19. Chapter 19

Chapter nineteen

Grady

“This is definitely not how I anticipated spending my Thursday afternoon,” Dallas says as he follows me into the baby boutique. Parker, Penn, and I already ate our weekly lunch at Dallas’s restaurant, but then I asked them if they’d be willing to help me out with something for Scottie, and shockingly, they all said yes, so here we are.

“What are we after?”

“A crib.” I pull my phone from my pocket and open the website where our registry is. Scottie and my sister handled putting this list together, but sometimes when you want something done, you’ve got to do it yourself. Shoving the phone in their faces, the guys take note of the item we’re looking for, and they nod.

“Got it.” Parker scours the store, which is quite bigger than it appears from the boardwalk. “I’ve gotta say though, I’m in uncharted territory.”

“You’re a doctor. Surely you know something about caring for babies,” I say.

“I’m a doctor for animals. Their babies are much lower maintenance. ”

Penn picks up a stuffed duck and inspects it. “Have you guys decided on a theme for the room?”

My eyes land on a onesie that has a pink ruffle around it like a tutu, so I pick it up, knowing there’s no way I’m not getting that for my daughter. “Not yet, but I wanted to surprise her.” Dallas and Penn both wince. “What?”

“Not a good idea, man,” Penn says. “Trust me. When it comes to decorating, you want your woman’s input.”

Dallas nods in agreement. “Willow and I had our first fight after moving in together over the color of rugs we wanted to put in the house. It was brutal.”

Parker rolls his eyes. “Don’t listen to them. I think what you’re doing is a top-notch boyfriend move.” He clasps a hand on my shoulder, even though I’m about four inches taller than him. “Scottie will love it.”

Penn juts his thumb at his brother. “Don’t take advice from the only single guy here, Grady. Trust me.”

Parker flips his brother the bird. “Fuck you.” He takes off down one of the aisles, leaving me alone with Penn and Dallas.

“I can hold off on colors and stuff, I guess. But I want to start getting something together. I want her to see that having a place for our daughter could actually make her feel more at ease instead of overwhelming her. And I want that place to be in my house where eventually I want her and Chase as well.”

“I take it things are a little rocky then?” Penn asks.

“Not rocky, just…bumpy.”

“Hitting a few bumpy bumps?” Dallas suggests.

“What the fuck are bumpy bumps? ”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. I heard Willow talking about some book thing and she kept saying it over and over again, and I guess it just sort of stuck in my head.”

“Well, I’d go over all the bumpy bumps for Scottie, but right now they feel like the kind of hills you go up and down on a fucking roller coaster.”

Penn clasps me on the shoulder. “Just be patient. You guys have a lot going on right now and she’s hormonal, which doesn’t help.”

“Don’t talk about her hormones, okay?” I say a little too defensively.

“Not trying to offend, but you have to remember that her pregnancy is an additional dimension you’re navigating on top of your relationship.”

After we got home from Kentucky, I talked to the guys about the developments between us without going into too much detail, but Dallas and Penn both agreed that I did the right thing just letting things progress naturally. But after we found out we’re having a daughter, my patience has failed to exist anymore. Hence why I’m shopping for baby shit before Scottie has the baby shower because I can’t fucking wait anymore. Regardless of how things work between us, I’m going to need a room for my daughter in my house, so I want to be prepared.

As we round the corner at the end of a new aisle, the sight before us makes me, Dallas, and Penn all stop in our tracks.

Parker is staring at the display of breast pumps, taking each one and bringing it up to his own nipples, as if trying them on for size.

“What the fuck did we just walk in on?” Dallas grumbles.

Penn blows out a breath. “I swear, he must have been adopted. ”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I speak loud enough for Parker to hear. “Watching you right now makes me question how people trust you to operate on animals.”

Parker’s head spins to face us as he drops the breast pump, the sound of it hitting the floor echoing around us. Scrambling to pick it up, he says, “Uh, I think the animals are starting to have an influence on me.” Parker sets the breast pump down and stares at it with a look of concern on his face. “This place is having a weird effect on me too, so I think it’s time for me to go.”

“Yeah, I think trying to milk yourself is a surefire mark of insanity,” Penn mutters as Parker flips him off and Dallas snickers beside him. Parker heads for the door and doesn’t look back as he exits the shop, leaving the three of us alone again.

