“Wait! The road to your house is at least another mile away… No! Not that turn… Why are we here?” AJ stammered with apprehension, noticing Howie weave into the parking lot of an exclusive baby store. Jillian had just been released from the hospital an hour ago, so AJ assumed they would head home with the little bundle of joy. But he was sadly mistaken as Howie eased into the first open parking spot he could locate. Not liking the odds of the situation, AJ craned his neck for a view of the backseat with a twinge of uneasiness. Thankfully, Jillian was still snoozing soundly in her car seat, but that could easily change with a few unnecessary movements or bulky sounds from entering a busy store. And AJ had absolutely no interest in being caught anywhere with a screaming child.
“Well, this would be a baby store and Jillian’s a baby. So, I’m guessing that I decided my baby Jillian needs stuff from this baby store before we can go home. I figured it would be the best time to stop, since this is the closest store to my house. Besides, Mom’s setting up my old crib and stuff now—”
“Good, then turn around!” AJ demanded, stomping on the floor as if he were pressing the gas pedal.
“J, we don’t have food, clothes, diapers, wipes—”
“You got cold pizza in the fridge… and we can use your old t-shirts for clothes, diapers, and wipes. Lord knows you have some t-shirts that need to be condemned!” AJ protested, lurching forward as Howie killed the engine to glare at him.
“You can’t feed a baby pizza and don’t make me start naming out some of those disasters you tried to pass off as the latest fashion from France!”
“But—”
“Get out of the car,” Howie ordered, unfastening his seatbelt. He quickly hopped into the back of his favorite Mazda 626 to unfasten Jillian’s car seat. A proud smile curved against his lips while he observed Jillian dozing peacefully, suckling tenderly on her fingers with a small contented sigh. He was halfway to the entrance before glancing up from his daughter to notice AJ still perched inside the car, muttering incoherently to himself. Howie swallowed a curse at AJ’s belligerent disobedience before he hissed loudly, “AJ! Now!”
“This isn’t good for my rep!” AJ groaned, slowly opening his car door.
“It couldn’t hurt it either! Let’s go!”
AJ finally slammed his car door, openly sulking as he stepped into Howie’s stride. Howie’s blatent attempts at ignoring his behavior caused a streak of childishness to flow through AJ’s veins. He immediately pouted to the point of over exaggerating the protrusion of his bottom lip as Howie freed a cart. Howie didn’t seem to notice as he pulled open the top seat to click Jillian’s car seat in. He double-checked the security of Jillian’s car seat before covering her small form with the soft chenille blanket. He then glanced back to locate AJ, finally observing AJ’s foul expression. Howie folded his arms across his chest, “Son, are you jealous?”
“Yes! Ah-I mean no!” AJ screeched.
“Good, take her in and get started,” Howie concluded, abruptly turning from the cart.
AJ became alarmed, lunging to grasp Howie’s arm. “Where the Hell do you think you’re going?”
“I forgot something in the car. Just take her in. I’ll be two seconds,” Howie sighed, pulling away.
“Oh no!” AJ whimpered pathetically, knowing he was truly alone with the ticking time-bomb.
“I feel like a blind person at a laser light show! I mean, honestly! What the Hell is iron-enriched milk? Protein enriched powdered milk. Powdered milk? Milk in a can? Vitamin D Plus milk? Breast milk simul—gross! Jillian, let me just tell you that those play toys are not meant to leak! … And why can’t we just buy you a damn cow?” AJ protested with agitation, slowly walking down the baby food and milk isle. He felt so lost and started to believe Howie had betrayed him. His older friend had yet to return from the car. AJ was beginning to wonder about the possibilities of a search and rescue. Sure, the baby was quiet, but she was a ticking time bomb in AJ’s mind. One false move and he’d be deaf for a lifetime.
“And what the Hell is up with all this food? Mushed peas? Smashed carrots? Burnt cookies? Strained squash? What are these mothers thinking? Why can’t we find some pizza in a can?” AJ groaned, stopping near the jars of various baby foods. He picked up two different jars, gazing down to Jillian with question. “Do you even eat this shit yet?”
