Page 44 of The Perfect Deception
He was talking to her. “Wait, what?”
“Earth to Dina. I asked if you always follow the rules.”
“Oh, um, yeah, usually.”
“Then why did you shake your head no?”
Crap. “I don’t know.”
He took a step toward her, put his arm around her shoulder, and ushered her into the living room. “Okay, it’s obvious you’re getting a little overwhelmed by the baby. Let’s just sit down and wait a little. We can always wake her if we need to, but it’s damn hard tounwakeher.”
She let him pull her toward the sofa and she sank into it, running her hand absently over the cloth upholstery. “Maybe I should just call Tracy and ask,” Dina said.
“And make her think we have no idea what we’re doing?”
Something in his face made her think he might not be joking. “Don’t you know what you’re doing?”
“Not a clue,” he said. “But how hard can this be?”
“Wait a minute,” she said, rising and putting her hands on her hips. “I thought you said you were a baby expert!”
“I might have exaggerated a little.”
The baby’s cries prevented her from responding, which was probably good for Adam.
He’d lied to her.
She rushed into the lavender-painted nursery and reached for Mackenzie, whose face was scrunched up like a withered apple.
“Shh, it’s okay,” she crooned as she pulled her against her chest.
“What can I do?” Adam asked, standing in the doorway.
He could stop making things up, for one.
She nodded her head toward the supplies. “Can you get out a fresh diaper and wipes?”
Adam rushed to get what she’d asked for and hovered by the table, holding the items in the air like they’d fly away if he let go—or bite him.
“Wait,” he said. “Are you sure we should change her? It doesn’t say that on the list.”
She laughed at the sudden reversal of roles. “Well, I’m pretty sure that if they were able to predict exactly when she’d need a diaper change, she’d be potty trained already, so for this one thing, I’m not so worried about the list.”
He looked properly chastised and she changed her mind about his intentions. Maybe he hadn’t lied per se. Maybe he’d just exaggerated. A lot. The question was why, which she’d examine after she changed Mackenzie’s diaper.
Dina figured out the snaps on the onesie, cleaned her up, and put on a fresh diaper. And still she cried.
“Here, can you hold her? The list said to give her a bottle.”
Adam’s mouth opened and shut. “How about I make the bottle and you hold her?”
“It’s frozen breast milk.”
“Come here, Mackenzie. Let Uncle Adam hold you.”
With a laugh, Dina went in search of the milk. Three minutes later, she approached the nursery and stopped in the doorway. There was singing and cooing and nose-to-nose touching and all of it was coming from Adam. She double and triple checked, just to make sure there wasn’t some TV or radio playing she hadn’t noticed before.
There wasn’t.