He nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
They walked a few more blocks before stopping in front of the photography studio.
“This is it,” James said.
He was ninety-percent sure that Kylie-Kaylie wasn’t Isaac’s mom now. He looked up at the sign over the door and then down at Harper. He didn’t mind that this outing had given him more time to hang out with her, though. Searching for the mother of his child with the woman he was falling in love with—and they were definitely not the same person—was a strange way to date her, but he was enjoying their time together.
He reached for the door and pulled it open for her.
Harper preceded him into Angie’s studio, and since it was early afternoon on a weekday, a typically less busy time for her, Angie came out from the back room almost immediately.
“James!” she exclaimed, clearly surprised but pleased to see him.
“Hi, Angie.”
A shorter, younger woman stepped into the room a moment after Angie. Her long, blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and it still almost brushed her ass. Her bright green eyes lit up when she saw him. “James!”
Seeing her again made her name click in his mind instantly. “Hey, Kylie.”
“What are you doing—” But that was as far as Kylie got before she noticed Isaac. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth dropped open.
For a second, James froze. She looked stunned. Was it her after all? And not Emily?
“Oh my God, you have a baby?” Kylie hurried forward. She put a hand on Isaac’s back and leaned in to get a better look into the sling. “Oh, wow, he’s so beautiful.” She looked up at James, a bright, sincere smile on her face.
She looked young suddenly. And sweet. He did not remember her being sweet. She’d been cute and flirty, but once he’d gotten her to her apartment, she’d been very dirty. And when he’d pulled his pants back on and said he had to get going, she’d given him a big smile and said, “Okay. Thanks. Have a great rest of the night.” As if he’d just brought her a pizza and she couldn’t have cared less what he was doing after he left her.
“Congratulations,” Kylie said enthusiastically. Then she glanced at Harper. “You must be the mom.” She sighed. “I love babies so much. Wow, I’m so happy for you.”
It didn’t seem to phase her a bit that she was gushing over the baby that belonged to the man she’d had a very hot, sexy night with not that long ago.
For just a second, James was a little annoyed. Really? Not even a hint of jealousy? Not a flicker of awkwardness remembering what they’d done to one another, while standing in front of the woman she was assuming he’d just had a baby with? Maybe Kylie was really bad at math and didn’t realize how close to their night together this baby would have had to have been conceived.
But when Harper stepped closer to him and put her hand on Isaac just above Kylie’s in a very possessive, protective, this-is-mine gesture, James immediately stopped caring about Kylie completely.
Kylie wasn’t Isaac’s mom. Thank God. James clearly hadn’t meant much to her, and she definitely hadn’t been anything more than a hot night to him. At least he and Emily had had muffins.
And he and Harper had a hell of a lot more than that.
“Thank you,” Harper said, her voice calm and sincere. “We’re very happy.”
James heard the unspoken that you’re clearly not the mother tacked on to the end of Harper’s sentence and he grinned.
“We just stopped in to see about maybe getting some pictures of him done,” he said, directing the statement to Angie as Isaac began to stir. Baby photos actually hadn’t been his intention at all, but it made sense. Why would he not want to get photos of Isaac done? Everyone had photos of their newborns done. They even sent out announcements. “You do birth announcements and things like that, right?”
He was going to send out a birth announcement?
Harper looked up at him quickly, obviously thinking that same thing.
But yeah, it seemed that he was. He was a dad now, and he wanted to let everyone know.
Of course, he should probably tell his parents before he did a mass mailing to everyone, he supposed. And his grandmother. And the guys at the fire station.
Including Ethan.
Which meant, he needed to track Emily down. Soon.
Isaac wiggled and stretched, his eyes opening.
“I do,” Angie said. She moved behind the counter and pulled a huge binder out, setting it on top and flipping it open. “Come show me what you’re thinking. We’ll get the session booked, too.” She smiled at Isaac. “Yes, congratulations, James. That’s really awesome.”
“You think so?” He looked down at Isaac. Awesome. Huh. Yeah, it kind of was. Then he looked at Harper. Yeah, it definitely was.
“I do all kinds of invitations and announcements,” Angie said. She looked at Harper. “What are you thinking?”
Harper blinked at her. “Of?”
“For the announcements?” Angie pointed to the book.
“Oh.”
James had thrown her—or pulled her—into all of this so far. Why not this, too? He put an arm around her, hugging her close and said, “I know you’ll want something simple and classic. Nothing too cute. Nothing too gender specific.”
He shifted Isaac as the baby began squirming, lifting him out of the carrier and to his shoulder.
Harper looked up at him, then to Isaac, then at the page Angie flipped to, then up at him again. “Um.”
Professor Broussard never said, “Um.”
He patted Isaac’s back and studied the pages Angie was showing them. The baby was wet, no doubt, and probably getting hungry.
“That’s really her style,” James told Angie. “Classy, pretty, sweet. Nothing dramatic or too loud or fussy. Focus on the photo, not a lot of decoration around it.”
Angie nodded, flipped another page, and then looked up. “Something like this?”
There was a white card at the top. The center of the card was where the photo would go. There were tiny yellow and green decorative curls at the corners and a space for information like name, weight, and birth date at the bottom. Simple, classy, focused on the photo. Exactly as he’d asked. Angie was good.
He glanced at Harper. “What do you—”
He frowned as he noticed that her eyes were shiny. As if they had filled with tears. Oh, shit. James turned. “Harper?”
She sniffed. “Those are perfect.”
He liked that he’d gotten it right. But something was going on. He looked at Angie.
“I’ll give you a second,” she said. “Kylie and I have some things to do in back. Ring the bell when you’re ready.” She gestured toward the little silver bell sitting on the corner of the countertop.
“And here, let me take him for a little bit,” Kylie said, coming forward and reaching for Isaac.
“He’s wet,” James said.
“Then give me the diaper bag, too,” she said with a smile.
He must have looked surprised, because she shook her head. “I have three younger siblings. I’ve changed lots of diapers. This is fine. Is there a bottle, too?”
“Yeah.” James surrendered it all to her.