“Hello, Miss Georgia,” Charli said to the bundle, shifting the baby to rest against her shoulder. “How’s my girl?”
“I was only allowed to come up here because Mom went home to check on Dad for a little bit. She never puts her down,” Linley said, yawning.
“Well, she deserves to be held as much as she wants,” Charli said, bringing the baby over.
“Hi, sweetheart,” I said as the baby blinked her blue eyes at me. She was barely a few months old, and still so tiny. I would be terrified to hold such a fragile thing. Newborn babies were terrifying.
“Me next, me next,” Paige said after she’d gone to the kitchen and washed her hands.
“Okay, coming in for a landing,” Charli said, gently passing the baby to Paige.
“Are you cuter than you were yesterday? I don’t know, I think you might be,” Paige said as she settled Georgia in her arms.
Georgia sneezed and it was so precious I could barely stand it.
“Come on, sit down,” Charli said, leading a somewhat dazed Linley and Gray to the dining table.
“If I sit, I’m afraid I won’t get back up,” Linley said.
“That’s okay, you don’t have to go anywhere,” Paige said, still cooing at the baby.
Charli and Alivia made Linley and Gray plates.
“This smells amazing,” Linley said. Her eyes went wide as Georgia made a noise.
“She’s fine,” Paige said, bouncing the baby gently as she walked around the room.
Linley went back to her food, and Gray made her finish her whole plate before she was allowed to take the baby back.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to put a damper on your dinner,” Linley said.
Everyone assured her she wasn’t.
“You’re just tired,” Paige said, rubbing Linley’s arm.
“I think I passed tired a long time ago. I’m in some dimension beyond tired.”
Gray kissed her temple and took Georgia from her with gentle hands.
“You’re doing an amazing job,” Esme said, giving Linley one of the mocktails she’d made for anyone who wanted them.
“Someday we’re going to tell ourselves we miss these days,” Gray said, leaning down to kiss his daughter’s head as her eyes fluttered closed.
“I’m going to need to you to remind me about the not sleeping,” Linley said.
Linley’s phone went off and she looked down at it. “Mom’s back. I think I’m going to take a shower.”
She and Gray got up and said goodbye and took their baby back downstairs.
“Oh my god, she’s so cute I could die,” Paige said, giving Esme a look.
“You think you’re being sneaky, but you’re very obvious, babe,” Esme said with a laugh.
“But think about how cute a little baby would be in a black onesie with a glittery skull on it,” Paige said, and Esme rolled her eyes.
“Are you thinking about babies?” Charli asked.
“Potentially. Down the road,” Esme said, giving Paige a look.
“You don’t want me to have any fun,” Paige said, pouting.
“Did you see how tired they were?” Esme pointed at the door, indicating Linley and Gray.
Paige just pouted and Esme grabbed her face and gave her a kiss.
“You know you get everything you want,” Esme said.
“I can’t help it. I have baby fever,” Paige said.
“I don’t have baby fever,” Charlie announced. “Yet. I’m happy being an auntie right now.”
Alivia pretended to wipe her brow in relief.
“I just have ‘working kitchen’ fever,” I said.
The dinner was joyful and full of laughs. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be included in such a good group of people. One of my biggest fears in moving to a town where I didn’t know anyone was finding friends. When you were going to school, or had a job with lots of coworkers, it was a lot easier to find people to be friends with. The fact that I’d just stumbled into a wonderful group of people was kind of a miracle. Made me feel like Memma had a hand in helping me out.
I waffled on whether or not I should bring Theo another coffee and donut and decided that better safe than sorry. I got her a black iced coffee and a plain glazed and then a strawberry shortcake donut for myself to eat after as a reward for getting that chore done.
This time when I showed up, she was in the office and there were a few people milling around the showroom. I would have thought she’d be out there, asking if anyone had any questions, but I guess not. The office door was open, but I knocked on it and Scout got up from his bed to come over and say hello, his tail wagging.
“Hello, Scout,” I said, setting the coffee and donut bag on her desk so I could pet him.
“Have you been a good boy today?” I asked as I pet his velvety soft ears.
“He’s not smart enough to be bad,” Theo said, taking the iced coffee.
“That’s okay. All dogs are good dogs,” I said, giving him one last pat and then sitting in the chair.