I stand and start bouncing my knees, swaying from side to side, and gently patting his back, trying to mimic what I saw Dom do last night to soothe Luca. I start to half sing, half whisper the lyrics to “Baby Got Back,” but before I make it to the chorus, I feel something warm sliding down my front. And my arm?What is that?
I look down to find spit-up all over my shirt. But that’s so far from my arm….Why does my arm feel wet? I switch my arms around so that my right arm is now on Luca’s back and I can pull my left arm away.
I freeze. “Oh fuck.” Yep…that’s poop running down my arm. Then it hits me. The smell. I cannot do this. Time to panic. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” I hiss while walking around with my arm in the air, at a loss. Dom better be buying some better diapers because these ones suck ass.
I walk to the area in the living room where Dom and Ellie keep the diapers and wipes, all the while trying to soothe Luca. Maybe I’m trying to calm myself, too, and give the pep talk I need to survive until Ellie wakes up or until Dom gets home to take his spawn away from me so I can shower. Dom changed all the poopy diapers last night. I knew I should have practiced at least once before I went solo.
With Luca lying on the mat, I can fully assess the damage and…wow.Howis Luca capable of this absolute destruction? My shirt and arm are covered, and there is no saving his outfit. Wonderful. Since I know Dom won’t be home for a while, I go ahead and take off my shirt, using it to try to wipe myself clean. I’ll grab Ellie’s sweater off the couch in a second.
I get the diaper and wipes ready, but then I make a critical mistake. One that will haunt me. I take off his diaper too soon, and Luca isn’t done. He isn’t doneat all. “Sweet baby Jesus, no!”
Full on explosion. I am the target. Direct hit.
And because my life is a mess, I hear the front door open at this exact moment. “Don’t come in here, Dom! Run, save yourself!” I whisper-shout because my best friend is sleeping and I don’t know if I’m more scared of the poop machine in front of me or the sleep-deprived best friend snuggled away upstairs.
“Dom?” I hear an unfamiliar voice call out.
Shit, what the actual fuck?Who is that? Were Ellie or Dom’s parents coming over and they forgot to tell me?
My brain isn’t working fast enough, and before I can form any kind of reasonable way to say,Hey, there’s baby poop everywhere, and I’m in a bra; please don’t come around the corner, the most gorgeous man walks into the living room. I haven’t spoken to him for over three years, but I’ve given him plenty of thought since then, and dammit, he looks good.
Fuck me.
Chapter Two
Aiden
Ifreeze and divert my eyes, turning back to the front hallway, “Holy tits…fuck, Bec. I’m sorry,” I yell. The last thing I expected walking into Dom’s house was to see Bec in a sports bra, her beige skin covered in what I hope is baby food or something. Based on the smell and color, that seems unlikely. “Dom invited me over. The door was unlocked, so I came in when no one answered. I knocked; I swear.”
I feel like an idiot. I should run so far away that this memory can’t even find me. I typically welcome all of my memories with Bec when they flood my mind, more often than I care to admit, but this one, this one I want to burn.
“Uh…yeah, just, uh, give me one second to clean up and grab a sweater,” she says.
I wait. Thinking silently about all the decisions I made to get me here, to the most awkward moment in my twenty-eight years of life.
“You can turn around, I’m dressed now. Just getting Luca changed.” I turn slowly, trying to decide whether I want to face this moment or disappear and never return. “So, uh, what are you doing here, Aiden?”
Bec is working quickly with what looks like a million buttons. Sheglances at me over her shoulder and then turns away again.
God, I want her to look at me. She’s even more beautiful than I remember. Despite whatever the fuck is going on right now.
“I’m here to meet Luca and congratulate the new parents.”
“Oh yeah, right, of course. Dom mentioned last night that you moved back to Columbus. He ran out for diapers and should be back soon. Ellie is upstairs resting.” After she puts Luca into a clean outfit, she faces me with him in her arms. “I would say it’s nice to see you again, but I’m sure this is by far the worst way to run into someone in the history of humankind,” she says, smiling at me. Her cheeks pink from embarrassment.
I chuckle. Okay, so she’s still funny. At least we can joke about this. We’ll go with that. I scratch the back of my head. “Yeah, can’t say I’ve ever walked into a situation like this before, but it’s nice to see you all the same.”
I hear the front door open behind me and turn to see Dom walking in, his hands full with boxes of diapers. “Oh shit, Aiden, I completely forgot what time you were coming today. Sorry about that. Hey, Bec,” he calls out.
“Mind trading me? I’ll take the diapers to the nursery if you take Luca. I need a minute to clean up,” Bec says.
“Sure thing, come here, little man.”
I never considered how surreal it would be to watch the friends I made when I was fresh out of high school grow into responsible adults, husbands, and fathers. I mean, this guy used to hold the keg stand record in our group. A fun fact I’m sure I’ll be sharing with Luca someday. Ellie will love that.
Dom’s one of the best guys I know. I have no doubt he’ll be an amazing dad. It’s something he’s always talked about, even when we were both acting like immature assholes in college. Then he met Ellie and everything became real. He’s living his dream, building hisfamily.
Shit, what am I doing?
