“Yeah.” I run a hand through my hair, wishing Cash hadn’t called, hadn’t brought any of these worries up. I’d been having such a nice day.
“You want me to stay?” Haylee asks, her voice soft as she runs her fingers in small circles over my chest.
“I thought they couldn’t practice without the singer?”
“They can if you need me.” There’s a soaring sensation in my chest, the same one I feel whenever she reminds me that I can count on her. I have no idea what I’ve ever done to deserve her, but I’m damn thankful to be exactly where I am in this moment.
Of course Cash calls again.
“I’m gonna kill him,” I mutter as Haylee laughs, sitting up.
“Answer the phone. I need to go change.”
I make a face at her but reach for my phone all the same. I know I shouldn’t really keep her from rehearsal, not with the tour starting up so soon. And Cash, apparently, has no intention of leaving me the hell alone.
“What?” I snap into the phone.
“Oh, thank God,” Cash says, his voice really high. He actually sounds a little panicked, and I sit up, reaching automatically for my keys on the coffee table.
“What’s wrong?”
“You need to come over here,” Cash says. “I’m freaking out, man.” There’s a shrill screaming noise in the background.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “Is that a baby?”
“Yes it’s a fucking baby, Lennon. You’re just a damn genius, aren’t you? Why the hell do you think I need you to come over?”
I drop the keys, the worry ebbing out of my chest, replaced with confusion. “Cash I have no idea what’s going on right now. You need me to come over because of a baby?”
“It’s Rose, you idiot!” Cash yells, sounding very nearly unhinged. “I’m watching Rose and it’s a disaster—”
“Is she okay? Did something happen?”
“I can’t get her to stop crying! And she blew out like three diapers and I have no idea what I’m doing and I swear to God, Lennon, I’m afraid she’s going to have a stroke or something from screaming so much and it’s all my fault because I’m obviously freaking out—”
“Whoa, whoa,” I say, looking up to see Haylee standing in the doorway, her eyebrows raised. Apparently Cash’s high-pitched yelling is loud enough to be heard across the room. “You have Rose? Where are Daltrey and Daisy?”
Cash curses, loudly, like he can’t believe I’m being so dense. “They left her here with me and went out to lunch.” It sounds like he’s talking through clenched teeth.
“Why in the hell would they leave her with you?”
“They thought I needed the practice!” Cash yells. “Are you going to help me or not?”
A part of me, the part that’s been the butt of hundreds of Cash’s jokes and pranks over the years, wants to enjoy this a little. My older brother is clearly freaking out, in way over his head. Which, honestly, is an experience Cash could probably use a lot more of in his life. On the other hand, I don’t think Rose should have to suffer just to pay back some of her uncle’s debts.
“I’ll be right there,” I say, stifling a laugh as Cash mutters, “Oh, thank Christ.”
I hang up the phone, standing. “Guess he did need me after all.”
“Babysitting emergency?” Haylee asks.
“Are you smirking?”
She snorts. “It’s the smirk of a woman who plans to take her birth control religiously and thus avoid the headache I’m pretty sure you’re on your way to face.”
I pull her into a goodbye hug. “That sounds like an excellent plan.”
She looks up at me. “You sure about that? You’re pretty baby crazy since Rose was born. I can’t even imagine how bad you’ll be when Sam has her baby and there are two of them.”
I kiss the top of her head. “I’m baby crazy because I can hand her back to her parents at the end of the day.” I press another kiss to her skin, this time just below her ear. “Besides, I have no intention of sharing you with anyone. Not any time soon, at least.”
“Sounds good to me,” she murmurs. “We’ve got our whole lives to be boring and domestic.”
I look down into her eyes. “Our whole lives, huh? Does that mean you plan on sticking around for a while?”
She pinches my side. “You’re not getting rid of me, Lennon. But you should get out of here before your brother has a panic attack.”
I know she’s right, know I should get going so Cash doesn’t freak anymore, but I can’t quite wipe the smile off my face as I lean in for one last kiss, words like our whole lives dancing around in my head.
