Carly Sevens
“You have to come here right now. The world has just literally fallen out of Livvy’s ass and I need you. I can’t cope!”
That was how he greeted me when I finally answered my cell at 1am.
I’d left in a hurry earlier. The normalcy of it all was starting to get to me. It was like being presented with all your heart’s desires in one go and then someone turning around and ripping them away. I wanted to play house with Jack. I wanted that more than anything, and having to say goodbye to him at the end of the evening would have been too much. So, while getting all of Livvy’s night stuff together, I rang my dad and asked him to come get me.
It was for the best.
My parents knew I was coming home for the weekend, and while my dad howled with laughter that Jack had been left literally holding the baby, my mom was terrified. That was until my dad told her to be quiet. Apparently, men learn better when they are thrown in at the deep end. That shut my mom up, who seemed to have some nostalgic flashback and then just shrugged it off. She was then sidetracked by the mention of Jack, like some magpie who had spotted something shiny, and proceeded to ask questions about his mystery woman. It seemed that Jake had told my mom about the very near miss on the Skype call. To say I nearly had heart failure was an understatement. I had to kick in every method of deception I had in my arsenal. After praying that neither of my parents figured out it was me who nearly wandered into the webcam view covered in just a white sheet, she moved on with an equally disturbing phrase.
‘We’re all hoping he’s on the mend after… well, you know, and secretly praying that this one could be the one.’
That was what she said.
Trying to blasé my way through that snippet of chatter was nearly as hard as the mystery woman bit. Jake had told my mom that he sensed his brother was into this new woman because he wasn’t coming home anymore and he was keeping her under wraps. My mom and Jake had decided between them that this was because he was so interested in her that he didn’t want to jinx it.
And just when I thought the conversation was over, I was wrong.
My mom then proceeded to interrogate me—I kid you not, interrogate me—about Jack.
Had I seen him?
Had I seen him with a woman?
Had he said anything about a woman during our mentor sessions?
Did he seem happy/different/in love?
In. Love.
When I finally became flustered and nearly had a mental breakdown in my own childhood home, my dad stepped in. I was grateful for this at first, until he finished his version of ‘stepping in’.
“Jesus, love, leave the girl alone. It’s not like she’d know. Jack could’ve had twelve women since that Skype call. Why the hell would Carly be in the know?”
At that point, when my mom shut up and he effectively ended the conversation, or ‘one woman tirade of Lacey’, as he called it, I stumbled off to the confines of my bedroom to escape and collapse in a disturbed heap of my own making.
When Jack finally opened the door to me, forty minutes after he’d begged for my assistance, I had to stand back from the smell emanating from all around him.
“Thank fuck you’re here,” he bellowed from behind a dish towel covering his face.
Livvy was in his arms in a towel covered in poop. Jack was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts and the dishtowel. When he moved out of the way to make room for me to pass, I felt my eyes start to water. “What’s that smell?”
“Her,” he snapped, pointing at Livvy, who was smiling and quite content even though she had caused all this drama.
When I saw the back of his head, I started to laugh. He had secured the dish towel round the back of his head with a line of clothes pegs. He looked like the funniest outlaw ever.
“What have you got on your head?”
“Protection. This one has a nuclear backside. I tried using one clothes peg, but it wasn’t up to the job. Every time it slipped down and my nose hit the stench, I nearly puked on her. I decided more were definitely required.” He spotted my face. “It’s not funny. I think she has managed to shit her own bodyweight in fecal matter in both her cot and my bed.”
“And what do you need me for?”
“Tub time! I didn’t see how you ran the tub before. I need to get her in it and I’m scared shitless of burning her. I need to change the sheets on the bed. I also possibly need to scrub my own skin with bleach.”
“You did not just call me over to run a fucking tub for a baby at one in the morning?”
Jack’s eyes parted wide. I would have said he looked shocked at my tone, but that would have required seeing his face, which was still obscured by his makeshift dishtowel headdress.
“Well… no. Not just that,” he replied sheepishly. “I’m worried she’s really ill. I can’t take her to the emergency room smelling like a shithouse, and she won’t let me put her down so I can dress.” Livvy was having a blast. There was nothing wrong with the kid. She was quite happy with her late night/early morning adventure. “What if I’ve… you know, broken her?” he finished fearfully, struggling to get the words out.
