I wish I was still there.
Stupid. It’s a stupid thought and an even worse idea. He doesn’t need a stranger in his way as he gets settled and holy cow… what he must be thinking. How scared must he be? What’s he going to do?
Mind your own darn business, Paisley. I scold myself and sip my wine before heading to my living room where I pull up Netflix and toss the remote to the table and sit on the couch. I am anything but relaxed.
Man. What a night to end the longest and hardest week.
My imagination runs away with me and it can’t be helped. I held Angelo almost for the entire time I was there earlier. And Mikah mostly looked scared.
What will he do tonight when he cries? How will he handle it when he spits up or when he has to be changed?
I can go over and offer to stay the night. To help. To ease him into this.
I slap my forehead. He has friends. A lot of them considering he named several before deciding on Byron, and man… that guy is big and angry looking.
At first I thought he was going to grab me by the throat and string me up by my toes. Hannah, on the other hand, I thought was going to rip Angelo straight out of my arms if she didn’t get her baby fix. I’m so crazily invested in this entire, wild situation, I zone out to the Netflix logo on the screen. I haven’t bothered turning on a show I won’t focus on watching.
“Get over yourself,” I mutter and take a sip of my wine.
It’s none of my business. So the hottie next door is now a dad. So I finally know his name. So I also now know he has an accent that I can’t place and speaks a language so easily he’s definitely not originally from here. So I know more about him than I did before and I might see him again in passing, or maybe drop by tomorrow to see how he’s doing.
Big deal. He’s still only my neighbor.
Sighing, I grab the remote again and pull up the medical drama I’ve been streaming for the last several weeks. Whatever is going on across the hall from me isn’t my business. I’m glad I was home earlier to help, but Mikah will figure everything out. We’ll go back to passing each other in the hall with a smile and perhaps now a polite word or two.
Other than that, it’s best I focus on me and my schoolwork and what I need to do this weekend like laundry and research. Speaking of, I should probably get started. I set down my wine and head to my bedroom where I grab my laundry basket.
A quick sort and a few minutes later, I have my first load in the washer, humming from the small laundry room closet off my hallway.
I’m just about ready to sit back down with my wine and television drama when a soft knock hits my door.
Mikah. It’s scary he’s my first thought but who else would be here? I hurry to the door and open it without thinking, surprised when Hannah is standing on the other side, hand still raised in a fist like she’s preparing to knock again.
She drops her hand to her side and smiles. “Hey… Paisley? Do you have a minute?”
I step back, stunned. She’s here? Why is she here? I give a quick glance to the closed door across the hall. “Is everything okay?”
“They’re doing well. Angelo is sleeping. Byron and Mikah are setting up the bassinet and other furniture we went out and got him. But I’d like to talk to you if that’s okay?”
“Um. Sure.” I step back slowly, wary at the look on her face. “Come on in.”
I close the door behind her and go to the bottle of wine on my counter. Something tells me I’ll need it. “Would you like one?”
“Oh my gosh, yes.” She laughs and shakes her head. “What a night, right? I mean, I swear my head is still spinning from all of this. And Mikah, the poor guy. He’s so utterly and adorably lost.”
She babbles on while I grab a glass and fill it for her, but I’m stuck on adorable.
To me, Mikah is anything but adorable, except for maybe his embarrassment when he admitted he doesn’t know what he’s doing. On a scale of one to ten for awkward actions with a strange neighbor I’m pretty sure the hug I wanted to give him at that moment would have reached a twenty.
“Anyway” —she flips her hand in the air— “that’s all, well that’s sort of why I’m here. Byron wanted to come talk you, but I convinced him it’d be better coming from me.”
A chill runs through me at her words, the way she’s smiling at me. It’s not exactly friendly and I’m not sure what to do with it.
“Okay…”
“Well, here’s the thing and I’m just going to say it.” She takes a sip of her wine and licks her lips. “You haven’t told anyone about tonight, have you?”
“No.” I haven’t even considered it. It might help my friends are all out partying and my parents and I, while close, aren’t exactly the kind of parents I dish about boys with. “No. I haven’t said anything.”
“Okay good.” She sighs and presses her hands to the countertop. Her eyes harden and I’m not even sure I know how I recognize it but the happy babbling woman vanishes. She’s so much more serious and I’m stunned again when she asks, “You don’t know who he is, do you?”
“Know who, who is? Mikah?”
“Yeah. I take it you don’t watch hockey?”
“Hockey?” It’d be fantastic if I could stop answering her questions with questions but I’m not sure where she’s going. Everything she says confuses me. “I don’t really watch any sports,” I admit.
At my answer, Hannah’s smile widens and she returns to being friendly.
“Okay. See, that’s good. Great even, I think. But Mikah and Byron, well, they play for the Ice Kings.”
“Ice Kings?”
She laughs so hard she snorts and covers her mouth. “Sorry. So sorry. I’m not laughing at you, I promise, but yeah. Carolina Ice Kings. The local professional hockey team? Ever hear of them? Because their games are like three blocks away from here.”
I pay attention to hockey as much as I pay attention to golf, which is to say not at all. And that includes all sports. My father is more of a NASCAR fan but Mom and I usually left the house when races came on. Like either of us wanted to sit around and scream at cars zooming around the track.
“Um. It sounds familiar, but I’m confused why this matters I guess?”
“Because, if word gets out Mikah has had a baby dropped on his doorstep that’ll make the news. It’ll be all over social media. It can distract the team before their season ever begins and it won’t be good for any of them, or him.”
My throat tightens and that chill I felt earlier turns to a rolling heat. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“That’s good. Good. Great, really, it’s just, I’m not trying to be mean, but I care about the guys and the team. We’re like family. Mikah’s going to get enough attention once people find out he has a kid. Fans will go absolutely nuts. I want to help him as much as possible. And to be honest, we’re the only family he has here.”
“I do too.” Yes, I blurt that out before I can stop it. “I don’t, I mean, I don’t even know him but I wouldn’t hurt someone. Not intentionally at least.”
“And I’m not saying you would, but I also wanted to come over here and double check. Mikah said before tonight you two had never met, so he doesn’t know you. We’re dealing with a rather large unknown.”