Chapter 18: Five Steps Forward
Mini puckers her lips out and gives me a tiny kiss on my jaw. I grin down at her and give her a kiss of her own. She squeals and cries out, kicking her legs against my chest. I grab one chubby leg and lift her into the air with one arm, loudly kissing her soft stomach.
"Da." She warns me.
I'm blowing on her cheek when a knock sounds from the door. From her spot on my chest, she looks up at me with wide, blue eyes. I snicker and kiss her cheek before standing up with her cradled in my arms. I yank open the door and smile.
"Thanks for coming, she's super hyped up."
Caroline shrugs and smiles. "It's okay. I kind of like kids. Well, I kind of like your kid. Plus, it's my duty as best friend to make sure you and Elena can have a good time tonight." I nod and motion for her to come inside. Her eyes flow around the room before landing on Nellie. Mini gives her a goofy smile and slobbers all over her shirt. Caroline reaches out to play with her hand.
"How did you guys meet?" I ask, attempting to start conversation. I buckle Mini in her chair and walk toward the kitchen, adjusting my shirt.
"Her practice." She says happily. "My dad was struggling with addiction and she whipped him into shape. I took her out for coffee as a thank you and we've been best friends ever since."
I whistle. "Were you the one to make the call?" She stares at me in confusion. "For your dad, I mean."
She nods. "That must have been tough." I sympathize, holding up another shirt. "This, or the one that I'm wearing." Her eyes dart between the two and she points at the one in my hand.
"That one brings out your eyes." I thank her and fumble around with my shoes.
"I heard you're taking this one to daycare."
"Yeah." I practically growl. It wasn't really my plan, but after a lot of persuasion, I figured it couldn't hurt for Nellie to meet kids her own age. I just wasn't used to sharing her yet, is all. Elena and I searched relentlessly for a place and were semi-confident in one location that wasn't too far from my job. The lady seemed nice enough and Nellie didn't cry when we walked in. She took count of all the toys around her and her eyes practically lit up with joy. I wasn't too happy with the female to male ratio, but I knew that Nellie could handle herself.
Caroline giggles. "Someone doesn't seem too happy about that."
"Can you blame me?" She laughs again and sets Nellie down on the couch beside her. "I wish I could...baby-proof the world, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it." Surprisingly it wasn't too awkward to hold up a conversation with Caroline. Maybe it's her tiny fling with Nik, but she was just a comfortable chick to talk to. Really happy and giddy, but also pretty funny. I can see why she was friends with Elena.
When the clock said it was six, I grabbed my keys off the counter and rounded on the two girls. "If there's any problem at all, please call me. I'm not kidding."
She laughs. "There won't be any problems, but okay."
"I left some emergency numbers on the fridge, too, just in case. If she gets too worked up, you can rock her to some Trey Songz and she'll be out like a light." Caroline winks and folds her legs beneath her.
"Thanks for the advice."
We decided to watch some flick about smuggling drugs which I found immensely hysterical. Elena did not, however she did chuckle a few times for my benefit, which stopped my laughter altogether.
In my haste to be mature and take an equal foot in our relationship, I forgot how hard it was to move backwards. It became disturbingly awkward. Maybe it was because Elena and I never had any issues with our physical chemistry. In fact, the physical aspect of our relationship was perfect. We just had slight trust and communication issues, so putting all the physical stuff on the back-burner was making things harder in every way.
