Page 8 of Jaime
She would be okay. She couldn’t even roll over yet.
I made it to the door before anxiety hit me hard and the thoughtwhat if. What if she did somehow roll over? What if the blankets smothered her?
I was back at her side, lifting her up while my heart pounded as though I’d literally just saved her from imminent death.
What the hell?
Taking a shuddering breath, I lifted her onto my shoulder, trying to channel Ethan’s calm energy and confidence.
It didn’t help at all. The entire time the water was boiling and the bottle was warming, she screamed in my ear.
When I finally settled with her in my arms on the armchair she seemed to like, right in front of the TV with the bottle in her mouth, my nerves were on edge. I didn’t turn on the TV. I couldn’t handle any extra noise. The sound of Evie drinking soothed me a little bit, but when my phone vibrated, I jumped.
I had to wiggle a bit to get to it without disrupting her feeding, but I somehow pulled it out of my pocket without taking the bottle out of her mouth.
Ethan’s face flashed in my mind, but I stomped that flickering hope down. I didn’t know who it could be. My friends had dropped off the face of the earth once I had a child. It didn’t help that I’d already drawn back when I got sick of all the partying.
Evie wasn’t to blame. She’d just sped up the process, but the sudden isolation hadn’t helped matters.
I flicked on my phone and stared in confusion for a minute.
The number wasn’t in my contacts, but the message I’d received said it all.
Hi Jaime. This is Ethan Mack. It was nice to meet you today. Any chance you can drop me your address? I want to swing by with my spare carrier.
I stared for so long that I didn’t even notice Evie had stopped drinking and fallen back to sleep until milk was pouring onto my arm.
Cursing, I pulled the bottle away and set it on the side table. I wiped the spilled milk with my other sleeve, keeping her where she was as I read the message again. Finally, I typed my address and hit send.
As an afterthought, I added athank you.
His message was polite. He wasn’t trying to be friends or anything and that was okay. I was still in shock and even touched that he was really carrying through with the offer. It wasn’t what I’d expected.
Since Liz had deposited Evie into my life and left, I hadn’t had anyone even check in. I’d learned a long time ago that people didn’t do that.
Something inside me stirred. A warmth filled me, intensifying when I received Ethan’s next message.
Be there in fifteen minutes.
CHAPTER4
ETHAN
I pulledup in front of the house, relieved to see that the neighborhood looked nice enough. The house was a modest but neat place, that was clearly cared for.
Just seeing it eased the concern that had been eating away at me since the reading today. They lived in a normal house. He was probably too young to be in there alone. Maybe there was a mother on the scene or family members.
With that bit of relief, I climbed the front steps, brand new carrier in hand, and knocked on the door.
To my surprise, an elderly Asian woman answered the door.
For a moment, we blinked at each other blankly.
“Oh, hi there,” I said, smiling. “I seem to have the wrong address. I was looking for someone named Jaime.”
I leaned back, trying to see the number again.
“Oh, yes, Jaime lives downstairs,” she said. “Back door.”
