Page 56 of Ruthless Secrets
I hadno idea that taking a baby out of the house was such a military operation.
Clara finishes packing Zoe’s diaper bag. “I have this system down.”
I chuckle as I balance Zoe on my knee. “I can see that.”
Zoe’s watching Clara intently, and every time Clara looks over at her, she waves her little fists around. It’s the most heartwarming thing to witness.
Clara starts ticking off her fingers. “Okay, we have diapers.”
“Check.”
Clara laughs and shakes her head before ticking off another finger. “Change of clothes.”
“Check.”
“Bottles and formula.”
“Check and check.”
“Now all we need is the baby.”
“Check!” I lift Zoe up over my head and blow a raspberry on her stomach.
She squeals with delight, and the sound has my heart swelling in my chest.
Even in such a short amount of time, she’s added such a light to my life that I didn’t realize I was missing.
I just have to hope that Alfonzo Rossi isn’t about to extinguish that light for good.
Doing my best to ignore the voice in the back of my head that is telling me to walk away, I follow Clara out of the kitchen now that she’s finished packing Zoe’s things.
She hesitates when she spies the black Hummer parked in the driveway. “Did you get a new car?”
“Oh, no. I had Andre take me into the city yesterday so I could pick up some stuff from my apartment.”
“And by stuff, you mean another car?”
“Among other things. Is that a problem?”
Clara shakes her head. “No. We are just from very different worlds.”
Is she referring to money? Because I am under no illusion that my financial situation is vastly different to Clara’s, but I sort of assumed that now I am in Zoe’s life, I would be shouldering a lot of that burden. Unless, of course, Clara doesn’t want that?
We definitely need to sit down and have a conversation soon about how we’re going to navigate co-parenting moving forward, but we’re already running late for Zoe’s pediatrician appointment, so now is not the time.
Clara opens up the back door of the Hummer and looks back at me. “You bought a car seat?”
I nod. “I went and picked one up yesterday, and a monitor too.”
Clara watches me buckle Zoe into the seat with a deep crease between her eyebrows.
I check that I’ve fastened all the buckles and that they’repulled tight. I also check that the camera is on, which allows us to keep an eye on Zoe while we’re driving.
Everything looks good, so what am I missing?
“Did I get the wrong car seat? This one was rated the safest?—”
She waves a hand. “No, there’s nothing wrong,”