I didn’t have it in me to laugh at him. This vulnerability was something I’d never seen and I figured not a lot of others had either. My heart was swelling that I was his first port of call in this crisis, that he wanted me to be the one to help him sort it out. I pulled myself together and stepped closer to him, only to get a waft of poop. I stepped away again quickly. “Jack, you could have stood in the shower with her.”
“Fuck. See, I’m so terrified I can’t even think like a rational person.”
“And I think you have broken her temporarily.” His eyes went wide again. “Two words. Garlic. Bread.”
I waited a tiny second for those words to sink in.
“You mean I did this. I caused this thermonuclear shit disaster by feeding her garlic bread?”
“Well without being too blunt, yeah. Can’t you smell the poop has an eau de garlic?”
“Uh no.” he said, sniffing heavily and then regretting it. “Before I put the headdress of hell on, I daubed my nostrils with cologne, which turned out not to be cologne but some pot pourri oil. I can’t actually feel my nose at the moment.”
At that, I really did laugh. Livvy joined in with me, and as I looked at the masked madman in front of me, his eyes crinkled and he began to laugh with us. It was time for a woman to take control of the situation.
“You take Livvy and go shower. Don’t have the water too hot and don’t wrestle with soap while you’re holding her, otherwise you’ll drop her. I’ll change the bedding so you can put her down when she’s done. Shout me when you’re ready and I’ll come get her off you.”
Jack turned to leave and then rethought his decision. When he turned back to face me, he edged down his dish towel mask, causing pegs to ping off violently, and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
“You smell like old person lavender,” I told him, and he laughed at me.
It was the simplest of kisses, yet so sincere. It set my boots on fire and I wanted nothing more than to hug him close to me and tell him that I loved him.
Just as I’d finished changing the bedding on Livvy’s cot and stuffing the soiled sheeting in the washing machine, I heard him shout for help.
I knew I was about to walk into the bathroom and see him all wet and sexy. Grabbing a towel, I headed in and steeled myself for what I was about to see. I’d seen Jack naked on a number of occasions now, but never had I been this attracted to him. He was stood dripping water, placing cute baby kisses on his niece’s wet head. She was jibbering words at him and he was jabbering them back in the same manner. It was a crazy conversation of nonsense that meant everything to the both of them. Jack looked so goddamn sexy holding her, like she was the most precious item in the world. I swear to God, I felt the image settle and take root deep in my ovaries.
“Hand her to me,” I whispered, needing to get a grip of myself while avoiding all eye contact with him. I couldn’t let him see the depth of love that my eyes would surely give away. I’d rather him think I was embarrassed about the situation. “I didn’t have time to change your bed, but you can sort that when you’re dry.”
“Sure. Thanks.”
I left him in the shower cubical, all wet and delicious, and went back to sorting out the garlic monster that was Livvy Griggs. By the time I got her dry and into a fresh diaper and clothes, she was calming down and getting sleepy. I gave her a quick drink of water to put something back in her tiny tummy before trying to settle her down. The water was still running in the bathroom next door, and as soon as I tried to lay her down for sleep, she began to get all grizzly, so I pulled her back into my arms and sat in the rocking chair with her. With Livvy comfortably in my arms and finally breathing easy, I found myself drifting off to sleep, too.
Sometime later, I felt myself being gently lifted and jiggled about. “You are so fucking beautiful, Carly Sevens,” I heard him whisper against my head. I was so comfy and half in a daze that I snuggled closer to his chest, feeling both comfort and safety as he moved me.
“Livvy…” I mumbled back, sensing she wasn’t in my arms.
“She’s in her cot. Now it’s your turn. Sssh, don’t wake up. Let me get you to bed.”
“Mmm…”
I felt him gently lower me down until my back and butt hit the soft bed. I could smell the freshly laundered sheets as I snuggled down and let him help me undress. Even though I was half asleep, I paid attention as Jack softly pulled my shoes off and shrugged my track pants down all while continuing to mutter beautiful things in my ear. He was telling me that he cared for me and that he wanted me in his life.
Hearing him say such things to me was like a dream and I felt showered with love as I let the words hit my subconscious.
I wanted more than anything to have this in my life, and when I felt the mattress depress next to me, I rolled towards him and snuggled closer. I felt him breathe easy and get comfortable with me.
As I was drifting off in the most contented way, I heard him say, “I think I could fall in love with you. Real fucking love.”
Before I could stop my brain from kicking in with rational thinking, it forced the scariest of words from my lips. My filter, my protective reasoning had let me down because I was so at peace here and desperate for the fantasy to be real. “Me, too, Jack, and I’m terrified.”