how late Dylan had been the previous night, and the fact that Emmy had asked him to be back before five, he thought he’d better take the afternoon off to deal with the baby-care issues. He walked in to the house to find Emmy playing with the baby and singing to him, while the baby gurgled and smiled at her.
This felt distinctly weird. He’d never been that interested in babies and he’d never wanted a family of his own—which was most of the reason why he’d married Nadine, because she’d been just as dedicated to her career as he was and didn’t pose any kind of emotional risk. Or so he’d thought. He hadn’t expected her to change her mind and give him an ultimatum: give me a baby or give me a divorce. He didn’t want a baby, so the choice was obvious.
And now he was here. Instead of being in his minimalist Docklands bachelor flat, he was living in a family home. Sharing the care of a tiny, defenceless baby. And he didn’t have the least idea about what he was doing.
Emmy looked up at him. ‘Hey, Ty, look, it’s Uncle Dylan.’ She smiled. ‘You’re back early.’
It was the first time Dylan could ever remember Emmy smiling spontaneously at him, as if she were genuinely pleased to see him, and he was shocked that it made him feel warm inside.
Was he going crazy, reacting like this to her?
No, of course not. It was just because he’d been knocked off balance by Pete and Ally’s death. Grief made him want to hold someone, that was all; to feel connected to the world, still. He was not becoming attracted to Emmy Jacobs. Even though he was beginning to think that maybe she wasn’t quite who he’d always thought she was.
‘We agreed you were going to teach me about nappies and baths,’ he said. ‘And you asked me to come back early. Here I am.’ He spread his hands. ‘So let’s get it sorted.’
She blew a raspberry on Tyler’s tummy, making the baby giggle. ‘He’s clean at the moment, so we might as well hold off on that side until he really needs a nappy change. But he’s wide awake, so you can play with him.’
‘Play with him?’ Dylan repeated. He knew it was ridiculous—he was the head of a very successful computer consultancy and could sort out tricky business problems quickly and effectively. But he didn’t have a clue about how to play with a baby. He’d never done it. Never needed to do it.
She rolled her eyes. ‘Dylan, you can’t just sit and work on your laptop when you’re in charge and Ty’s awake. You need to play with him. Read to him. Talk to him.’
Dylan frowned. ‘Isn’t he a bit young for books?’
‘No. Pete used to read to him,’ she said softly. ‘Ally read up about it and she wanted Tyler to have a good male role model. So Pete always did the bedtime story.’
OK. Reading to a baby couldn’t be that hard. Talking, too. But playing...where did you start? He didn’t know any baby games. Any nursery rhymes.
As if the panic showed on his face, she smiled at him. ‘Come and give him a cuddle.’
And this was where Dylan got nervous. Where things could go terribly wrong. Because he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. And he hated the fact that he had to take advice from someone as flaky as Emmy, because she clearly knew more about babies than he did. ‘Do I have to hold his head or something?’
‘No. He’s four months old, not a newborn, so he can support his head just fine. He can’t sit up on his own yet, but that’ll happen in a few weeks.’ She looked at him. ‘OK. You might want to change.’
‘Why?’
‘Unless you don’t mind your suit getting creased and needing to go to the cleaner’s more often.’
The question must’ve been written all over his face, because she added, ‘You’re going to be on the floor with him a lot.’
She had a point. ‘I’ll be down in a minute.’ Dylan took the stairs two at a time to his room, then changed into jeans and T-shirt.
When he came downstairs, she gave him an approving look. ‘Righty. He’s all yours.’
Panic seeped through Dylan. What was he meant to do now?
She kissed the baby. ‘See you later, sweetie. Have fun with Uncle Dylan.’ And then she went to hand the baby to him.
He could muddle through this.
But it was important to get it right.
‘Uh—Emmy.’ He really hated this, but what choice did he have? It was ask, or mess it up. ‘I don’t know what to do.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘We’ve already discussed this. Play with him. It’s not rocket science.’
She wasn’t going to make this easy for him, was she? ‘I haven’t had anything to do with babies before.’
She scoffed. ‘He’s four months old and he’s your godson. Of course you’ve spent time with him.’
‘He’s always been asleep or Ally was feeding him. Pete and I didn’t do baby stuff together, not like you and Ally.’
She looked at him and nodded. ‘It must really stick in your craw to have to ask me for help. And if I was a different kind of woman, I’d just walk away and let you get on with it. But Tyler’s needs come first, so I’ll help you.’
‘For his sake, not mine. I get it. But thank you anyway.’
‘So how come you’re so clueless? Pete always said you were the brightest person he knew—Ally, too. And you’re the same age as the rest of us. I don’t understand how, at thirty-five years old, you can know absolutely nothing about babies.’
Although he knew there was a compliment in there, of sorts, at the same time her words were damning. And he was surprised to find himself explaining. ‘I’m an only child. No cousins, no close family.’ At least, not since his grandmother died. His mother had never been close to him. ‘Pete and Ally were the first of my friends to have children, and I...’ He sighed. ‘I guess I’ve been a bit preoccupied, the last few months.’
‘Relationship break-ups tend to do that to you.’ She looked rueful. ‘And yes, I know that from way too much experience. OK. I never thought I’d need to show you any of this, but these are the kinds of things he likes to do with me.’ She sat on the floor and balanced Tyler on her knees. ‘Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great...’ She paused, and the baby clearly knew what was coming because he was beaming his head off. ‘Fall,’ she said, lowering her knees as she straightened her legs, and managing to keep the baby upright at the same time.
Her reward was a rich chuckle from the baby.
Something else that made him feel odd. ‘And you always do the pause?’ he asked, to take his focus off his feelings. This was about learning to care for a baby, not how he felt.
‘I do. He’s learned to anticipate it. He loved doing this with Ally. She used to string it out for ages.’ She blew a raspberry on the baby’s tummy, making him laugh, and handed him to Dylan. ‘Your turn.’
‘Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall,’ Dylan intoned,
