He explained how on top of it all they’d gotten the go-ahead on the expansion and things would be getting even more hectic for him in the coming months. Any downtime he had would be trying to recoup and catch some Z’s. But he wasn’t counting on too much of the latter. He told her they could keep in touch but hoped she got the hint—she wouldn’t be hearing back from him after today. Without further discussion, she said good-bye, and they were off the phone. As awkward as the call had been, Orlando was glad he’d gotten it over with. It was the right thing to do. Though for a fleeting moment after he hung up, he felt a little bad. But one look out the kitchen window at Dani’s car pulling into his driveway had Orlando smiling big. He turned to Oreo, letting his shoulders slump when he saw what a mess he was. “Cookie Monster again.” Rushing over to him, he grabbed a wipe from the many wipe boxes he now kept all around the house. For a few minutes, he tried to wipe him down as Oreo objected, moving his face away and whining.
“Is that my little Oreo I hear?”
As usual, Oreo’s eyes lit up at the sound of Dani’s voice, and his smile was as big and goofy as Orlando’s felt. He went from whining to squealing almost instantly. Orlando took advantage of his more cooperative mood to get some cleaning in. Since he’d given Dani the code to get in his front door and told her she never had to knock, she could just come in whenever she arrived now. He could hear her putting things down in the front room as he hurried to get the baby clean.
The moment she was in the kitchen, Oreo went wild as he always did. “Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!” She rushed to him, cradling his little face and kissing it all over. “Good morning to you too, my little cookie monster.”
“Yeah,” Orlando said with a chuckle, shaking his head. “I was trying to clean him up before you walked in and we were getting ready for breakfast. Believe it or not, he was clean just a few minutes ago. But I got a call and was on it for just a few minutes, turned around and . . .” He motioned to his son’s still messy face.
“Ma, ma, ma, ma!”
Orlando jerked his face in the baby’s direction, watching as he held his hand out to Dani, repeating the same syllables over and over. With his mouth falling open, Orlando turned to Dani. She stood there looking just as stunned as he felt. Only there was more to the expression she had going on. The closest the baby had come to saying anything before this was when Orlando tried in vain to get him to say dada. The most he’d succeeded was getting him to repeat the d sound and even that had been exciting as hell. Except at the moment, Dani looked anything but excited. She shook her head, looking almost terrified? As the baby continued to reach out to her and repeat those same syllables, Orlando took in Dani’s reaction, confused by it.
“I swear I’ve never taught him that.”
“I believe you,” Orlando assured her as he pulled the tray off the highchair, peering at her then handing Oreo to her since he was still adamantly calling out and reaching for mama. “We watch enough TV and YouTube that I’m sure he’s picked up on the kids on the show referring to the women taking care of them as mama.”
“But I would never—”
“It’s okay.” Orlando smiled, shaking off the alarm this brought on. “Dani, you’re the one female presence he’s gotten the most of lately. And based on his overall reaction to you from day one, I’m not surprised he’d call you that.”
“I can teach him to call me Dani if you’d—”
“Oh, hell no!” Orlando overdid the head shake. “If he’s gonna add anything to that d sound I finally got him to start repeating, it better be dada.”
With the baby still babbling in Dani’s arms, she pointed at Orlando. “Dada,” she said, smiling big. “Say it, baby. Dada.” Oreo babbled some more stuff that wasn’t dada, but he did do the d sound for him, and Dani looked as excited for Orlando as he felt. “It’s just a matter of time,” she assured him then offered something else. “My brother calls me Nica. He shortens everyone’s name to the last two syllables of their name. In some cases, like my sister, the very last syllable. She’s La to him. I can try teaching him Nica if it bothers you—”
“Why would it bother me?” Orlando peered at her again, swallowing hard because it honestly didn’t bother him. Scared the hell out of him, yeah. What if this didn’t work out? What if eventually she did get married and her husband insisted she stay home and raise their own kids? Baby O had gotten way too attached to her too quickly, and it scared him to think she may not always be around. But otherwise it was an oddly pleasant thing to hear his son call her mama. Danica still looked unnerved, and he wondered if she might be thinking the same thing he was: that Oreo was getting way too attached to her, too soon. Bracing himself, he had to ask. “Unless it makes you uncomfortable.”
“Not at all.” She shook her head quickly, kissing the baby on the nose, but shrugged. “I feel honored actually but it’s just that well . . . mama.”
Orlando had to smile now as his tensed muscles relaxed a bit. “He feels nurtured by you, Dani.” He paused as the baby did what he did so often when he was in her arms, cuddled up into her like he couldn’t snuggle close enough. “Clearly, he’s already a big mama’s boy. If you’re not uncomfortable with it, I love that he calls you that.”
Gulping back the familiar anxiety that he might’ve spooked her with that last comment, Orlando stared at her as she glanced up at him and held his gaze. The sudden and big smile surprised him, but he welcomed it. As if she weren’t adorable enough, she crinkled her nose in a giddy way and then giggled. “I love it too.”
She went on quickly explaining how her initial reaction had been feeling worried that he might be upset about the baby’s first word not being dada. It’s why she’d seemed so alarmed at first.
“I read somewhere that a baby’s first word is usually mama,” Orlando admitted with a defeated shrug. “Since he doesn’t have one, and my mom’s been working on him calling her Nani, I was kind of hoping his first would be dada. But I’m actually relieved. Finding someone I’d trust with him and would be a good fit was a huge worry for me. That he’s taken to you like he has for his first word to even be mama, I couldn’t be more grateful. Obviously, I hit it out of the park with you.”
Dani looked up at Orlando with a smile. “I think we both did. I couldn’t have asked for a better job.” There was that twinkle in her eye again that did things to Orlando he was still trying to figure out. “Or a sweeter boss.”
Orlando wasn’t so sure how he felt about her referring to him as boss even though technically he was. But he’d take the sweet part. They were caught in another one of their moments until she cocked an eyebrow. “You were going to feed him in here?”
“No.” Orlando shook his head then turned to the counter where he’d been working on the cereal. “I was gonna move him over to the dining room as soon as I had his cereal ready, but then I got the call and . . .” He shook his head, feeling like a failure, but laughed. “I really was gonna move him though.”
Dani giggled again but then seemed to catch herself. “Nothing’s wrong, right?” She glanced at his phone on the counter. “It wasn’t a bad call again was it? Byron?”