“Damn! You expecting an army?” Nine asked, opening one of the boxes of pizza and grabbing a slice.
“Yeah.” Orlando glanced at Danica, his expression a bit contrite. “I didn’t realize I’d ordered so much. But”—he turned to Nine—“all the guys are coming down, and you know how they eat.”
Nine nodded immediately as if in complete agreement. It made Danica feel a little better. It had almost felt as if Orlando had purposely bought all this food to try and make up for her lasagna. She remembered the look on his face the day she’d told him she’d be taking on the task and making it for the party. It’d been the day after her attempt at meatloaf. But that wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t until she had everything prepared that she realized Orlando didn’t even own a loaf pan. She’d had to improvise and used a cookie sheet instead. It’d been a bitch to try and shape the soggy mess. Then each time she’d taken it out and it still wasn’t cooked all the way through. she’d try to reshape it again, but it only got worse. By the fourth time she put it back in, she’d been so frustrated she’d upped the temperature so it’d be sure to cook through that time, and it ended up burnt on the outside and still not completely cooked all the way through. As usual, Orlando had been a sweetheart and assured her it was okay to eat medium-well red meat. Like her lasagna it may not have been pretty, but once cleaned up a bit and in between bread slices with mayo and mustard, her meatloaf sandwiches had been pretty good. The seasoning packet she’d used had saved the day. They were tasty enough that she decided she’d try again once she bought a loaf pan. Despite feeling slightly emotional for a minute there over something so petty, she was glad Nine and Orlando were still on the subject of the food. Danica was certain her feeling sensitive over something so silly had everything to do with what she was suspecting, especially because she could hardly stand the smell of all that food anymore. Before Orlando asked her how she was feeling and before she’d start gagging, she decided to make a quick exit. “I’m gonna go check on the baby.”
“Your sister has him,” Nine explained. “Dee Dee was getting hungry.”
Orlando glanced down at the plate he was loading. “Dee or you?”
“Nah, man,” Danica heard Nine say as she walked away. “She eats like a dude when she’s breastfeeding. Doc says it’s normal, but holy shit.”
Squeezing her eyes shut as she remembered her swollen tender breasts, Danica took a deep breath as she made her way out to the deck. More people had arrived, and she’d been right about Beast being on his way. Just as she walked out, he and Byron walked in from the side gate. She let everyone know there was plenty of food in the dining room. The guys from the shop arrived shortly afterward, and with the game on now and the food flowing, the party was in full swing. She spent most her time pretending to be utterly engrossed in conversation with whomever she happened to be sitting with or standing by. The rest of the time she kept busy hosting. They waited for the seventh-inning stretch to bring out the cake for Dominic. He’d baked it himself, and Danica had bought the Dodger cake toppers for it. But even the smell of the cake was a bit too pungent for Danica to stomach. So, she left the cake-cutting to Delia after they sang to Dominic, using the excuse that she had to change the baby. Walking into the nursery completely lost in thought, Danica couldn’t imagine how she’d even start that conversation with Orlando.
You don’t know yet. She shook her head as she put the baby down on the changing table. Oh, but she did. Call it woman’s intuition. She knew. It all made sense now. The entire time she’d been with Orlando now, the only time she could remember feeling ready to snap at him was back when he’d laid down the law about Ted. He’d sounded a little too similar to Ted. But given the circumstances, she’d let it go. Now this week alone she’d been ready to snap at him more than once. And for no good reason. He was such a sweetheart and never gave her any reason to feel annoyed. She knew. The smell of Oreo’s dirty diaper as she changed him had her gagging. She never gagged when she changed him. She’d seen Orlando do it more than once, but she never had. It almost made her feel guilty even. Then it happened again.
“Ha!” Nine laughed as he walked in, holding his baby. “I thought I was the only one.”
Danica smirked, holding a clean baby wipe to her nose to try and mask the smell. She worked quickly to finish before she gagged again and possibly threw up. When she was done, she threw the dirty diaper in the diaper bin. “All yours,” she said, lifting the baby from the changing table. Normally, she would’ve happily swapped with him and just changed his baby for him after hearing him say it made him gag. But there was no way. Instead, she left to get the baby his sippy cup in the kitchen but did come back to the nursery for at least some moral support. She sat on the rocking chair, handing the baby his sippy cup as he leaned against her absolutely tender breasts now. “You getting the hang of it?” she asked as she caressed Oreo’s head, who she was sure would be falling asleep.
“Piece of cake,” he said just before he gagged. “This is probably the hardest part.”
She wanted to assure him he’d get over it eventually, but she was afraid he’d question why she was still doing it after all this time. Byron peeked his head in the door. “That chick did call the shop asking for me.”
“The one in the Chevy Cruise?” Byron nodded at Nine with a smile. “I told you she would. She eyed you the whole time she was there. So, what happened? You gonna hook up with her?”
“Fuck—” Byron seemed to catch himself, turning to Danica. “Sorry.” She shook her head, smiling because he was the only one who ever bothered to apologize about his language. “Hell no. She’s probably still in high school. Way too young.”
“But . . .” Nine glanced out the door, lowering his voice. “She was hot as fuck, and so what if she’s in high school. You just turned nineteen, dude. What’s wrong with you?”
Shaking his head obstinately, Byron even closed his eyes as if to really drive home his point. “Younger girls are no-can-do’s for this guy. They’re wishy-washy and full of shit. I stay as far away from them as I can.”
Despite enjoying the man talk, Danica got enough of it at work, and the baby was out now, so she got up. “I’m putting him in the crib in our room, Nine. This way if he falls asleep”—she motioned to his baby still on the changing table—“and you want to put him down, you could use the one in here.”
“Got it, thanks.”
Danica had been right. After putting the baby down, it was easier than she’d thought to dodge being alone with Orlando the rest of the night. Even after her sister and Dominic left, she’d been able to avoid him because some of the guys from the shop were still there, playing pool. She walked to the kitchen and poured herself a tall glass of milk and mixed it with chocolate. Out of all the food in that house, it was the only thing she was craving, and it was absolutely heaven. She walked back with it to the bedroom to check on the baby, who was now down for the night. She felt completely spent. After checking on him, she took another long swig of her chocolate milk then sat down on the edge of the bed. About to put the glass down, she thought better of it and downed the rest, before lying down just for a minute to take a breather. She allowed herself to close her eyes but only for a minute.