New Dad In Town

Chapter Two

Bayley
I wake up in the morning not to screaming baby but to a knock on the door. "Come in..." I stretched as Finn opened the door, a sheepish look on his face. "Hey..." I said gently as he stepped into my room. "Morning, I wanted to talk about last night." I nodded and he came to sit down when the baby monitor came on and Louise started to scream her lungs out. "I'll just go and grab her, it's probably time for her morning feed. You don't mind if I do that in front of you while we talk?" He just shook his head and I climbed out of bed, quickly walking down to the nursery and picking Louise out of her crib. "Is someone hungry?" I bounced her as I gathered all the stuff I needed for breastfeeding. "Well let's get you fed then!" I walked back into my bedroom and I chucked most of the stuff down on the bed, next to Finn who was now perching awkwardly on the end of my bed.

"So? Are you going to say something?" I asked as I sat down the the bed, placing Louise on my chest to latch on before I wrapped her favourite blanket over us both. "Last night, we shouldn't have kissed." He looked down at the floor and I took a moment to compose my words. "Why not, we're both single adults?" He started to play with hands rather than just giving me an answer. "I know, but I don't want us to get together and fight...I don't want to lose my best friend and I don't want Louise to grow up in a bad household, you know?" I knew where he was coming from so I just nodded. "Yeah you're right I suppose, I think I'm going to start training today if you want a full day with Louise?" His eyes lit up at that, the solemn look on his face being replaced with a smile. "Yes please, I'd love to spend more time with that little angel." I couldn't help but smile back at him and his enthusiasm. "Right well her changing bag is in the nursery, there's 5 bottles of breastmilk in the fridge and you know my number if anything and I mean anything happens, you call me okay?" He nodded and now I regret saying I'll let him have her for the day. This will be the first time me and Louise would've spent any time apart as she literally does everything with me, so this may be a bit of a rocky day for the both of us.

*

I arrived at my local gym and I took a deep breath before walking up to the front desk. "What's your name?" The receptionist snapped. "Uh- Bayley I've got a gym subscription here." She looked up, eyes melting when she saw it was me. "How's Louise doing?" Her cold voice was now gone and it did make me worry a little less. "Yeah she's good, I've left her with my best friend today because I've finally decided to train and lose the baby weight." She nodded, typing my name into the computer system. "Well I'm glad everything is going good and welcome back to the gym, I think Charlotte is inside?" That brought a smile to my face, training with someone else always makes the time pass quicker.

I headed into the gym and I saw Charlotte lifting weights. "Hello stranger, how've you been?" I heard her voice as I approached her. "I've been good, Finn moved in yesterday so things have been a little easier. How are you?" She flashed me her hand and I could see she had an engagement ring on it. "Roman finally popped the question, we're getting married!" She dropped the weight to the floor with a big smile on her face. "I've missed you Bayley!" She said as she came towards me, arms wide open as I stepped into her embrace. "Yeah I've missed you too Charlotte, now I need to train or all I'll be thinking about is the fact my daughter isn't here?" She broke away from the hug and she pointed at the whiteboard she had set up. "Give that a go and let's see what happens."

*

Finn
I decided to take Louise out for a walk, I somehow managed to find all the stuff I needed and we were finally out of the door. I pushed her stroller out of the door, putting it on break as I locked the front door. I pushed her out into the busy street and I carefully navigated myself towards the park, ensuring I kept Louise as safe as possible.

We'd been sitting in the park for about ten minutes when she started to scream, I tried to give her milk but she didn't want any, so I knew it was time to change her. Luckily I saw baby changing facilities when we walked into the park. "Come on Louise let's get you changed!" We walked over to the cubicle and I skilfully managed to fit the stroller and the both of us into a tiny cubicle. I picked Louise up and I started to change her, grabbing a fresh nappy from the changing bag. I was putting on a new nappy when I felt a lump in her tummy, I immediately panicked and I didn't know what to do. So I finished putting on the nappy before washing my hands, shakily pulling out my phone and dialling Bayley's number. "Hey what's up?" She sounded out of breath and I took a deep breath. "It's Louise, she has a lump on her tummy." She inhaled sharply. "What!" The phone was trembling in my hands. "I don't know I was just changing her nappy when I felt a lump and I didn't know what to do..."