The Pickup (Imperfect Love 1)

“What’re you watching?” When she doesn’t answer right away, I look at her and see that she’s blushing. “What is it? Porn?”

She slaps my arm. “No! Here.” She hands me the pacifier, and I put it in Reed’s mouth. His eyes roll back, and I laugh.

“He loves that thing. So, what are you watching?”

“Titanic.”

“Ahh…good old Leo.” I glance around the room. “Where’s your roomie?”

“I made her go out.” That’s when I notice on the coffee table is a box of Kleenex and a tub of ice cream.

“Liv, why were you crying?”

She huffs. “You can’t be that oblivious, Nick.” She hits me with a pointed look, but I have no clue what she’s talking about. “I was crying because you took my baby. My very new, very fragile, newborn baby,” she whispers, her eyes shooting up toward the ceiling as she tries to stop the tears from falling.

“I told you I’d bring him back tomorrow.”

“I’ve never been away from him.” Her voice cracks. “I wasn’t prepared for this, prepared to let him go. I went from thinking my son would never have a father, to you saying you didn’t want to be a dad, to being blindsided with a petition for joint custody. I just gave birth a couple weeks ago for God’s sake. It’s just…” She swipes at her eyes but the tears come anyway. “It’s just a lot. I’m a new mom. I don’t want my baby out of my sight.”

“Fuck…” I was so caught up in trying to do the right thing, I didn’t even think about how my taking our son would affect her. Most women in my life wouldn’t care. Look at Celeste. She was trying to hire a nanny before she even officially met Reed. My mom had a nanny hired before I was even born. I spent more time with her growing up than I did with my own parents.

“I didn’t think any of this through. I grew up with a nanny who was more of a parent to me than my own parents. Unless it was football related, my dad didn’t know I existed. And the only time my mom showed me any attention was when she would drag me to family functions.”

Olivia’s eyes meet mine, and I can tell she’s paying attention—actually listening to what I’m saying—so I continue. “You were so mad that I didn’t want to be a dad. When I realized I could do this, and that I wanted to do it better than my parents did, I didn’t stop and think about your feelings, or what all of this would mean for you. I’m sorry. We’ll figure it all out. I promise.”

“Thank you.” She grants me a sincere smile.

We look down at our son and see that he’s fast asleep. “I should get going. Let you get back to your movie.”

Her lips turndown into a slight frown, but she nods. “Or we can watch the countdown,” she suggests.

“I’m leaving Reed here with you, Liv. He’s exhausted and finally asleep.”

She bites down on her lower lip for a second and then softly says, “You could still stay and watch the ball drop. I mean, if you want to…or you could still make it to the party.”

“I’ll stay here,” I tell her without giving my decision a second thought.

Our eyes lock for a brief moment and then she nods. “Okay.” She switches the movie off and finds the New Year’s Eve show on the television. “Have you ever been?”

“To Times Square for New Year’s? Once. It’s a damn madhouse. You?”

“Growing up, my parents would always stay home. They said there were too many drunks on the road. My dad would pick up take out, and they would let me stay up to watch the ball drop on TV. Once I was old enough to go out, New Year’s Eve was the only night they would make me stay home, but I didn’t mind. It had become a tradition of sorts, plus they always let me pick the food.”

“Where’s your mom now?”

Olivia frowns. “She passed away from breast cancer when I was seventeen. She was born and raised in France until she came here at eighteen to meet with a photographer. She was a model. She met my dad on the subway on the way to her meeting.” She laughs. “It was love at first sight.”

“Is she why you were living in Paris?”

“Yeah…after she died, it was hard to be here without her. I moved over there after graduation in hopes of learning about my roots and ended up staying there.”

“What made you move back?”

“Reed. My dad wanted me to be near family. Giselle graduated a few weeks ago, and since she’s from here as well, she agreed to move back here with me. She’s the best friend a woman could ask for.”