Cassie looks over at Joel. Do I feel that way about him?
She has no idea. All she can think about is that watermelon-sized baby coming out of her orange-sized hole.
“She really needs some sleep,” Con tells us once Anna’s disappeared into the bedroom. “Andrew barely sleeps at night… it’s like hour-long stretches. And because I work during the day, she’s been taking on most of it.”
“How about a night nurse?” Joel says.
“That’s what I said.” Con frowns. “I tried to insist, but she wants to do it all on her own. But… well, I’m glad she’s taking a nap now, at least.”
Cassie makes a fuss over baby Andrew. He is awfully cute, after all. It’s fun to hold him without all of the responsibility of taking care of him. When he poops his diaper, she just hands him over to Con, who takes care of it expertly, before handing him back with a fresh diaper. She’s having a great time when the doorbell rings, and when Con goes to answer it, she hears Lydia’s voice in the hall.
Great.
“You didn’t tell me Lydia was coming,” Cassie hisses at Joel. She looks down at the infant in her arms and suddenly wants desperately to pass him off to someone else. And get the hell out of here.
Joel, who is messing around with his phone, looks up and shrugs. “I didn’t know they were coming.”
It’s been awkward around Lydia, to say the least. Cassie has socialized with her once since the night of that horrible Halloween party, and the two of them barely looked at one another. Cassie cringes as the clip-clop of Lydia’s heels grows louder.
Lydia seems equally surprised to see Cassie and Joel sitting in the living room when she comes into the room with Violet in tow. She gives Cassie a look. “Oh… it’s you.”
Given everything, that’s the best Cassie could have hoped for.
“Hi, Lydia,” Cassie says tightly.
“Hi, Francesca,” Violet says.
Oh God.
“No, Violet,” Lydia says. “This is Cassie. Not Francesca. Definitely not Francesca. Not even close.”
Glad she clarified that.
Lydia eyes Cassie, her eyes sharp. “What are you doing?”
Cassie looks around, baffled. What is she doing? She’s holding Andrew. She’s not dangling him by one leg. She’s not feeding him beer.
“You’re not supporting the baby’s head,” Lydia snaps at her. “Haven’t you ever held a baby before?”
Cassie glances around, searching for Con, who seems to have vanished. He’s probably napping with his wife. The two of them both looked like they could use it.
Lydia lets out a sigh and shakes her head. “Here, give him to me. Before you seriously hurt him.”
Lydia sits down next to Cassie on the sofa and practically yanks little Andrew out of her arms. It wasn’t like Cassie desperately wanted to hold him, but she doesn’t appreciate the insinuation, especially in front of Joel. She’s certain she was holding the baby’s head. After all, Con saw her hold the baby and didn’t say she was doing anything wrong.
Andrew had been fussing in her arms, but now that Lydia’s holding him, he seems to settle. She picks up the pacifier on the table and slides it between his lips. “There,” she coos to the little boy. “Isn’t that better?”
Cassie’s cheeks burn. “I thought he was okay.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lydia says. “Not everyone is maternal.”
Violet sits down next to her mother, snuggling up against Lydia’s slim arm as she peers down at the baby. She’s wearing another one of her beautiful but completely impractical dresses, but she doesn’t seem to mind—she’s not itching or pulling at it. “Mommy,” Violet says. “May I hold him?”