* * *
I can hear the baby screaming from Daltrey’s front porch. “Cash?” I call, pushing the door open. “You here?”
He appears in the foyer, eyes wide with panic, wearing jeans and an undershirt, his hair a mess, his cheeks red. “Oh, thank God,” he says, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the house. “You have to do something, Lennon.”
“Dude. You need to chill out.”
“Chill out? Chill out? I probably ruined the baby! And Sam is going to find out about this and then she’ll leave me because there’s obviously no way I should be able to be around small children and—”
“Cash!” I’m tempted to slap him across the face to snap him out of it but knowing him he’ll punch back just out of reflex. “Where’s Rose?”
He points a shaking finger towards the living room, where the sounds of crying are quite a bit louder. I find my niece in her car seat, fat tears rolling down her red face. “Hey, baby girl,” I say softly, moving to pick her up.
“Don’t!” Cash cries.
I turn to scowl at him. “Why the hell not? Did you ever consider that maybe she wouldn’t be so upset if you held her?”
“I have been holding her, ass!” he shoots back. “I tried her swing and her bouncy chair and whatever the hell that bumbo thing is and none of it helps!”
“Well maybe it will help if I do it,” I say, trying not to sound smug, but come on. No way Rose is going to be this upset if her favorite uncle is holding her. Despite Cash’s continuing protest I pull the baby from her car seat—only to see that her bottom half is wrapped in Cash’s t-shirt. I guess that explains the undershirt.
“Uh, Cash,” I say, lifting her higher. “You do know that babies wear diapers, right?”
He grumbles some choice words I’m pretty sure Daisy wouldn’t be thrilled about her baby hearing. “I can’t find any more diapers, douche. Why do you think I’m freaking out? She had three total blow outs.” He makes a face. “I had no idea something so awful can come out of that tiny little thing, Lennon. Seriously. I’m talking like, exorcist here.”
“Okay,” I mutter, bouncing her a little. To my relief her cries are quieting. “That’s enough detail for me. How are there not more diapers?”
He throws his hands up in the air. “I don’t know! Apparently they’re out.”
“You look in her nursery?”
“No, Lennon,” he snaps and I can tell he’s pretty close to losing it completely. “I never would have thought to check her nursery.”
There are footsteps in the hall and I look up to see Reed standing in the doorway, holding two large shopping bags. He raises his eyebrows at me. “Called you too, huh?”
“I think our dear brother is having a breakdown.”
Reed holds the bags higher. “I come bearing diapers.”
Cash practically throws himself on our older brother. “Thank God,” he says, reaching for the bags. He pulls out five different packages. “Jesus, Reed. I said a couple diapers.”
“How in the hell was I supposed to know what kind to get?” Reed shoots back. “I’ve never bought diapers before. And you should see what that aisle of the store looks like—it’s insane. Swaddlers and overnights and pull-ups and eco-friendly organic something or other. It was like hell in there! Then all of these women surrounded me, trying to help, and that just overwhelmed me even more.�
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I roll my eyes. “They were probably hitting on you, Reed. Women really like it when guys are confused about baby stuff.”
“Then I’m in great shape with Sam,” Cash mutters. “Because I’m fucking clueless.”
“All right, let’s just get her in a diaper,” I say. “One of these has to work.”
Cash looks through the collection, finally settling on one he says looks pretty similar to ones he’d used earlier in the day. “I still don’t understand why you couldn’t just call Daltrey and ask him what kind of diapers to get,” Reed says. “Instead of making me spend fifty dollars on crap we don’t need.”
“Because if I called Daltrey he would know that I can’t do this,” Cash says through clenched teeth as I lay Rose down on her changing table. “And he’d never shut up about it. And he’d tell Daisy, who would tell Sam, who doesn’t need to have a freaking panic attack because the father of her unborn baby is useless.”
I catch Reed’s eye. “Speaking of panic attacks,” he mutters under his breath and I try not to smile.
