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Peeking over his desk, Cornell looked between the baby with the pacifier halfway hanging out of his mouth and Mowgli, still confused. “Just be quiet,” he told the dog. “Maybe he’ll sleep the whole time.”
Before Cornell even sat down, Andre began to cry.
“Shit,” he said, getting up and crouching down. The baby’s eyes were still closed. He tried to push the pacifier back into his mouth gently. “Shh.”
Andre opened his eyes and let out a full-blown wail that sent Mowgli behind Cornell’s desk.
“It’s okay,” Cornell said, rocking the car seat, unsure if he was even supposed to do that. “I know, it’s not. You don’t know me, and I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do with you.” He picked up the car seat. Evan has kids. But the field house was quiet apart from Andre’s cries. “Everyone’s at lunch,” he told Andre. “That’s where I should be. Your dad is going to pay for this at practice.”
Cornell slung the diaper bag over his shoulder. “Beth has a kid,” he told Andre, sighing when the baby finally accepted the pacifier. “Thank God. Let’s go.”
Ignoring the few stares Cornell got as he walked along the path, awkwardly bouncing the car seat as he tried to tuck Andre’s blanket around him tighter, he was thankful that Andre had quieted, his fusses small squeaks when he got into Brady Hall.
“Beth?” he called out, entering the computer lab.
“She’s in a meeting,” Ali’s voice announced from her office, the door nearly shut. “What do you need?”
Cornell sighed and pushed it open, looking at Ali with rounded eyes.
“Did you lose a bet?” She pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh.
Andre began to cry again. “Help me,” Cornell whined.
Ali giggled and walked around her desk as Cornell placed the car seat on the ground.
“He’s supposed to be sleeping,” he told Ali as she removed Andre’s blanket and unbuckled him.
“You can’t be that obtuse. Babies never sleep when they’re supposed to.” Ali carefully lifted Andre. “His diaper is wet,” she said, shushing Andre as she patted his back. Cornell laid out a mat on the couch as Ali sat down to change the baby. “Go throw that away in the bathroom,” she told him, handing him the wet diaper.
By the time Cornell came back from the restroom down the hall, Ali had redressed Andre, who was happily cooing as she lifted him. “Didn’t you ever watch Lucy?” she asked as she stood.
“Yeah, when she was out of diapers,” he said, sitting down on the couch to return the contents of the diaper bag. “Don’t tell me you think teenage boys make the best babysitters.”
Ali smiled, swaying back and forth, softly patting him on the bottom. “Julian is only eighteen. Everyone figures it out.”
Cornell nodded, leaning back on the couch, watching Ali as she hummed against Andre’s head. “Comes pretty easily for you.”
And it did—Cornell could see Andre’s eyes begin to flutter even though he was trying to fight it as Ali continued to hum. He let out a heavy breath as it hit him that he might be looking at a picture of Ali a few years down the line.
“I used to nanny in college,” she whispered, gently rubbing the baby’s back. “Is he out?”
Cornell swallowed. “Nearly there.”
Ali continued to sway before Cornell turned the car seat. “It’s okay,” Ali told him, moving to the couch. “He might wake up.”
He lifted his arm to rest it on the back of the couch as she sat, Andre’s chubby cheek pressed against Ali’s shoulder as he sleepily sucked on his pacifier. “So, we’re going to do this one day?” he asked, moving Ali’s hair out from under the sleeping baby.
“Don’t think you’ll get out of changing diapers.”
Cornell ran his finger down Andre’s small nose. “Ours will be cuter.”
“I don’t think they get much cuter,” she said, resting her chin on Andre’s head of dark hair before sighing. “Or sweeter… one day.”
He could hear the change in her voice, the longing that reverberated through it. Cornell could see the wheels of her brain turning, maybe wondering why it felt like the sleeping baby on her chest felt more like a sweet, torturous kind of teasing than anything else.
Or at least that’s how Cornell felt looking at Andre molded into her as she rubbed his back like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Hey,” he said, demanding her gaze. “It’s just a fumble, you know? One play with plenty of time on the clock.” A lifetime.
Ali nodded.
“Still in the fight.” Cornell brushed her cheek, playfully pinching it with a smile. “In it to win it.”
Ali rolled her eyes. “You can stop with the coach talk.”
“Okay.” Cornell pulled her a little closer, careful not to nudge Andre. “For the record, I hope ours has your eyes,” he whispered. “And your heart.”
