Milan insisted I stay and help her out of the bathtub when she was done with her bath so that she didn’t slip and fall. I continued unpacking boxes in her bedroom for thirty minutes before she finally called from the bathroom, saying she was ready to get out. I stared at the wall behind her as I held her hands to help her out, and I couldn’t help wondering if this was going to be my life for the next few months. How was I supposed to explain to Blaire that I had to go downstairs to another woman’s apartment every night to help her out of the bathtub? That would go over like a fucking lead balloon. I didn’t know what the fuck I was supposed to do. Milan was carrying my child, and I was trying to help her as much as possible, but all I wanted to do was go spend time with Carrie and Blaire.

Maybe I could hire her a nurse or caregiver or something to help her out in the evenings.

I was really trying to feel a connection to this new baby, but I just didn’t yet. Was that bad? Did every father feel like this at first? That piled onto the guilt that was already attempting to smother me. I was just a big ole ball of guilt, and Milan seemed to be excellent at knowing just what to say to make me feel even worse until I eventually agreed to whatever she was asking. She seemed so frail and vulnerable, and I hated when she implied that I was abandoning her, especially since I was the one who had gotten her into this situation.

As I sat on the couch in my own living room, I noticed a stack of documents on the coffee table next to an empty manila folder. I slid the papers toward me and found the leasing information for Milan’s apartment, which Blaire had obviously already read. Well, shit. I had wanted to talk to her about this in person but all she’d wanted to do this morning was fight.

No, that’s not fair. Blaire was actually really sweet at first, bringing me coffee and asking about the baby. Until she found out I had spent the night in Milan’s hotel room. And let’s not forget about the whole undressing scandal. Milan had been so damned upset when she asked for my help last night that it was like taking care of a child to me. There was zero physical attraction, but I wasn’t sure Blaire would believe that. After all, her husband, who she had lived with for years, had never seen her naked, yet I’ve seen this woman naked twice in the past two days. A woman I used to fuck, no less.