When Cash pulls his shirt off the baby, we all take a step back, covering our noses. “Seriously?” Cash asks. “That was my favorite shirt, Rose.”
She just smiles up at us, her earlier tears forgotten, oblivious to the disgusting issue below her belly.
Reed puts his hands up. “You’re the babysitter,” he says, looking at Cash. “I’m just the diaper deliverer.”
“And I’m just here for moral support.” I clap him on the back. “I totally believe in you, buddy.”
Cash cleans her up as best he can with wipes, doing a respectful job of not gagging too much, but it’s obvious the only thing that’s going to get her really clean is a bath.
“Do you know how to give a baby a bath?” he asks, looking from Reed to me with worried eyes.
I shrug. “Can she go in the bathtub? Or is she too little?”
Reed clears his throat. “Uh, she can probably just go in the sink.” We stare at him, confused. “That’s what Mom and Dad used to do with Daltrey.”
Cash’s eyebrows go up. “How do you remember that?”
Reed shrugs, looking uncomfortable. “I used to help. I thought it was fun.”
“Well we can’t put her in the kitchen sink,” I say. “Not when she’s got poop on her back. They wash dishes in there.”
Cash shudders. “I cannot believe that this is how I’m spending my Saturday,” he mutters. “I really can’t.”
“Hey, what’s this?” Reed calls from the other side of the nursery, pulling a shallow plastic tub from the closet. “Think this is a bathtub?”
We all look at it. I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt so clueless about anything in my life.
“Fuck it,” Reed finally says, pulling out his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Cash asks, panicked.
“Paige. She’s babysat before, she’ll know.”
“She’ll tell Daisy!”
“Cash—”
“You can’t call her! You can’t!”
I pull out my own phone, dialing before Cash even notices. “Dad?” I say when he picks up.
“Is everything okay?” he asks, sounding immediately worried.
“Everything is fine,” I tell him, pushing down the kernel of guilt I feel at his obvious surprise to hear from me. “I just have a question for you. About Rose.”
“O…kay?” He sounds confused now. There’s a muffled noise, like he’s covering the phone and talking to someone. “What’s going on?”
I turn my back so I won’t have to see the way Reed is glaring at me. “Cash is watching Rose today, and he called me and Reed over to help him.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” I assure him. “I…uh…think?”
“Do you need me to come over?”
“No, we’ve got it. The thing is, she kind of had a messy diaper and we have no idea how we’re supposed to clean her off.”
He’s quiet for a moment and when he speaks again, it sounds like he’s trying not to laugh. “Why don’t you call Daisy?”
I sigh. “Cash seems to think it would get back to Sam that he’s hopeless with this kind of thing.”
“Hey!” Cash yells, smacking my shoulder.
“What?” I shoot back. “You’re the one who’s freaking out!”
Dad is definitely laughing now. “Let me talk to him,” he says and I hand the phone over to Cash, ignoring his scowl.
“Dad? Yeah. I did. Right.” He listens for a few minutes, nodding. “I think I can do that. Okay.” He takes a deep breath. “Thanks.” Dad says something else and Cash grins sheepishly. “Right. Okay, thanks again, Dad. Bye.”
He hands me the phone before straightening his shoulders, a determined look on his face. “All right. Let’s do this.”
* * *
Apparently the plastic thing Reed found is indeed a bathtub. Cash, following Dad’s directions, sets it up inside the regular tub, filling it with a few inches of water. “Lennon, I need a plastic cup, a few washcloths, and a towel,” he says, like he thinks he’s a trauma surgeon directing his team or something. I head off to get the supplies while Cash fills the bath and Reed holds the baby. When I come back, they’re crowded around the side of the tub, Rose settled inside, watching while she splashes her hands in the water.
“Don’t let go of her,” Reed says, sounding nervous.
“I’m not,” Cash replies, his hands cradling Rose under her head and shoulders.
“Do you think that’s too much water?” I ask.
“It’s barely covering her feet,” Cash says.
