As I drove home, I looked at all the sites from my childhood; the old high school, the pool where Genny and I once skinny dipped, made out under the slide, and then snuck out just before the cops arrived....

Fun times.

Seeing her yesterday reminded me just how strong our connection had been. As soon as I left for the military though, she wasn’t having me. Her best friend’s fiance had cheated on her in the military, and she cried when she told me we couldn’t stay together. It was tragic, sure, but such was the fate of many high school relationships.

So why, eight years later, was I still not over her?

Even before I’d been called suddenly to town, she flashed through my dreams, haunting me. On that last night together, we’d kissed one more time. I wanted just one more night together, with her, under the stars.

She turned me down.

I clamped my hand down harder on the steering wheel, as the town went by. Brown and grey were the overwhelming colors, with a little bit of green mixed in. I narrowed my eyes and focused on the road.

The fact was, this week didn’t matter. I was a man on a mission. I needed to take care of my brother’s things, find a home for the baby, and get the hell out of dodge- no attachments, no hookups, and I’d be out of here in a jiffy. I’d never come back.

Genny looked damn good last night, though. If her sister hadn’t been there, I would have shown her what it felt like to be with a real man now, not no eighteen year old boy. I would have--

I slapped myself across the face to snap myself out of the daydream. It didn’t matter how hot Genny looked. She didn’t want me back, and there was nothing I could do about that. I was lying to myself if I was thinking I didn’t want her back, though.

The baby began to cry, and I snapped away from my daydream. I needed a plan. For starters, I’d stop calling her Emma in my head, because I was already getting attached. If I just called the baby, Baby, then it would be easier to distance myself. Because let’s be honest here: I could not take care of a baby.

I just re-upped my military contract for another four years, and I wasn’t going to be in town. So, what was there left for me to do here? Just call her Baby, that’s what I would do.

“You’re gonna be fine, Baby,” I said.

She cried as I unbuckled her car seat and brought her into my brother’s house. It was a small one-bedroom located in the country. It was mostly isolated, although he did have a couple of neighbors fifty feet on the other side of his house.

My house.

I needed to decide what I was going to do with that. The house and the baby, and his ashes. God damnit! There’s so much to think about. I sighed as I unbuckled the baby’s car seat. Part of it got stuck. “How the fuck do you work this thing?” I growled. You could swear in front of babies, right? They can’t understand anything.

Still, I rephrased. It just didn’t feel right. “Sorry, Em--I mean, Baby. Sorry about the language. I meant to say, how the heck do I work this thing?” I said as the baby wailed.

“Oh, Baby don’t do that now. C’mon.” I undid the car seat, and I realized as I brought her in that my first order of business had to be getting rid of this baby. Well, getting rid of it was a strong term. I needed to give the baby to some family who could really take care of her in all the ways I couldn’t. Luckily, my brother and his wife had a list of names in an old-fashioned style phonebook. I went down the list, calling every single person.

“Hi!” I said, after dialing one number.

“Ah, yeah? Can I help you? I don’t take sales calls, man.”

“Wait!” I said stopping him. “This isn’t a sales call. It’s about Jax Houston.”

“Jax Houston passed away.”

“I know. I’m his brother,” I explained.

“Oh, alright. My condolences.”

A chill went down my spin. It didn’t feel right accepting ‘condolences’ for a man I hadn’t seen in years.

“So, you were his friend. You worked with him, right?” I told the person.

“Yeah,” he said. “We worked together at the dealership.”

“Okay. Well, it turns out that he had a baby too. And I was just wondering...”

“Wondering? What, about the baby?”

“I was wondering if you would consider adopting the baby?”

Dead silence on the phone.

‘You’re serious?” the man huffed.

“Look, it’s a crazy situation. I know. I’m beside myself. I don’t know what to do.”

“Look man. I’ve got five kids of my own to feed. I’m gonna give you some advice. Just call child services and put the baby up for adoption. You ain’t gonna find no parent cold calling.” He hung up the phone.

I tried a few more calls and they went similarly. But, I’m not one to give up. For the next hour or so, I went through the phone book, calling every single person that I knew that had any remote connection to me or to Jax. No dice.

The baby, still sitting on the couch in the car seat, giggled. “What’s so funny, Baby? You think my phone calling skills are comical?” I sighed. “Well, if it was a SEALs mission, I’d be kicking as- tail, but this is way above my pay grade.” I had so much other stuff I had to take care this weekend. I had to make sure the arrangements were handled. Then I had to meet with the lawyers to finalize the will and also, apparently, carry this baby around with me wherever I went.

I crossed my arms and glanced down at her. She was pretty freaking cute. She giggled again. “Stop being so cute, Baby,” I grumbled.

Again, she giggled. I resisted playing peek-a-boo.

“Don’t get attached,” I reminded myself, saying it soft enough so the baby couldn’t hear me. I pulled out my phone and googled babysitters in the area. I found a list of a couple. But, then I hesitated. These were high school aged girls. Sure, they were good and probably responsible, but would they really have what it takes to take care of a very young, very needy baby? I didn’t know. And I was getting more stressed out by the minute. Normally, I wasn’t a huge stress drinker. But today, I couldn’t help it.

