Chaser (Dive Bar #3)(34)

“Phew,” I muttered. “I thought she’d never leave. Okay, Ada. What’s the problem here?”

I rocked back and forth, softly jiggling her like her mom had. One of the books suggested babies liked a bit of pressure or firmness on their stomach, so hopefully lying along the length of my arm would soothe her a little. Hopefully.

“You need to go to sleep, baby girl.”

She ignored me and bawled on.

“I did miss you,” I said. “Sorry I wasn’t around. Truth is, I really did have a good time in Cali. Getting away from everything for a while was exactly what I needed. Things had just gotten so heavy. But I didn’t forget about you, I promise.”

Small pitiful cries continued.

“Looks like you’ve been giving your mom a pretty hard time and you’re not all that happy about the state of things either.” I rubbed her back. “So what are we going to do, hmm?”

Damn she smelled good. Baby powder and soap or something.

“You know, this is pretty weird, you and me hanging out together,” I prattled on. I don’t know why, except that her incessant crying seemed to demand some sort of response, and speaking bullshit was all I had. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I never even wanted to have kids. Never wanted to be a father. Children only get in the way, tie you down, and they’re expensive as all hell. Not really my style.”

Her cries went down a bit in volume. Highly doubt her agitation had much to do with me anyway. More like she and her mom were both upset and overtired, stressing each other out. The book said that sort of loop could occur. Babies could be very emotionally tuned in to their caretakers.

“So anyway, there I was staying in the most amazing beach house. It belongs to this sort of friend of mine,” I mumbled, keeping my voice low and hopefully soothing. “You wouldn’t like him, he’s a bit of an idiot. Though a very rich one. But I mean, he hits things with sticks for a living. How dumb is that? I’m much cooler, right?”

Apparently, Ada had no thoughts on the matter.

“So he was away on tour in Europe or something stupid. But he said I could crash at his place for a while.” I stared out at the softly falling snow. “It was much warmer there. Still some girls in bikinis and everything. I caught up with a couple of friends and checked out a few bars, you know. Did a bit of shopping, stuff like that.”

Ada sucked on my arm, which was slightly gross, but whatever made her happy. A thin line of drool dripped down onto my jeans.

“Nice,” I said. “You’re a very classy girl and don’t let anyone ever tell you differently. Now, where was I? Right. My trip. So I took a look around town, hit some of the new hot spots. But this is the really weird part. You ready?”

She made no response. Still, she was struggling with how to bawl about life at the same time as sucking on my arm, so at least the volume had turned down a little.

“I just … I kind of panicked for some reason. Don’t tell anyone this, okay? That’s a pretty safe bet with you, I think.” I sighed. “Like, I was worried about you guys. I wanted to see you and your mom. But I didn’t at the same time. Again, don’t take any of this personally.”

Still no response.

“Then, see what I did? The minute I get back, I’m knocking on your door. Can’t stay away.” I shook my head. “Crazy, isn’t it? You think maybe my mom dropped me on the head when I was little or something? Might explain a few things. Just joking, you’d love my mother. She’s a great woman. I’m sure you’ll get to meet her sometime soon if you haven’t already.”

Nothing.

“Ada?”

Carefully, I lifted her so I could see her face. Sure enough, her eyes were closed, her chest rising in deep even breaths. Amazing. I’d bored the baby to sleep. My internal pain meant nothing to the kid. This just confirmed my beliefs about not talking about life stuff. Nobody wants to hear it.

A door cracked open and Jean tiptoed out, eyes wide. “She stopped crying.”

“Shh,” I whispered. “I thought you were getting some rest.”

“I brushed my teeth.” She sounded weirdly satisfied.

“For the last five minutes?”

She nodded serenely. “First time in days. Gross, I know.” Her chin tipped toward Ada. “Is she…?”

“She’s asleep.”

“Good job,” she said. “Now we have to try to put her down in her cot without waking her up.”

“Why do I suddenly hear the Mission: Impossible theme song playing in my head?”

Jean laughed softly. The nicest thing I’d ever heard, aside from the blissful sounds of Ada not crying. “That’s pretty accurate, actually.”

“Babies are intense.”

“You have no idea.”

And it took three tries. She kept startling and waking, upset with us for trying to put her down. Hey, if I was her, I’d want to be cuddled and carried around constantly too. It was probably extremely soothing. But in the end, the baby was in her cot, eyes closed, fast asleep. I quickly gathered up the old food containers to take Jean’s garbage down. Since the contents of my fridge included two beers and some moldy cheese, a food run was required. Sure, I could eat at the Dive Bar. But I wasn’t ready to end my downtime, away from everyone.