AJ shrugged helplessly when he received no response from the slumbering newborn. Obviously she didn’t seem to care about her choice of foods, so he tossed a few jars into the cart without much thought. He never expected the loud clunk to immediately jar Jillian from her nap. AJ didn’t even know the difference till she offered a blood curdling screamed, causing him to drop another jar upon his foot. He cursed as he watched her become rigid from being startled with the natural reflex of newborns. He winced with agony, almost feeling the skin peel from his bones at the wretched whine sounding from the small infant’s lungs. The terrifying sound seemed to alert all the mothers in the aisles; their gazes firmly set upon AJ. He blushed with embarrassment, scrambled toward the car seat, and started to fumble with pathetic excuses to cease Jillian’s screams.
“Look, kid, I can’t pick you up! I’m not authorized to do it! I don’t have a permit or any insurance. And I don’t know if that you-break-it-you-bought-it policy applies to babies. So, just take a deep breath! Find your center and make peace with it. C’mon, chant with me,” AJ tried lamely, grabbing Jillian’s flailing hands to try out some yoga movements. She looked none too pleased as her cherubic face contorted to a look of pure horror. Her usually rosy cheeks were a furious red as she released another series of ear-numbing screams. Her hands balled into fists of fury as she thrust her legs toward AJ’s chest.
AJ recoiled in surprise at the soft thump on his chest with Jillian’s floundering feet. His head started to throb at the continuous pulsating screams projecting from such a small bundle. He stomped his foot like a stubborn child, never noticing a young woman approach from the opposite end of the aisle. Instead, he bent down to stare into Jillian’s’ teary emerald eyes with a growl in his voice. “No need to get violent on me, Kid! I shouldn’t even be running around with your diapered butt in my hands. I’m not trained at this stuff! Damnit, I’m an only child! I don’t know what the Hell I’m doing! I told him, but does he listen? Not your father! That’s one thing you’ll learn, Kid. I think he secretly likes torturing me. Just because I managed to smear honey inside his drawers after he got out of the shower. I mean… Why are you still screaming?! Don’t you have a damn off button?”
“Do you need help?” an unfamiliar voice called before AJ could continue his incessant rambling.
“No, I need a damn zoo keeper!”
“Those are reserved for when the children actually climbing to the ceiling and flinging their diapers at the crowd,” the woman chided softly, finally coming into AJ’s view. She stepped forward, easing AJ to the side after sitting her basket down. AJ tugged hard on his dark locks in attempts to swallow his own screams, obviously not objecting to this woman’s kind help. Instead, he watched the woman smile softly as she eased Jillian out of the car seat. She instantly started to coo softly, holding Jillian close within the crook of her arm. Jillian’s wails almost died the instant she was nestled in the woman’s embrace. AJ snorted with disgust when he noted that Jillian’s screams turned into mere sniffles and an occasional hiccup while she stared intently at the stranger.
The woman continued to fuss softly to ease Jillian’s fears. “You’re so precious. Just wanted to be held, huh, Sweetheart?”
“Watch out, she bites!” AJ grumbled, slowly uncovering his ears to hear Jillian coo with a soft gurgle of love. “How the Hell did you—”
“AJ! Is Jillian okay? Please tell me you didn’t drop her! Please, Dear God, tell me AJ didn’t bounce my baby like a basketball!” Howie blurted, rushing up the isle. His eyes were wild with alarm after hearing the shrill screams radiating at the entrance. His cheeks flushed a bright red as he located AJ with a soft curse. “What happened? I shouldn’t have left you—”
“She’s fine,” the woman assured with another kind smile, causing Howie to stumble in surprise. “Judging by the look on your face, you must be Daddy.”
“Yeah—” Howie drawled out his answer, completely mesmerized by the beauty holding his tiny daughter. She was his height with a figure to be admired. The softly rounded curves of her body enhanced the feminine characteristics upon the lithe grace of her sweetly toned form. Her straight golden locks clipped neatly below her shoulders hung gracefully, allowing Howie’s eyes to travel down to the slightly larger curve of her supple breasts. Howie swallowed hard and quickly assumed she had some form of dance training by judging her elegant stance. His eyes then immediately traveled to her gorgeous face as if making a mental sketch. Her full supple lips were lightly glossed with what Howie assumed to be a delicious tasting gloss and curved into a sweet smile. But the most fascinating feature was her rare violet eyes glowing with a true sincerity that most women lacked in the twenty-first century. Howie found himself speechless because he had never seen such beauty within one woman.
