Fast Car | Escapes #1

Chapter 26: Jenny

Hanging up with Brayden was harder than I thought it would be. I was just glad he couldn't see me cry or how I blushed when he said he wanted to support me. That part almost made me swoon. Like, how did he say that out loud? 

I couldn't express how happy I was to hear that, though. I always thought men only would ever want to fix things for me, but he wants to figure things out with me. It was a huge leap from what I had known growing up, and I was loving it.

"Dinner!" I heard Mom call after a little while. I put the phone down and went to the dining room. As I passed the nursery, I looked in and saw Wendall getting Kyle. I kept on going and took a seat at the table. 

Once we were all seated, the awkward silence I expected never settled. Mom and Wendall kept up small talk, every once in a while asking me something. We talked about me going to college and I stayed quiet. I didn't want Wendall thinking that he was going to have to pay my tuition or that I expected him to do anything. 

After we finished eating, Mom excused herself for her book club. Wendall and I gathered up the dishes and brought them to the kitchen. We washed them in silence. Every once in a while, our hands would touch needlessly and I wondered in the back of my mind if it was intentional. He was being normal and was being kind enough to let me stay here, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

I walked back into the dining room and freed Kyle from his high chair. "Hey, Mr. Wendall?" I called into the kitchen. 

He stepped out with a smile. "Just Wendall is fine. What's up?"

"How should I clean up Kyle? He kind of has lasagna everywhere." I showed him the baby that was wriggling to get down. 

"Let's give him a bath," Wendall said after a moment. "I'll help you. Let me finish up here and I'll be right there. Go ahead and take him to the bathroom and get him undressed." He ducked back into the kitchen and I heard plates rattling and cabinet doors opening and closing. 

"Okay." I'd never dressed or undressed a baby and I was terrified. I'd heard they were like rubber and clothes didn't hurt them. That had to be the case, right? Parents did this all the time. 

I took him into the bathroom and laid him on the floor, scared he'd wriggle his way off the counter somehow. I started unsnapping his onesie and very carefully took it off. The diaper was the last thing, but I had no idea how to get it off. I felt the sides and then slowly peeled back a couple bits of tape and then got hit with a stench. He'd pooped and peed inside of it.

Logically, I knew that was what a diaper was for, and I knew that he was only doing what he was supposed to do, but still. How was I even supposed to clean that? I didn't want to stick him in some poopy bathwater. That was just unsanitary. I looked around the bathroom and saw some wet wipes. I grabbed them from the counter and looked. They were baby wipes, so I pulled one out and grabbed Kyle's leg. I lifted and realized it would be easier to grab both, so I readjusted my grip and tried again. 

His butt came off the diaper and I stuck the wipe under him. I wiped the poop off and slid the diaper aside. I looked back at him and wondered how to clean the rest. Maybe I should wait for Wendall to give him that bath. It was my first time encountering male bits, and I had no idea what to do with them.

"Ready for that bath?" Wendall asked as he wandered into the room. He had a towel slung over his shoulder with a washcloth in one hand and a diaper in his other. "I see you got his diaper off. Did you clean him up without being peed on?"

"Peed on?" I looked down at Kyle. I forgot that was even a thing. "Oh, um, I didn't know what to do so I didn't really wipe anything other than his butt."