, too. We’ve learned how to live with each other and be parents at a record speed. The nightly nursing and Eli not wanting to sleep but two hours and wake up to feed, or because his diaper was wet, didn’t help matters. Jake was a rock star and was there the whole time. It wasn’t until he had to go out of town this week did I really learn to get into the groove of doing it on my own.

It was hard the first day, I won’t lie. I called his mom and she came and helped me learn how to use the breast pump to give me a little break. That way I could do both. She was an absolute godsend. Not to mention she watched Elijah, so I could nap.

Elijah and I just left my six-week postpartum appointment and the doctor gave me the all clear. I asked about birth control, but since I was nursing most of the precautions were thrown out the window.

I told her I would think it over and get back to him. I felt like it was something I needed to discuss with Jake if we wanted long-term birth control.

We’re a team and we do things together, and this is a big decision.

I push the stroller to the elevator up to the condo and we ride up. Elijah is fast asleep and I’m trying to keep him that way, so I can pick up around the house and get started on dinner. Jake is coming home tonight, and since I got the all clear, I want to make it special.

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