“How you holding up over there?” Justin’s voice cut through the silence.

“Um, good. I think. You?”

“Not bad,” he said. “Still feeling a little weird, but I think that’s to be expected.”

“No kidding,” I said. “But we’re almost done with this, right?”

“Almost,” he said. “Just a couple more days and then it’s nothing but sweet, sweet residuals.”

I laughed. “Like you need the money,” I said.

“Not about the money, really.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked. “Then what is it about? The warm feeling you get from knowing that you’re providing the masses with top-notch entertainment?”

He chuckled. “Not exactly. I just want this baby line to be a success.”

“That’s a weird thing to say.”

He turned toward me, a look of curiosity on his face. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Just that, well, you’re not a parent or anything. Not sure why you’d be so eager to get into the baby business.”

“Because I saw a marketing opening and I went for it,” he said. “I can’t help myself. I love this business, love knowing my name’s on clothes that thousands, if not millions of people are wearing every day.”

“So, it’s an ego thing?”

“Possibly. Maybe. It’s more of a ‘success’ thing. Like with this thing we’re doing. Am I into reality TV? Of course not. But doing this project might be the thing that turns my baby clothes line into a success. And if that happens, I’ll know that I did whatever it took to win.”

“And then what?”

He crinkled his eyebrows, as if he hadn’t considered such a question. “And then onto the next thing. I do whatever it takes to make that a success, whatever it is, and then the next, then the next.”

“Sounds…exhausting,” I said.

“Maybe,” he said. “But I can’t think of any other way to be. Until…”

Now it was my turn to be curious.

“Until?” I prompted.

“Until I got to spend this time with you and Faye. It’s weird—at first, I was going into this with complete business professionalism. Get in, do the job, and get out. But I wasn’t expecting to like that little girl so much.”

A warm tingle took hold of my heart.

“She’s pretty awesome,” I said. “If I do say so myself.”

“I’d never thought about kids before. At least, outside of these abstract things I could have my designers make clothes for. But spending time with Faye, holding her, being there for her whenever she needed it…it was satisfying, like working hard for my business, but different.” He shook his head. “It’s hard to put into words. It’s all so new to me.”

I inched closer to Justin.

“I get it,” I said. “When I found out that I was pregnant, it was the most surreal news I’d ever received in my life. I didn’t know how to process it.”

“But once you did?”

“Once I did, I was scared. Scared out of my mind. And this is still when Faye’s dad was in the picture—I had no idea how scary it was going to get. But I got over it, and soon I got more excited than I’d ever been in my life. Then…her dad left.”

Justin shook his head. “Still can’t believe that bullshit,” he said. His jaw clenched as he spoke. “What kind of a man leaves the woman pregnant with his baby?”

“A cowardly one,” I said. “One who wants to be a kid forever, to never have to deal with adult decisions.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about him, though. I’ll get too pissed off.”

“Got it,” said Justin. “Totally understandable.”

“It’s been over a year since he left,” I said. “But it’s still fresh.”

I shook my head as if trying to banish away thoughts of Brad. “And it’s been hard being on my own,” I said. “But…amazing. I can’t put into words how much I love that little girl. It’s like my life was some dream that I’d finally woken up from that first time I held her in my arms.”

“That sounds amazing,” he said.

“Trying to describe it wouldn’t begin to do it justice. It’s like I’d finally found my purpose for being, and it’s her.” I felt the hot sting of tears in my eyes, and I quickly wiped them away. “Sorry,” I said. “Talking about her gets me all gushy.”

He chuckled. “Get as gushy as you want. I like hearing you talk about her.”

“Is that right?” I asked with a smile. “I’m always worried that I’m going to be one of those parents that never shuts up about their kid and annoys everyone around them.”

“Nah,” he said. “Not with me. You get this look on your face when you talk about her. It warms my cold old heart to see.”

He grinned, and I laughed again.

“You’ve…never thought about being a dad?” I asked. Immediately I checked myself, feeling silly for asking the question. “Sorry,” I said. “That’s a really personal question, I know.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Justin said. “I haven’t. I mean, I’ve thought about the idea of being a parent, but I didn’t really have the happiest childhood.”

“How you mean?” I asked, then again, checked myself. “Sorry, I keep asking these personal questions.”

“It’s fine,” he said with another one of his winning smiles. “Well, normally I wouldn’t like to talk about these kinds of things, but something about you…I don’t know. Makes me feel like I can open up.”

I said nothing, not sure what to make of his admission.

“Anyway,” he went on. “I don’t like saying my childhood was unhappy. Plenty of kids would’ve killed to be in my position. My dad was a bank executive, and my mom was a big shot with this international electronics distribution company. So, I was taken care of.”

“But you weren’t happy?” I prompted.

“My parents were workaholics. Both of them liked to brag about the seventy-hour workweeks they pulled. This meant we had a huge mansion up in Westchester, but it also meant I was more-or-less raised by nannies. And when my parents did take their yearly vacation, I wasn’t allowed to come with them. Said they needed their ‘kid-free’ time.”

He shook his head. “When I hit thirteen, they sent me off to this boarding school upstate. They said it was so I could get a good education and learn about life away from the city, but I had the suspicion that it was so they could put some distance between them and me. Sometimes I wonder if they ever even wanted kids, you know? Not like they had another besides me.”

“Then what?” I asked.

“Then after boarding school was a private college, then graduate school, then my dad died—a decade ago. I was twenty-four.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Thanks,” he said. “Really. It was the weirdest thing when he passed. I was sad, sure, but it almost felt more like a family friend died than my old man. After some time, I realized that it was because I barely knew the guy. Not only did he and I barely spend any quality time together, but he was also one of those ‘strong and silent’ types.”

“And your mom?”

“She retired, turned into one of those jet-setting widows zipping around from place to place. I might get a mass text with a picture of her in front of some waterfall or ancient monument, but other than that we don’t really talk.” He shook his head. “Sorry, I’m complaining.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said. Inside, I felt grateful for the relationship I had with my parents. They were both good people, both of them always eager to hear about my life with Faye.

Without thinking, I reached over and placed my hand on Justin’s arm.

“The moral of the story is that I don’t really have the sunniest view of being a parent,” he said. “Or at least, I didn’t. Being with Faye was the first time I’d ever given parenting a shot, even if it was in a small way.”

“And you like it?” I asked with a smile.

“It’s nice, that’s all I’ll say. And having you here made it even better.”

I glanced down to see that the distance between us had shrunk to mere inches. I opened my mouth in a wide yawn, not sure what to do with myself.

“Anyway, I’ve yakked enough,” he said. “Ready for bed?”

“Yeah, I think so,” I said.

Justin turned over onto his back and closed his eyes.

“Thanks for talking,” I said.

He smirked and glanced over at me.

“Thanks for listening.”

We said our goodnights, and I rolled over onto my side. And as I lay there, all I could think about was how much I wanted his arm around me, holding me close and tight.