Page 43 of Please Open Me
He sighed. “You better give me my goddamn baby before I tie you to the bed and leave you there.”
Instinctively, I started to pass her over then paused before lifting her to eye level.
“Your Papa thinks he’s scary,” I cooed in a voice I used only for her. “If he wants me to act right, he can’t threaten me with a good time.”
She giggled, showing off her bottom teeth.
I bounced her, and she laughed harder.
I pulled her close enough to rub my nose against hers.
“No, no, no—”
Cameron plucked her out of my arms.
My jaw dropped. “Hey! Give her back!”
“Not a chance. Mason’s been pumping all day and can’t get a damn thing out. She needs an expert.”
Rosie clapped like she was in on the plan.
I crossed my tragically babyless arms. “Then let me bring her down. I love Mason too.”
Cameron shook his head.
“Seb… when I said she ain’t doing well, I didn’t just mean sick,” he said quietly, shifting Rosie to one arm and walking to the massive paper bag.
He rummaged through it and pulled out a wrapped burger and large fries.
My stomach twisted.
“What do you mean?” I asked, voice tight.
He looked over at me, then away, his lips pressed into a hard line. That same strange nervousness returned.
“She’s just out of sorts,” he said finally, staring over my head.
“Is she okay?”
He nodded slowly, eyes falling back on Rosie.
Then he turned and headed down the basement steps.
I wanted to follow.
Every part of meachedto follow.
Some of my favorite nights were spent in that basement—Mason breastfeeding while I made her laugh with dumb videos, both of us half-asleep, whispering about everything and nothing. I’d tell her about Legos. She’d tell me about bugs.
Right now, I needed that kind of normal.
But something in Cameron’s voice told me he wasn’t exaggerating. So instead of following them down, I just stood there, wondering what was wrong with my girl.
Chapter 12
Sebastian
After Cameron disappeared downstairs, I resigned myself to wrangling the kids.
