Page 99 of Just One Kiss

Her eyes popped open again. “Thanks.”

“You’re hardly sleeping. You’ve had no time alone. It’s understandable.” He turned his attention to her other foot. “And I think you should let me hang out with our baby for a few hours alone.”

“I could see if Beverly could come over,” she said.

Josh stopped rubbing her foot and she sat up and looked at him.

“What?”

“You don’t need to call Beverly, Carly. I’m his dad. You have to let me help take care of him.”

She pulled her feet off him. “Josh, let’s be real, you don’t know the first thing about babies.”

“Neither did you until you had one,” he said. “Let me figure it out.”

She hesitated, and Josh’s annoyance level went up.

“Carly—”

“Fine,” she said. “But you have to promise to call me if he wakes up.”

“How about I call you if I can’t handle it?”

She chewed the inside of her lip, and he could tell she wasn’t comfortable with this idea at all, but he didn’t care. He was Jaden’s dad. How was he supposed to get used to being a father if she never gave him a chance to do anything?

“Okay?” he asked, still waiting for her to agree.

“Fine.” She wasn’t happy, and he knew it. But Jaden had been asleep all of ten minutes. Odds were, he’d sleep for a few hours and wake up before Carly even got home.

How hard could it be?

Turned out—very hard.

The baby woke up within the first half hour and began crying. Josh picked him up and held him, made sure he was dry, rocked him, bounced him, fed him—but nothing he tried was working. He picked up the phone, but quickly hung it back up—if he called, she would know he couldn’t handle this, and he already felt worthless ninety-nine percent of the time.

He set the phone down, stood and walked the length of the small apartment—back and forth—bouncing, cooing—he even tried singing.

But Jaden replied with ear-curdling screams.

After forty-five minutes, Josh started to get frustrated—really frustrated.

“Will you just stop crying?” He’d anticipated a calm, relaxing night at home. He’d worked all day at the car wash, and he never would’ve encouraged Carly to go out if he’d known his night was going to go like this.

His bouncing had grown more impatient, his mood foul.

“Just go to sleep!” He raised his voice now, as if shouting at a baby would do any good.

He tipped Jaden back and looked at him. The bald-headed baby’s face was red and wet and he continued to scream.

“What do you want?” Josh just wanted him to shut up already. He needed a little peace. It had been over an hour, and his blood boiled. The screaming had to be the worst sound he’d ever heard. It delved through his skin and straight to the place that kept him sane.

His temper spiked as he looked at the clock, knowing Carly would be home soon. If she came home and found him like this, she’d know he was incompetent—as if he needed to give her more reasons.

He walked into the kitchen and turned a circle. Feeling like a caged animal, Josh began to think only one thing—I need to get this baby to stop crying.

Frustration grew and he glanced down at his son and the thought that flashed through his mind terrified him.

What if I hurt my son like I hurt Dylan?

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