“Not me,” she murmured as she strolled along the first path she came to. “There is no way I’m pulling overnight duty.” She smiled down at Asher. “No matter how cute you are. Your daddy’s just going to have to learn to make it work.”
According to some of the research she did earlier, this little man most likely won’t be sleeping through the night until he’s six months old. Granted, some babies start doing it as early as three months, but that’s not a guarantee. Fallon believed if they got his schedule stable and she helped Jamie create a bedtime routine, things would definitely get easier. But for now, he was looking at not getting much sleep for a good long while.
They must have walked for an hour and her stomach started to growl so she knew it must be close to lunchtime. They had pretty much walked around the entire park, so she found where they came in and headed in that direction. Asher was sound asleep and she was hoping he’d continue to sleep for a while so she could make herself some lunch and eat it before he was ready to eat again.
Yesterday, Jamie had done an online grocery order, so she already knew there was food at the house for her. Honestly, if he had turned her down on that one point, she would have been fine. Packing a lunch wasn’t that big of a deal, but having food already there just seemed easier. Plus, it wasn’t like she was asking for that much.
As she strolled up to his house, she saw his truck in the driveway and was impressed that he actually was true to his word and came home early. Maybe they could eat lunch together and sit and have a cordial conversation about how things were going to go moving forward. She knew it was only three weeks, but she still wanted to be sure they were on the same page on everything.
Feeling good about her plan, she opened the front door and carefully pushed the stroller inside. “Jamie?”
No response.
Walking farther in, she got to the living room and had to hide a smile.
He was sound asleep on the sofa.
Snoring and all.
Okay, as much as she wanted to talk with him, she knew he needed some sleep. So with father and son napping, she went about making herself a very quiet lunch. With her turkey sandwich and a bowl of fresh fruit, she sat down at the kitchen table with her laptop and did a little more baby research.
After an hour and not a peep out of either of them, she contemplated moving Asher from the stroller to his crib, but she had just read how some babies prefer the stroller and its close confines because it makes them feel more secure. The only way she could possibly mimic that in his crib was just with good swaddling. She couldn’t put anything in there with him because it would be a safety hazard.
Cleaning up her lunch mess, she felt a little at a loss for something to do. She folded the laundry and wiped down the kitchen and was about to sit back down with her laptop when she saw Jamie sit up. He was slightly disoriented and his hair was in wild disarray and for some reason, the first thing that came to mind was, “yum.”
Uh-oh…
Fine. There was no denying that Jamie Donovan was extremely attractive. That was part of what annoyed her most about him. He used those looks to get what he wanted, and she found it incredibly aggravating. She didn’t know why; she just did.
Then he stood and stretched and, for a moment, she was slightly mesmerized. His t-shirt rode up slightly and exposed just a small band of skin around his middle. She was openly ogling him when he seemed to finally notice she was there.
“Oh, uh…hey,” he said before yawning loudly. “Sorry. Did you guys just get back?”
Laughing softly, she shook her head. “We got back almost two hours ago. I figured you needed the sleep so I didn’t want to wake you.”
He glanced around and spotted the stroller and walked over to it. “And he didn’t wake up either?”
“Nope. I think all the fresh air helped with that. Today is kind of all about learning his schedule and the patterns. It will probably take a few days until we can say with any certainty what that looks like, but for now, I’m making notes on all of it.”
Raking a hand through his hair, he yawned again. “Oh, okay. Great.” Padding into the kitchen, he made himself a sandwich and sat down at the table with her.
“So, how did things go at the pub? Did you have to lie to your uncle?”
“Actually, he took one look at me and told me I looked like hammered shit and should go home,” he said with a laugh. “But there were a few things I needed to take care of and then I thanked him and left. I was half asleep on the drive home. It’s a miracle I didn’t crash.”
“That’s not good, Jamie. You need to be more careful! You have a son now!”
“Yeah, I’m aware of that, Fallon,” he snapped. “It’s the only reason you’re even here in my house!”
Okay, this was not helping anything, so she was going to be the adult.
Again.
“All I’m saying is that you really need to…you know…be a little more cautious than you’re used to. I didn’t mean to come off like I was reprimanding you.”
Something in her tone must have gotten through to him, because he visibly relaxed. “I realized I should have just called for a ride. Hell, I should have just called you. You have the car seat and could have come and gotten me.”
Reaching over, she rested her hand on top of his. “I would have come for you rather than know that you’re driving when you're too tired to drive safely. Promise me you’ll call me if that ever happens again.”
Jamie stared down at their hands for a moment before responding. “I promise,” he said gruffly, and Fallon instantly moved her hand away.
“So, um…yeah,” she said awkwardly. “I’m sure you can take care of yourself, but if you ever need a ride…”
He nodded. “Got it.” He let out a long breath. “So how has Asher been?”
“He’s been great. He fell back to sleep fairly quickly this morning and I cleaned and did some laundry. I washed some of your clothes too. They’re folded and in the laundry room.”
“What? Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“Fallon, you’re not here to be my maid. I appreciate your help, but I don’t expect you to do anything other than take care of the baby,” he said firmly.
She shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal. Anyway, then I took him out for a walk. It was such a nice day out and I figured I’d see if he enjoyed it.”
“And did he?”
“Not a peep out of him, so I’m calling it a success.”
Nodding again, he glanced over at her. “So…what’s next? I’m not sure how much we can possibly plan. Like you said, we need to figure out his schedule first and I know I need to figure out how the hell I’m going to survive on two hours of sleep a night.”
“It’s not always going to be like that,” she promised. “A lot of parenting websites suggest that you sleep when Asher’s sleeping. Personally, I don’t know how practical that is or how easy it is to do. I know I wouldn’t be able to just lie down and fall asleep at eight at night when I normally stay up until eleven.”
“I could probably do that today since I’m so tired, but I have to agree with you. I’m not sure if I could do that on a regular basis.”