Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
“I don’t think this kid likes me.”
“What’d you do?” Errol leans over my arm.
“What do you mean?”
“The baby’s not crying anymore.”
Shocked, I stare at the tiny red face that’s no longer pinched and miserable. “I hadn’t even noticed.”
“It’s because our ears are still ringing. Here.” Errol hands me a bottle. “Put this in the baby’s mouth.”
“Like shove it in?”
“I don’t know. Just hold it there. I think instinct takes over.”
Errol’s right. The baby latches on to the fake nipple and starts sucking like it hasn’t eaten in days. Maybe it hasn’t. “We’re making progress. How do we get this kid back to sleep?”
“Try rocking.” Ben moves his arms back and forth.
I do as he suggests, and the babe seems to like it. At least she’s not crying. My phone rings. It’s Dex. I try to hand the baby off to Ben, but he backs off, shaking his head.
“Fine, then answer the phone for me.”
Errol reaches over and hits the answer button and then speaker.
“Yo, Carr, what’s up? What’s the ER?”
“Where are you?” I ask. The baby is making loud suckling noises.
“I was in the middle of playing pickleball.”
“For God’s sake. Megan was at my house, and she left me your baby. She said she can’t be a mom anymore, and she just ran out, leaving the kid behind. I need you to come over here and pick up your kid.”
I stare down into the baby‘s dark eyes. There’s a twinge inside of me. Dex is barely responsible enough to handle himself, let alone a kid.
“That’s not my kid.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what Megan told you, but I wrapped it up every time we were together, and the times that I wasn’t wrapped up, she was on birth control, so there’s no way that baby is mine.”
Why is this earth filled with so many idiots? “Birth control is not 100 percent effective.”
“Don’t care what that bitch told you. That thing’s not mine. I’m not coming over.” He hangs up.
I press redial, but it goes straight to voicemail. “Errol, call from your phone.”
Errol does, but Dex doesn’t pick up. Ditto with Ben.
“No offense, Carr, but I wouldn’t trust your cousin with a pet hamster, let alone a child.” Ben squeezes my shoulder. “I think you’re stuck for the time being.”
“I don’t like this.” The baby gurgles. “Not you. I’m not talking about you,” I assure the kid.
“She can’t understand you,” Errol says.
“You don’t know that.” I shift away from Errol.
“Oh hell, you’re a goner.”
Chapter Two
ADDISON
You’d think by now I’d be used to being around wealthy people, having worked for the Conrads for three years, but it still makes me uncomfortable. I think it was more the Conrads. They were always more laid-back, and Claire hadn’t come from money. Both Claire and her husband were very successful in their own right. Her husband had grown up in a wealthy family, but not her. She fought to get where she was.
She was a lawyer, and her husband worked for some fancy company as a high-powered CEO. When Claire got pregnant with the twins, it had been a surprise for her. She was in over her head, I recall her saying. The woman could rip a man apart on the stand in court, but two crying babies sent her into a panic.
But in true Claire fashion, she was a natural and kicked ass at being a mom. I still helped where I could, and I loved the twins. Then her husband got a job offer in Europe he couldn’t turn down, and Claire was ready to leave the legal world behind, wanting to try motherhood full time.
It was hard to tell them goodbye. I’d grown so close to the kids at that point that I knew it was going to be a big adjustment for me not to have them around. I'd never really felt a part of a family before, but with them, I had for a few years. Of course I knew they weren’t really mine, but it was still nice to pretend.
Claire had begged me to go with them, but I couldn’t. At the time, I was wrapping up the last semester of college, which they had helped me pay for. Plus, Claire didn’t really need me anymore. I know they adored me, but I didn’t want a pity job.
“Can I help you, miss?” the security guard behind the counter asks.
“I have an appointment with the Remingtons,” I tell him.
All the positions I pursued were for live-in nannies. When I was with the Conrads, they’d given me their guesthouse, which was way better than the dorm I’d been living in. I’d moved back into the dorms for my last semester, but now that I’ve graduated, I’ve been living in a hotel. I was worried that if I got an apartment, I might have to break the lease, but now I’m going on almost two months of living out of a suitcase. Not that I have much stuff anyway, but still. It’s gotten old really quickly.