Mom: I heard you’re spending today with Izzy! Think I can get a few pictures to print out at Walgreens? I want to put her on the fridge!
I look up from my phone and into Winnie’s unrepentant eyes without answering any of them. “If you weren’t the mother of my favorite niece, I would kill you.”
She cocks her head shamelessly. “Tell me, Rem. How’s that cleaning going that I set up for you?”
“Hand over the baby, Winnie.”
She pretends to pout, but she hands Izzy to me and places the diaper bag on my shoulder.
And when she sees I’m already on the move, she calls toward me, “Rem! Why are you leaving so soon? You don’t want to hang out here with your favorite sister? Have a cup of tea? Chat about the weather?”
I hold up my middle finger over my shoulder as I jog down the stairs, spinning around to face her and strap Iz into the carrier when I get to the bottom.
“Thanks to you, we’re a little busy today. Got a library playdate with Flynn and the boys to get to now.”
Winnie grins and waves and then blows a kiss to Izzy. “Have fun.”
I don’t even bother waving before turning to head down the block and placing a kiss to the top of Izzy’s sweet head. “I’m sorry I left you overnight with a crazy lady, baby.”
Izzy kicks and squirms, and after I’m assured she’s secure and comfortable in her spot in front of me, I pull out my phone one last time and commit to something that has to be out of another dimension.
A playdate. With Flynn. And three infants.
Me: We’ll meet you at the library in 30. But I’m going to be really disappointed if they don’t have snacks.
Remy
Izzy and I turn up the block where the library is located, and she snorts a snot bubble right into my chest. I laugh, grabbing a tissue from my pocket and wiping at her teeny nose. “That’s better, girlfriend. Can’t be meeting up with Flynn and the boys with boogers on our face, can we?” I shake my head down at her. “No way.”
She stares at me as I chat, and I smooth a hand over her fuzzy-haired head. When I look up to focus on the library, movement catches me off guard out of the corner of my eye.
After a double take, I realize it’s Flynn, Ryder, and Roman, walking out of the Naked Turtle…a bar I haven’t been inside in at least ten years.
“Did you really just come walking out of a bar with two babies in your arms?”
Flynn shrugs. “What’s the big deal? They weren’t drinking.”
“Were you?”
“Sure.”
My eyes widen slightly, but he qualifies his answer with a grin before they can pop out of my head.
“Green tea.”
Bastard. I smirk. “Fatherhood has changed you, bro.”
“I’ve always been the same. The babies just make it more obvious.”
“How? What are they? Baby highlighters?”
He rolls his eyes. “They bring out basic emotions. Their primal needs and the unabashed way they ask for them enlighten your psyche to your own. It makes you hypersensitive to things you’re normally not.”
“I’m not even going to pretend I understand what you’re talking about, which makes me think Lexi is the one who shared this information with you.”
Flynn shrugs, completely unaffected. “She’s a better source of information than just about anyone. And it doesn’t really bother me if you’re slow on the uptake.” I swear, he’s the least invested in other people’s lives than anyone I’ve ever met. If it doesn’t affect him directly, he is the definition of live and let live.
The two of us climb the steps to the library in tandem, and I can’t help but muse on the fact that we’re even in this situation. “I still can’t believe I’m spending the day play-dating with you. Never fucking thought that would happen.”
Flynn smirks. “I figured after Win sold you upriver with the group message, you were going to need a wingman and an out.”
“I’ll remember your kindness,” I say with a chuckle, adjusting Izzy as I transition onto the flat platform at the top of the steps. There’s a folding sign out front with teddy bears and balloons adorning it and overdramatic hands on a clock denoting that story time today will be taking place at 3:30 p.m. “Shit,” I remark. “Did you know story time didn’t start for another, like…” I glance at my watch. “Five and a half hours?”
Flynn shrugs.
“You didn’t check the website or something?”