Page 59 of The Fire Captain's Unexpected Baby
“What in the world is going on in here?” she asks, poking her head around the bathroom door.
“Blowout diaper. Easier to wash up in the tub.”
Noah giggles at the sight of my closest friend, smiling as she leans over and kisses the top of his wet hair.
“Please be a good friend and brew a pot of coffee.”
“First order of business,” she says.
She’s already downstairs and filling the coffee pot with fresh grounds before I can take a breath. The clank of mugs being pulled from the cabinets makes my mouth water. I can practically feel the caffeine racing through my veins.
“We’re just about to call it a day here,” I murmur to Noah as I gently pour more warm water over his shoulders to prevent him from shivering.
Summer comes back up and jumps up onto the counter, an easy smile crossing her face. Her skin is tanned from a honeymoon spent on the beach and exploring the tropical getaway.
“You seem awfully relaxed for someone whose husband has been battling a wildfire all night,” I say, my brow furrowed.
How could she possibly be so relaxed when I feel like I can barely breathe?
“Honeymoon bliss,” she explains. “I wish I could describe just how dreamy it all was. No obligations. No interruptions.”
“I think I’ll pass on the descriptions of what made your trip so memorable.” A laugh burst out of me, surprising and fresh. “I made a few memories of my own while you were out of town.”
Summer’s eyes widen, and she hops off the counter to come closer. We’ve never gone this long without talking. I’ve never even withheld a juicy tidbit of gossip, much less my newly burgeoning sex life.
“You’re going to need to dish,” she says. “Now.”
So I tell her everything she missed while I lift Noah from the tub. We trace our way back from the wedding reception to the kiss Aaron gave me at the end of the night, the kitchen fire and the pancakes, and the scene I walked in on after Aaron picked Noah up from daycare.
When I finish, Summer has that mischievous sparkle in her eyes—the one she had when she finagled an invitation for the captain from her kindhearted firefighter husband.
“What I’m hearing you say is that you owe your relationship to me,” she says with a laugh.
She pours the fresh coffee into the mugs she prepared earlier, hands one to me, and sits on the couch with her legs tucked under her.
“I wish it were that simple,” I mutter, trying to keep my gaze on Noah. Tears prick the back of my eyes, threatening to spill over the way they have been doing since I sent that text.
“You met a handsome man. He’s fabulous in bed. He adores you. What about that isn’t simple?”
Noah laughs and plays at our feet, crawling from one toy to the next without any regard for the heaviness of the conversation happening around him. I reach for the fluffy bunny he stole from Summer, fingering its soft fur to ground myself.
“You’re holding that bunny like it is a lifeline,” Summer remarks softly. “What could possibly be wrong? That all sounds likegoodnews.”
I clutch the bunny even closer to my chest, trying to draw a small modicum of comfort from it. Memories of all the times Noah clutched the bunny to his chest in almost the same way flash through my mind.
“I ended things with him,” I finally choke out. “Over a text message.”
Summer says nothing, giving me the floor to share whatever I want or need. She kneels on the floor and plays with Noah soI can pull myself together. Nobody says anything. Even Noah plays quietly without a single coo.
“I want things to be real,” I add after a minute. “Once, Noah and I visited Mr. Oakley, and he asked about Aaron. When Noah heard his name, he called him Dada.”
“Sounds like Noah is a good judge of character,” she says, as if it doesn’t matter that my son finally thinks someone is his dad. Someone he is bound to lose.
“I thought I would have heard from him by now,” I whisper. “He texted me back a couple of times, but I never heard back. Not after I sent the last text. He didn’t argue. He just… let me go.”
“Aaron doesn’t seem like the kind of man to force himself on anyone,” Summer says pointedly. “You remember Zachary telling us that he was a little closed off. Didn’t share much with the guys.”
“I know, but he was always different with me.”