“Alright, Baby,” I said. “We’re going for a ride.”

I buckled her back in the car seat and brought her to the liquor store. When I got out, I thought about leaving her in the car, but then I quickly shot that down. I might be trying not to get attached, but hell if I was letting Baby out of my sight. I took her out of the car seat, slinging her to my one arm and she kind of fit nicely; I was starting to get a hang of this holding baby thing.

The door rang as I went inside the liquor store. I quickly moved to the hard liquor section, which was going to be necessary given the degree of stress I was going through right now. Emma started to cry again.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, Baby,” I said, patting her back. Still, she continued to cry. “We’ll be out of here in no time, Baby.”

As I scanned the shelf for my liquor of choice, I bumped into someone right next to me. “Hey, will you please be careful. I have a baby on board,” I said, irritated.

I looked down into her beautiful green eyes, and my heart started to stomp like mad.

“I think you better be the careful one. Shouldn’t you have a sling for that baby? Instead you’re just carrying her around like a bowling ball.”

“Genny, what the fuck are you doing here?” I growled.

“What does anyone do here? What are you doing here? Getting some booze for your baby?”

I shrugged. “A little whiskey might calm her down. That’s what my parents used to give me. But no, this is for me,” I said as I grabbed a bottle of Wild Turkey.

The baby started to cry, her screams getting even louder.

“Well, it sounds like you’ve got your hands full.”

“What about you?” I said over the noise of the baby’s cries. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be, you know, at your shop? Isn’t this a busy time for people buying soap or whatever during the Christmas rush?”

She sighed. “The store is being taken care of right now okay? And I've had a stressful day myself."

When she heaved a stressed exhale, I sensed this wasn’t just a stressful day of ‘couldn’t decide which flavor ice cream to buy.’ Something was really eating at her.

"I hate to see you so stressed," I sighed. The baby kept crying in my arms. "Damn Genny, I don't even know what I'm going to do this week about her. I have a bunch of stuff to take care of, aside from the baby."

"You couldn't find a babysitter?"

"I looked. I don't really trust a high schooler with a tiny baby, you know."

"May I?" She asked, holding out her hands for the baby.

I handed her over, and she took her quite naturally. It was much different than the way I'd first taken her when Kendra had given Emma to me.

"Aww, you're a good girl. Such a good little girl," she said, rocking her. "What's your name?"

"Emma," I interjected.

"Well Emma, you're so cute. And you're lucky to have the best uncle a girl could ever want. He's going to protect you from now on."

I hated, and I loved, watching Genny with the baby. I loved it because it warmed my heart to see her love. And hated because I knew this was a temporary thing.

And Genny was making me say the baby's name.

"You're great with her," I reluctantly admitted as she lulled the baby quickly into a peaceful state.

She shrugged. "I wish I was as good at business as I was at calming babies."

"Is that what's got you stressed?"

"How'd you know?"

"Just a feeling."

Just then, I got a bright idea.

"Hey Genny. This might sound crazy, but I'm serious."

"Oh?" she arched an eyebrow over the baby's shoulder and looked at me.

"Yes. I was thinking. What if you watch the baby this week for me?"

She flashed a fleeting smile that quickly disappeared. "Look, Emma's cute. But I've got a million things on my mind right now. And I'm not about to add a baby to that list, no matter how cute she is."

I scrubbed a hand across my jaw. "But Genny, there's no one else."

"What do you mean? This town has plenty of qualified babysitters."

"None that I trust as much as you."

Her face flushed over. "No. I've gotta put my foot down, Kade. We can't go down this road."

"What road? I need a babysitter. You're the only one I can trust. Come on. I'll pay you."

"I don't think seven dollars an hour is going to cut it anymore, I hate to break it to you."

I considered my options for a minute. I didn't have the first clue on how I was going to watch Emma all week. And I needed something more than just an hourly babysitter who could keep an eye on the baby. Hell, I hadn't even bought diapers yet.

"How much?" I croaked, a little perturbed that I was in a position of such weakness in this negotiation.

"How much what?"

"I mean how much will you charge for your services for one week?"

She tapped her nose. "One week?"

I nodded. "Right. It's Monday. So now until this time next week, I need you."

By then, I figured I'd have the baby adopted. That's how long these things took, right?

"How about ten thousand dollars?" she smirked.

"Ha-ha. Very funny."

"I'm serious. If you would like my services, you will be owing me five figures. I'll be taking cash only."

My jaw dropped. "Be reasonable, Genny. That's outrageous."

She scrunched up her face. "Uh oh! Smell that?"

I swallowed. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep. that's the smell of a baby bowel movement. You know what, I'll be nice and head into the bathroom, and take care of this for you since I know you have no clue how to change a diaper. Just give me a fresh one."

"Ah, oh. About diapers..."

Her jaw dropped, and then closed back up--a reaction to the smell. "Dear God, you don't even have fresh diapers?"

I shook my head.

"Alright, she's all yours then! I'm going to get my whiskey and head home," she added, holding Emma out for me to take.

"Fine," I growled.

"Excuse me?"

"Fine. Ten thousand it is. Now can you help me get diapers?"