Page 92 of This Baby Business
Carly
After I finishedbathing Grace and dressed her in pajamas, I went home to change. Levi offered to heat up cans of soup and wanted me to have dinner with him, but I’d be damned if I would stay with my hair looking as though it had been through a category-three hurricane.
I took my first shower of the day—if one didn’t count the spit bath with Grace—blow-dried my hair into submission then dressed in jeans, a black sweater and black ankle boots. Levi might look good in only a towel, but I had to work at it.
At least, I wanted to work at it—not that he’d given me any indication he wouldn’t just as soon strip me down where I stood and have me on any available surface. I was a girl, damn it, and I cared about these little things. I didn’t want to look like a hot mess to my… Jeez, what was Levi to me? My boyfriend? Employer? Neighbor? Fake fiancé? All of the above?
It had always been my nature to push for a commitment, for a clear definition of who, what and where a relationship was headed.Where do I stand? Where is this thing going?But now, I didn’t have many doubts left. Whatever we had going on here, it was rare and special. I didn’t need to hear his words to confirm it because this time my heart knew.
Maybe I’d grown up at last.
I checked my email one last time for the day, and answered a few customer questions about my latest blog post on the molded baby chair. My mind went briefly to that place of fear and doubt whenever I contemplated what could have happened to Grace that day.
The good news was that I’d accomplished my main goal today. Mrs. Lane had dropped Grace off the previous afternoon with nothing but compliments on what a great baby she’d been. I had phoned Mr. Lane to talk to him, only to find out that Mrs. Lane had beaten me to it. And, yes! They were going to try to make their marriage work. Poor Mr. Lane had agreed to get help for his depression, and Mrs. Lane was determined to hang in there now that he’d come to that realization.
Now all I have to do is figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.
“I guess I’ll start by having dinner.”
Baby steps, one at a time, and I’d figure it out sooner rather than later. I was already on my way with my new designs.
I had my hand on the doorknob when my phone rang. Kirk again.
“Hey, how’s Dad? Is everything okay?”
“Great. PT efforts are looking up big-time since he talked to your friend.”
“My friend?”
“You know, Eric, the guy with the titanium hip. I don’t have to tell you how patriotic our father is. One word out of this guy is PT gold. The fact that he has the same titanium hip? I haven’t seen Dad this fired up in months.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He said Levi asked him to call.”
Levi. I’d told him about my father’s hip, and he’d mentioned someone who’d been through a difficult recovery. This had to be the guy. “Let me talk to Dad.”
“Hang on.” I could hear sounds in the background as Kirk told their father I was on the line and handed him the phone.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Dad said. “Listen, the doctor says I’m doing better. Finally manned up and I’m getting this hip in shape.”
“Did Levi call you?”
“His friend did, but thank Levi for me. Calls me every day, the persistent guy. It’s the shot to the brain that I needed. Eric was right. I’ve worked hard all my life for other people. I’m doing this one for me. As soon as I reach the next milestone, I’ll come back home to Fortune.”
“That’s good news! I knew you could do this.”
“I’m sorry I put you through it, honey. You shouldn’t have been worrying about me after your mother died. And trying to sell the baby business. Now that you sold the business, and I’m no longer a worry, there’s only one thing left for you to do.”
I knew the next words were coming.
“You need to go back to New York and finish. I want you to do it for me.”
“Dad—”
“Look, until you go back there and figure out what went wrong, you won’t be able to move on.”
But I know what went wrong, and it wasn’t my fault.
