We stop at the pharmacy so I can pick up the formula that I knew was waiting for me since yesterday and pull up to Garrett’s house a few minutes later. I get out of the car and open the back door and take out the formula. I don’t see Peggy’s car, and I wonder if she pulled it into the garage.

“Thanks for everything, Richard.” I smile and turn toward the door. He chases after me and follows me up the stairs. My stomach sinks. I hope he isn’t expecting any physical contact. The thought of being near his crab-dip infested mouth makes my stomach churn again.

“Wait,” he says and turns me around to face him. He’s staring at my lips, and my body stiffens. Shit. Shit. Shit. He starts to lean in to kiss me, and I block him with the case of formula.

“I’m sorry, I need to get inside right away.” I turn and open the door. “Bye,” I say as I close it while he stands on the stoop staring.

I hear his car pull away a few minutes later, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I walk through the dark foyer into the kitchen.

“Who was that?” Garrett’s voice startles me, and I drop the case onto my foot.

“Ouch! God! Owww!” I hop around and fall into his chest. His strong hands grab my arms, and he steadies me. He’s warm. So warm.

“Are you okay?” he asks, concerned.

“Yes, I am now,” I lie, and I’m flustered when he lets go of me. The faint smell of alcohol wafts in the air between us.

“Who was that?” he asks again.

“Richard,” I say and wince as I try to put weight on my toe. Shit, I hope it’s not broken.

“Are you seeing him?”

I limp past him so I can sit on the stool by the counter.

“Have you been drinking?” I ask, attempting to change the subject. I see an empty tumbler on the kitchen island.

“Kai had a rough night,” he says and swipes the glass from the countertop. He puts it on the top rack of the dishwasher and turns to face me. Kai has been doing so well; it upsets me to think he’s taken a step back.

“Oh?” Concern bubbles up and anger shortly follows. “So you decided to get drunk while you’re home alone with him? What the hell is wrong with you?” I attempt to stand up, but pain shoots across the top of my foot where the heavy box landed a few minutes ago. “Dammit!”

“I wouldn’t be alone if you were here helping me,” he fires back, and my anger continues to escalate. Where is this attitude coming from?

“Where’s my aunt?” I ask, knowing she isn’t here.

“I sent her home a few hours ago. Kai drank a bottle around six and fell asleep soundly. He was content for a while, and I told Peggy I could handle things on my own. So she left.” He shakes his head and leans forward, placing his elbows on the counter. “Then everything fell apart.”

“Where is he now?” I ask, concerned that Garrett isn’t even holding him.

“Upstairs in his crib.”

Alone?

I hop off of the stool, ignoring the shooting pain in my foot, and go upstairs as quickly as I can. “I can’t believe he left him alone,” I mutter to myself as I reach the door to his room. I hear faint Rock-A-Bye Baby lullaby music through the closed door. I open it, and the soft glow of the universe nightlights fills my eyes. I walk over to the crib and see Kai swaddled tightly and sound asleep. There’s a stuffed dog that looks like a Dalmatian perched near his head, just out of reach. I’ve never seen that before.

I’m shocked to see Kai sleeping, in his crib. He’s never slept anywhere unsupervised. And it’s extremely rare that he’s sound asleep and not on top of one of us. This is a tremendous accomplishment, and I’m not sure Garrett realizes how huge it is.

I hear his soft footsteps behind me.

“I did everything wrong, didn’t I?” he asks, concerned.

“No…” I can’t take my eyes off of the perfectly swaddled and comfortable little boy in front of me.

I feel his warm hand graze mine causing tingles to travel up my arm.

“How did this happen?” I ask, backing up toward the hallway. My heart wants me to stand here and take this all in, but my brain tells me to leave him be so he can sleep as peacefully as possible.

Garrett follows me out and closes the door softly.

He looks at me and shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know. After Peggy left, he was sound asleep, so I brought him up here and rocked with him in the chair. After a while, we were both sleeping, until I sneezed myself awake. He woke up and started screaming like I’ve never heard him scream before. I think I scared him.” He runs his hand through his thick black hair, and the pain on his face intensifies.

“I didn’t know what to do. I tried to remember everything you’ve taught me over the past few weeks and I drew a complete blank. I started walking around the room with him and patting his back. I even tried singing to him. His little body was arching so much that I thought he was going to fall out of my arms.”

“Oh no. I’m sorry,” I say and lean against the wall.

“Then I remembered the music Peggy always plays for him and I turned it on.” He shakes his head and smirks. “I still can’t get used to hearing our songs playing as a lullaby.”

I have to admit that I love listening to Rock-A-Bye Baby. My favorite is the Nirvana and U2 albums. I’ve never listed to the Epic Fail one though.

“Anyway, after I put the music on, he started to calm down a little. But he was so squirmy and kept throwing his head back. I remember you telling me that sometimes that means he has gas, so I laid him down on the changing table and did that thing with his legs that you showed me—you know when you bend his knees slowly toward his chest?” He makes a motion with his hands in the air in front of him, mimicking the movement.

I nod and he continues. “That’s when I realized his diaper was full.” His expression changes to disgust, and he looks like he’s about to throw up. “It was really full.” I can’t help but laugh, and I quickly cover my mouth.

“It’s not funny,” he says and pulls on the front of his tee-shirt. “I’m covered in piss.”

My shoulders start shaking, and now I’m full-on laughing out loud. I cover my mouth, trying to stifle the giggles. I forgot to tell him about the Pee-pee-Teepee. I try to gain my composure.

“I’m impressed, Garrett. Very impressed.” I nod, and he lets go of his urine-stained shirt and wipes his hands on his jeans.

He ignores my compliment and continues the recount of tonight’s adventure in babysitting. “I’m not sure I put the diaper on right, but at least he’s covered.” He shakes his head and leans against the wall across from me. “He started screaming and crying again with his arms and legs flailing all over the place. I wrapped him really tight in one of his blankets and carried him around the room until he fell asleep. It took about thirty minutes for him to cry this out. But once he stopped, he was out cold.”

“Why did you leave him alone?” I ask, worried that Garrett had a breakdown.

“I had to go to the bathroom,” he replies, embarrassed.

“Oh.”

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have come home sooner to help you.”

“Really?” he asks and looks confused. “I thought you were looking forward to your date with Dick.”

“How did you know where I was? And why did you call him that?” Anger starts to build again when I see a different side of Garrett begin to surface.

“Your aunt told me where you went.” He steps away from the wall and closes the distance between us so we’re toe to toe. “Who is he?” he asks, and the smell of baby pee and whiskey mix in the air in front of me, making my anger grow.

“You shouldn’t have been drinking,” I say firmly and stare daggers into his eyes. I feel his warm breath on my face. “If something happened to Kai—”

“I handled everything, didn’t I?” He raises his voice slightly. “It’s not like I drank a bottle, Sam. It was one mouthful. I needed to calm down.”