Page 40 of The Affair
She smiled. “Well, I’m glad you chose me.”
Penny chose that moment to laugh, clapping her hands together, making my face light up with joy.
“Do you want to hold her while I fix our coffee? It sounds like it’s nearly done.”
“Oh, um, I don’t know. I’ve never—”
Candace looked amused. “Surely, you’ve held a baby before!” Obviously, the perplexed expression written all over my face was enough to answer her question. “Really? Never?”
“My brother is very weird about his kids. They have a strict schedule and a packed routine, and no one is allowed to touch them without first completely disinfecting their entire body and donning a hazmat suit. It’s intimidating. So, after a while, I think I developed a fear of his little people, and now, we maintain a healthy distance from each other.”
“Well, that’s just sad,” she said, plopping Penny on my lap with little to no fuss. “Kids are meant to be loved on and cuddled, not feared.”
She stood there for a moment, gauging how I’d react to the tiny human on my lap. At first, I sort of sat there, frozen, unsure of what to do.Should I put my hands around her round middle or under her chubby arms? Should I flip her around, so she could see me? What was the proper protocol here?
But Penny seemed to have a plan of her own. Turning her head around, she thoroughly investigated me with her eyes. She was a friendly girl, not upset in the least that her mother had thrust her into my arms. Pleased with herself, Candace went to the counter to pour our coffee while her daughter continued to look me over.
“Hi,” I said, feeling completely awkward.
“She loves to be tickled,” Candace suggested.
“Um,” I managed to say, giving the infant in my lap a funny look.
This made Penny smile. I couldn’t help but smile back. And soon, our unlikely friendship began.
I booped her nose.
She giggled.
She held out one of those chunky little hands.
I pretended to eat it.
She roared with laughter.
“Look who’s good with babies,” Candace said, coming back to the table with two mugs that she placed as far away from Penny as physically possible. Drinking hot coffee with a baby must come with its own set of challenges.
“I’m a natural,” I boasted. “Who knew?”
“I did,” Candace replied but added with a mischievous shrug, “But it’s not that hard.”
Seemingly happy with her brief freedom, Candace sat back in the wooden chair, holding her coffee cup with both hands. “Tell me about your encounter with Reed. Was it awful?”
With my own hands wrapped around her precious bundle, I began to talk, “It was. It made me question if everything we’d experienced was a lie.”
“How so?”
“Did you know that Sawyer isn’t close with his family? Like anyone?”
She shook her head. “No, but I honestly don’t know him that well.”
“Me either. He keeps to himself mostly, and I always just assumed he was quiet—a loner, you know? But he said something last night that made me wonder—”
“What?”
“You can’t say anything,” I said, not wanting Sawyer’s business to get around.
“You know I love a good story, but when you come to me, I’m like a bank vault. I’ll never unlock those secrets. You know that,” she assured me.
