Love's Suicide (Love's Suicide #1)(66)

Part of Bobby’s problem was that he was exhausted. He needed to rest and would probably go to sleep as soon as I was gone. By the time I got back he would be feeling better and we could have a rational conversation about how the afternoon had gone with Brooks and B.

Upon going outside, I spotted Brooks pushing our daughter on her favorite swing. She was fastened up in it so she couldn’t slide out. She didn’t even notice me standing there. No, she was too occupied with her new friend to notice her own mother waving.

Brooks however, noticed me right away. I watched his jaw clench as I got closer. “Hey. Sorry about that. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

I heard him let out an air-filled laugh. “You think I could sleep? Kat, I just found out that I have a kid. Every aspect of my life is about to change. Sleep is the last thing that’s on my mind.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. “So would it be easier if I drove, since I have the car seat in my car already?”

He stopped the swing and started getting B out. “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

I walked to the car figuring he would follow me over. He sat her down in the seat and looked at all of the fasteners. “I might need your help. I’ve never done this before.”

I rolled my eyes, laughing at his inexperience. “There’s a lot of things you’re going to have to learn.” I hooked B up and pointed to the travel bag that I kept in the car. She didn’t need formula or bottles, but when duty called I knew I had to have diapers and wipes on hand. Though she’d been using her little potty more frequently, she hadn’t conquered the whole potty training thing.

He climbed in the passenger seat and we were soon on our way. “So where are we going?”

“Is there a park nearby?”

“There are several. If you really want to see B smile, we should take her to the indoor play park. She gets a kick out of climbing through the tunnels and going down the slides.”

Brooks gave B his attention as I was driving, and to be honest, I didn’t know what to say to him. This had all come out so sudden that we all needed to remain calm and not jump into any decisions.

I could tell that Brooks wasn’t used to being around kids when we walked inside of the play park. Screaming kids were running around like crazy animals. With his one good arm, he held onto B, like he wasn’t willing to put her down in the madness.

I laughed at him and reached for her. “Come on sweet girl. You want to go play?”

“Mama, slide. I go slide.”

Brooks smiled when she spoke. “Have fun, little bug.”

“Bug? You nicknamed our daughter already?”

He shrugged and smiled with a full mouth of those stunning white teeth. “I couldn’t help it. She’s my little B.”

We sat down on a bench next to each other so we could watch her enjoying herself. Right away she was following around two little girls that looked to be a couple years older than her.

“So, I had a lot to think about when I left last night. I think the first thing that needs to be addressed is my parents. Look, Kat, I don’t care about my brother, but Mom and Dad need to meet her. I get that you’re going to be mad, but I asked them come visit next weekend. I hope you don’t already have plans.”

I started to open my mouth and make something up, knowing how them finding out was going to add to the stress of the situation. Then I retracted those thoughts. I’d had two years to love my sweet girl and they didn’t even know she existed. They would love her and do anything to be a part of her life. Keeping them from knowing would only hurt her in the long run and I didn’t want that. “I guess I’ll talk to Bobby and see if we can drop her off to you. Are you able to baby proof your house? Do you even live in a house or an apartment?”

Brooks laughed. “I live on base for now. There’s family housing available and I filled out the forms while I was on shift this morning. If everything goes the way it should, I may be able to move into something in the next seven days. I had to explain my situation to my commanding officer, but given the importance, he said he can pull some strings. “So, you’d have a whole house?”

“It’s like a duplex. Two small houses connected. Some are one bedroom and some go up to three. I can also live off base, provided I can find something affordable and close. I’m not going to rush into anything. My parents won’t care what my living conditions look like.”

I don’t know why I would do it, but I blurted out a solution to make their stay comfortable. “They can come to my house. Bobby still owns another house, so we’ll go there for the weekend. The house is already baby proofed and B will be comfortable.”

“Wow. That’s pretty generous of you. Are you doing this to kiss my ass?” I sensed a hint of sarcasm in his question.

“Is it working?”

He laughed and shook his head and then, at the same time I was looking at him, he looked at me. My stomach began to twirl around, as if I was in high school, crushing on a boy.

Brooks smiled. “I’m still mad, but some of the things you said last night were true. Knowing you were pregnant and alone would have been torture for me. It doesn’t make what you did right, but I don’t know if I could have handled not being able to get to you.”

I could feel our conversation getting deep. Thankfully, B came up and grabbed Brooks’ hand. “Pay wit me.”