“Sorry if it looks like I’m butting in. But it looked like your friend needed some help with the baby. She just needed to be held a little bit. She’s really sweet,” the woman interjected, seemingly uncomfortable with Howie’s staring. She mustered yet another smile, settling Jillian back into her car seat. The baby shifted with a soft wheezing sigh from her cries, but stayed fast asleep. Satisfied, the woman pulled her blonde locks into a ponytail before picking up her basket t continue shopping. “Well… have a nice day.”
“Howie,” he blurted without thought, not wanting her to disappear.
She turned with surprise. “What?”
“My name…” he murmured, obviously fighting his brain to finish the sentence, “Is Howie.”
“Oh, my name is Keveney.”
“Keveney? That’s beautiful.”
“Well, thank you,” Keveney answered with a faint blush tickling her tan cheeks. She set her basket down again to properly offer her hand. “It’s really nice to meet you, Howie.”
“Likewise!” Howie agreed. “And I really didn’t mind you helping out my friend—”
“Who has a name!” AJ snorted with interruption.
Howie blushed furiously, mustering a small smile. The woman was already making his brain melt from the heat radiating between them. He had never been so instantly attracted to a woman before. “Sorry that I didn’t give you all the introductions. My friend’s name is AJ.”
“And the Darling in the car seat?”
“My daughter, Jillian.”
“First time father?”
“You could say that,” AJ snorted.
Howie offered a sharp glare to AJ before continuing, “Yeah, how’d you know?”
“I see them all the time,” Keveney answered simply, moving her hands to smooth the length of her form-fitting shirt. Her violet eyes finally pulled upward and she started to laugh faintly at their bewildered faces. “I’m a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, so I see parents on a daily basis.”
“Higher than a nurse?” AJ questioned.
“I have my Master’s Degree if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Oh—”
“So, what are you doing here?” Howie interrupted, not wanting AJ to interfere. “Do you shop to stock up on supplies at the hospital for the new clients. Or do you have little ones of your own with a husband to shop for?”
“No, my youngest sister,” Keveney chuckled.
“You still live with your parents?” AJ remarked in surprise, wincing when Howie stomped on his foot.
“No, my mother asked me to stop by and pick up some things, because I visit for dinner every Tuesday and Thursday,” Keveney answered, surprisingly without any sour notes in her melodious voice. If anything, she was just enjoying the pleasant conversation. She glanced to the boys’ cart for a moment before eyeing tiny Jillian. Her mind seemed to be computing the supplies against the size of Jillian. “May I ask you how old she is?”
“Barely a week,” Howie replied, wrinkling his brow in confusion at Keveney’s laugh. “Why?”
“Newborns don’t usually take baby food,” she explained with an infectious smile. Howie glanced to his cart with embarrassment at the unneeded items. He dove toward the cart to retrieve them quickly, wondering why he even asked AJ to start on the shopping. “Didn’t your wife give you a list, Howie?”
“I don’t have a wife,” he blurted, pushing the items into AJ’s arms to be replaced. He connected with her light violet eyes and fumbled to smile at her bewildered look. “She left Jillian behind… My girlfriend, I mean, left her. Jillian was a preemie and my girlfriend couldn’t handle it.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay…” Howie answered, feeling guilty for deceiving this innocent woman.
“Um…” Keveney stumbled words against her tongue. The conversation had quickly died with Howie’s sad tale, making him regret even conjuring up such a foolish story. He watched in regret as Keveney picked up her basket before admiring the dozing Jillian once more. “The best formula for a preemie is enriched and fortified. They have…” Keveney plucked a can specifically dedicated to premature infants. “Their own kind.”
“Oh! Thank you so much,” Howie approved, placing several cans of formula into the cart. His heart skipped a quick beat, realizing the conversation was back on track. He mustered another embarrassed smile. “Guess I’m kind of lost with all this baby stuff.”
“That’s okay, most fathers couldn’t handle the pressure,” Keveney laughed, pulling her business card from her pocket. “But be sure to call me if you need anything, Howie.”