“Okay, we need to focus. I need to get enough stuff to start putting together this room.” I look around the shop until I find the store associate restocking one of the shelves and head right over to her, assuming that Penn and Dallas are right behind me. But five minutes later, I hear the telltale sound of walkie talkies going off in one of the aisles.

“We need diaper cream and wipes, stat!”

“10-4. Roger that!”

A tube of diaper cream goes flying past my face, landing in Penn’s arms as he catches it like a running back in the NFL, cheering as he races around the store.

I take my phone out of my pocket, send an S.O.S text to my sister, and wonder why the fuck I didn’t just ask for her help with this in the first place.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m standing at the counter, prepared to drop almost a grand on furniture and necessities for my kid when my sister breezes through the entrance of the store, her long hair thrown up in a clip and her apron still tied around her waist. She must have come straight from the bakery.

“Is everything okay? Your text said it was an emergency.”

“Yeah, I’m okay, but I need your opinion on this stuff,” I say, gesturing to the mountain of boxes, bags, and containers stacked next to the counter. The attendant helping me is more than pleased with my purchase, seeing as how she probably works on commission.

Astrid gives me a confused look. “What are you doing?”

“I’m buying shit for my daughter’s nursery,” I say matter-of-factly. “I want to surprise Scottie, and asked the boys to come with me, but turns out that was a big fucking mistake.”

Dallas comes around the corner, muttering into one of the baby monitors again. “Uh oh. Momma Bear number one is here. I repeat, Momma Bear number one is here.”

Penn runs from the back of the store and stops dead in his tracks as he meets Astrid’s icy glare. “Oh. Hi, babe.”

“What the hell are you two doing?” With her arms crossed over her chest, she glares at both of them. “This is your idea of helping?”

Dallas and Penn both hang their heads in shame, and I’m not going to lie, the sight is making me fucking tickled pink.

But then she turns to face me. “And you thought that these two children would be better assistance than your sister, who is already a mother and happens to know the mother of your child pretty darn well?”

“Uh…”

“Idiots. All of you.” Astrid takes the baby monitors from Dallas and Penn, and hands them over to the attendant. “I believe these belong to you.”

“It’s no trouble. Honestly, this happens more than you might think when men come into the store. ”

Astrid flashes her a placating smile. “I’m sure.” Spinning to face us all again, she says, “Dallas and Penn, you two can leave. Your help isn’t needed anymore.”

Penn smacks Dallas on the back of the head. “See? You got us in trouble.”

“It was your idea, dipshit.”

They continue to argue as they make their way out the front door of the store before my sister locks eyes with me again.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking, but shit, I’m out of my element here, Astrid.”

“Which is exactly why you should have called me.” She checks the time on her phone. “Now, I have fifteen minutes before I need to be back at the bakery. Tell me what’s going on.”

I blow out a breath as the attendant starts wrapping up a few of the items I purchased. “I want to surprise Scottie with something, but I need to know if I’m totally off base here.”

“Well, you know I have no problem giving it to you straight, big brother. Now ask away.”

“I told Scottie that we needed to start putting together a nursery, preferably at my house, but she freaked out.”

“You told her this was happening?”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I say sheepishly, “Kind of?”

She smacks the back of my head now. “I was wrong. You’re an idiot too.”

“Ow!”

“You should know better than to tell a woman she’s going to do anything, let alone insinuate that she’s going to live with you without first asking how she feels about it.”

“I know, but damn it, Astrid. I can’t live apart from them. ”

“But you can’t force Scottie to make that decision in the blink of an eye.” She snaps her fingers in front of my face. “So what are you buying all of this stuff for, then? You know her shower is next month, right?”

“Well, I was thinking of setting up a nursery at my house so she could visualize a space for our daughter and maybe start to see herself there too.” I shrug.

The smile she gives me allows a wave of relief to wash through me. “That’s really sweet, Grady, but what if she still says no?

“Then at least I’ll have a room ready for my baby girl when she’s with me.” It’s not what I want, but at least the time, effort, and money won’t be for nothing.

She taps her finger to her chin. “Okay, then I support this. But, I have another idea that might win her over a bit too.”

I pull her into my chest. “What would I do without you?”

She holds up her thumb and index finger with an inch of space between them. “You wouldn’t be this close to getting your dream girl and dream life.”

Let’s just hope she’s right about that.