“Yeah, but what if she slips or—”
“I’m giving the bath!” Cash yells, making Rose jump a little at the noise. “You guys can shut up or you can leave.”
“Sorry,” we both mutter. We watch while Cash uses the cup to splash warm water over her tummy, her arms, her legs. He pours some baby shampoo on the washcloth and uses it to wash off her legs and back. Rose seems like she’s in heaven, cooing like crazy, splashing her hands, grinning her face off.
“That’s better, right?” Cash asks her. “No more nastiness, not for our girl.”
Rose responds by clapping her hands into the water, shooting up a splash of liquid right in Cash’s face.
“Thanks, babe,” he mutters. “On that note, I think we’re probably good. Reed, hold up that towel.” He moves to pull her up out of the bath and his face suddenly twists up in concern.
“What?” I ask.
“She’s so slippery!”
“Well she’s in water,” I point out, and he glares at me.
“What if I drop her?”
“You won’t.”
“What if I do?”
Reed sighs. “Here. I’ll put the towel right here and you can just slip her—” But Reed lets go of the towel too fast, grasping for it as it falls right into the bath. Soaked.
“Great,” he mutters, and I run back to the linen closet to grab another.
“I really think I might drop her,” Cash says, sounding panicked again as Reed approaches with the new towel.
“Just be cool, man,” Reed suggests. “Can’t babies sense fear?”
“I think that’s dogs,” I say. Cash flips us both off.
“Okay, so just move her into the towel and then I’ll grab her,” Reed says. Cash readjusts his position, presumably to get into a more secure stance on his knees. But he overcompensates, bumping into Reed before splashing down into the bathtub with both hands, soaking himself and Reed in the process. From her little bed in the plastic bath, Rose laughs.
“You guys are both wet,” I point out.
“Lennon, I swear to God,” Reed mutters.
“Here’s another towel,” I say. “I grabbed two last time in case you messed up again.”
“You want to do this?” Cash snarls.
“I bet I can do it better than you.”
“Both of you shut up!” Reed yells. He reaches down and plucks
Rose easily from the bath. “Jesus, Cash, that was nothing.”
“She’s wiggling!” Cash argues as Reed wraps the towel around her.
“And you have about a hundred and sixty pounds on her,” Reed points out. “She’s not going to jump out of your arms.”
“Well it felt like she was,” Cash mutters, tossing the two wet towels and the washcloths onto the floor in the corner. “What now?”
“Let’s get her dressed.”
It takes us a while to figure out all the buttons on her onesie thing—it probably doesn’t help that Reed and I keep pushing Cash aside to try to do it ourselves. By the time we’re finished, Rose is crying again, clearly mad that she’s been stuck on her changing table for so long.
“What do we do with her?” Cash asks, the desperation creeping back into his voice.
“She likes to walk,” I suggest. “We can put her in her stroller.”
“Let’s try that,” he agrees.
It takes us a good twenty minutes to gather up all of her things. Luckily Rose calms down once I put her in her swing, watching us with wide eyes while we argue over the diaper bag. “I think one blanket is enough,” Reed says. “It’s eighty degrees out.”
“But there’s a breeze,” Cash says, shoving in a second blanket.
“Does she really need all these toys?” I ask, poking at the stuffed animals and the half-dozen horrible plastic light-up noise-making things Rose has been obsessed with lately.
“What if she gets bored?”
“Does she have an extra binky?” Reed asks, pushing me aside to check.
“She has four,” I mutter.
“Okay. I think we’re good,” Cash says looking down at the overflowing bag. “Let’s get the stroller out.”
We find the stroller in the garage, and Reed manages to get it unfolded after about five minutes of swearing. Cash settles the diaper bag in the bottom and I arrange a few extra blankets in the baby part. Then I look up.
“Who has Rose?”
For a long moment, Cash and Reed just stare back at me before all three of us turn to look at the door to the house. The door which apparently swung shut behind us when we came out.
“Please, please, please,” Cash mutters, reaching for the handle. It doesn’t turn.
The Ransome Brothers_A Ransom Novel Page 23