After Simone left, I fed Sunny a couple of jars of baby food at our table.

Later, as I bundled her up to get going, I spoke to her as I often did, even though she couldn’t talk back.

“What do you think? Would you be okay if I went back to work? I don’t want to leave you, but I also want to make sure I can take care of us.”

She cooed, and I kissed her forehead. “We’ll figure it out, right? We always do.”

* * *

That evening, as Sunny and I arrived at our building, we ran into Deacon and “a friend”—a fiery redhead. They were approaching from the opposite end of the block. I wondered if she was the same person from that night two weeks ago.

When Deacon spotted me, he lifted his hand. “Hey, Carys.”

“Hey!” I stopped the stroller in front of the entrance.

“Let me get the door for you guys,” he said.

Deacon held the door open as I pushed Sunny’s stroller through. I normally had to fold it and carry it up to the second floor in one hand, while I held the baby in the other. But as soon as I took her out, Deacon worked to collapse the stroller and carried it up the stairs for me while his date quietly followed.

“Thank you for your help,” I said, my voice echoing in the stairwell.

“Of course.” He smiled. When we arrived at our floor, he finally said, “This is Kendra.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, feeling instantly jealous. I shouldn’t have, but I suppose I’d developed a crush on the guy.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Kendra said. “Your daughter is adorable.”

“Thank you.”

Once we got to our respective doors, Deacon leaned the stroller against the wall outside my apartment.

He noticed the toy in Sunny’s hand. “She likes the pig, huh?”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “That was a good choice. Thank you.”

Kendra turned to him and gushed, “Aw…you bought that for her? That’s so sweet.”

“It was,” I said. “And it helped calm her down today.”

“What happened today?” Deacon asked, looking concerned.

“She had a doctor’s appointment.”

His eyes narrowed. “Everything okay? Is she sick?”

“Just a checkup.”

“All good?”

“Yes. Thanks for asking. She had to have a shot, so that’s always stressful. But it went fine.”

“Glad to hear.” He smiled. “Well…you guys have a good night. We’re just heading inside for a nice, quiet evening.” He winked. “Maybe play some Parcheesi.”

“Ah…well, you have fun with that. I have earplugs now in the event your Parcheesi gets rambunctious.”

He laughed. “Have a good night, Carys.”

“You, too.” I waved to Kendra. “Nice meeting you.”

“Same.” She grinned.

I swallowed my jealousy as I disappeared into my apartment.

* * *

Later that night, Sunny was inconsolable. She would not stop crying, and I cursed myself for letting her get that shot today. I’d called a nurse’s hotline, and they told me her fever of 102 was normal under the circumstances, and there was no need to take her to an emergency room. They said to monitor her and make sure she was getting enough fluids.

I’d brought her into my bedroom because I couldn’t leave her alone like this. I also thought holding her would help, but it didn’t seem to matter. Holding her only made me feel better.

Her wailing continued as I paced the room and rocked her. I’d never seen her like this before.

There was a knock at the door that I barely heard through her crying.

Shit. Had one of the neighbors complained? I didn’t need anyone’s wrath on top of this.

I walked over to the door and looked through the peephole.

It was Deacon. Remembering he had that girl over, I cringed. The roles had reversed. Now we were disturbing his peace.

When I opened, I started babbling away before he had a chance to say anything. “I know we’re disturbing you, but I can’t get her to stop crying. I’m really sorry. She has a fever from the shot, I think, and there’s nothing I can do. So, if you’re going to complain like I did to you, that would only be fair, but I can’t do anything about this, so—”

“Carys, calm down. It’s okay,” he said, placing his hands on my shoulders.

The unexpected contact shot what felt like an electric current through me, which stopped my rambling. I let out a long breath. “I can’t calm down. My baby is in pain.”

“I didn’t come here to complain. I would never do that. She clearly can’t help it.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

My heart softened, but I kept myself from getting carried away. “You don’t have to check on me, Deacon.”

“I know that. I wanted to. There’s likely nothing I can do, but I can’t listen to a baby screaming for two hours straight and not offer help.”

It dawned on me that Deacon had left that chick to come over here. Kendra.