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CHAPTER 38
Cash
“Okay, so we’re just going to be hanging out downtown. Call if you need anything.” Marissa bit the inside of her lip.
“You really don’t have to go,” I said for the tenth time.
Her smile turned into a nervous giggle. “I think it would be best if your mom gets to meet her granddaughter without the pressure of meeting everyone.”
“You’re scared.” I grinned.
She lifted her hand and put her forefinger and thumb together. “Maybe a little.”
There was one thing that could bring my mother back to Firefly Island, and it was a grandbaby. I’d told my mom that she was a grandmother yesterday on the phone and sent her pictures. She booked a flight for first thing this morning.
“Okay, so there are diapers in the bag. She has a juice bottle and some Orajel if her teething gets bad. What else…”
Heather, Marissa’s sister, honked the horn from the driveway.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay? I know my mom would love to meet you. All of you.”
“No. I trust you. I’m gonna go.” She kissed Amelia on the cheek. “I love you, baby girl. Mommy will be back soon. Have fun with your daddy.”
“Dada Dada.” She waved her hand that held a rattle.
I knew that she didn’t know what she was saying but that didn’t stop me from loving hearing her say Dada.
It had been three days since we got the test results back and I’d spent every one of them with Marissa, Heather, and Amelia. In two days they were going home, back to Boston, but I was trying not to think about it.
“Say bye Mommy.” I lifted Amelia’s arm and had her wave to the car as my baby mama and her sister drove off.
“Alright, ladybug, it’s just you and me.”
It was the first time I’d been alone with my daughter. We walked inside and I set the diaper bag down on the table. My mom should be showing up any minute. She’d been texting updates since she landed in Savannah over an hour ago. I’d wanted to come and get her but she said that would “waste too much time.” I didn’t get the logic but I’d learned a long time ago not to argue with that woman once she got an idea in her head.
I threw out a blanket on the floor and sat down with Amelia on it. She immediately reached for the building blocks I’d bought her, which were basically oversized, jumbo Legos. She loved building things and then knocking them down. Or, I should say, she loved when I built things and she knocked them down. When the pieces crashed to the floor, she would crack up.
Her laugh was addicting. So was her smile, and her smell, and even her drool. I thought as I wiped her mouth.
I’d never known that I could love anything as much as I loved Amelia. And I had no clue how I was going to handle it when she left.
As I sat on the blanket in the middle of my living room with my daughter, I couldn’t get over how much my life had changed in the past couple of weeks.
For so long, I’d felt like my life was in limbo. It was almost as if I’d been living in a Groundhog Day existence. Every day was the same. I woke up, worked out, went to the bar, came home, went to bed. The next day I woke up, worked out, went to the bar, came home, went to bed.
I’d wanted more for a long time. Years actually. But my desire didn’t come into such a sharp focus until Cheyenne moved back to Firefly. That’s when I knew not only what I wanted but who I wanted it with. I wanted to get married, have kids, and move onto the next chapter of my life, but I’d been in a holding pattern. I’d been in love with my best friend’s little sister and hadn’t been able to do anything about it.
But now everything had changed.
Cheyenne’s and my relationship had become physical, and I was a father. Both of those were things that I’d desperately wanted but they weren’t exactly in the package I’d imagined them being in.
Not that I regretted either thing happening.
I checked my phone to see if Cheyenne had responded to the good morning text, I’d sent her, she hadn’t. She’d been under the weather for the past few days so I hadn’t seen her since the morning we got the results. It was killing me.
I would’ve just shown up, but I was scared I would get sick and then spread it to Amelia, so I’d stayed away. Even though it was one of the hardest things I’d ever done.
The doorbell rang several times, and I stood picking up Amelia. “Are you ready to meet your grandma?” I asked.
