Our lips had barely touched when Isaac’s cell phone started ringing, ruining the moment and sending Fallon into a fit of tears.
“Shit,” Isaac grumbled, sighing with frustration and turning away to answer the call. Deciding to give it a try, I sat down in the rocking chair and hoped that the motion would calm her. “Zac’s ready to start bringing stuff up.”
He looked like he wanted to say something else, probably to apologize for the interruption, but I smiled at him to let him know that everything was okay. He left Fallon and I alone to rock and after a few minutes, she had fallen asleep. The sun coming in through the window was warm and I let myself relax in its comfort.
Isaac had kissed me. In those moments while I was waiting for our lips to meet, I had felt exhilarated, all of the butterflies I’d been hoping for swarming to my belly. I wondered if he had felt the same way, or if it was just residual feelings come to the surface or just an old habit brought back to life.
Once I was sure that she was sound asleep, I stood and placed her in her new crib, covering her with the beautiful afghan before leaving, closing the door behind me. For the next several hours, they brought all of my belongings up and I told them where to take the carefully packed boxes. When they were done, Zac took Fallon’s old crib to a second-hand baby store before retuning the U-Haul and heading to his own apartment several blocks away.
Isaac helped me unpack my kitchen boxes and put the sheets on my bed, and we chatted idly while we did so, both of us seeming to avoid the topic of the kiss at all costs. Once Fallon had woken and been fed, he took us upstairs to see his place. It was a two bedroom also, but larger and more lavishly decorated than mine would ever be. The bedroom he’d prepared for Fallon there was adorable as well with a flower theme and pink walls. A vase of fresh peonies sat on the dresser and I smelled them with a smile before following him to the living room.
We ate dinner together and then I left Fallon with him for a few hours so I could get some things done and they could have some bonding time. Leaving Fallon with him felt strange, but I knew that she was safe with him. He was her father and had been around children his entire life, but the separation anxiety was apparent and strong. I busied myself with little tasks like putting her things away in the new dresser and changing table he’d gotten her, and then decided to go wander around the building for a bit to acquaint myself when I realized that I had over an hour until I told Isaac I’d be back to get Fallon for the night.
I gathered that the small key on the ring Isaac had given me was for my mailbox and that became my mission. The mail room was located on the first floor just down the hall from the elevators, and when I entered, two people were inside. An old woman with a hair color best described as powder blue left almost immediately with a handful of magazines and a dog in her purse, leaving just the guy mumbling into his cell phone while crouching down to see in his bottom row box. I located my box almost immediately, finding that they were arranged in rows by floor, and found nothing inside but a few ads and a letter from the post office asking that I verify my address change.
The guy snapped his phone shut and stood with a handful of mail, sighing as stretched himself back to full height, his back still to me. He turned and headed over to a counter with a recycling bin underneath and started to sort through his mail without turning so I could see another other than that he was tall, wearing expensive-looking casual clothes, and had shaggy blond hair. As I moved to leave, my cell phone started ringing. It was Isaac.
“Ready to be done with Fallon already?” I asked with a laugh.
“No! Just wanted to see if you needed any help,” he said, “She’s being a perfect little angel.”
“I was just checking my mail, I’ll be up in a few minutes,” I told him before ending the call and starting towards the door again.
Before I could reach the threshold, a hand closed over my arm, halting my progress. Instinctively and defensively, I yanked my arm free and turned to face my assailant. If my jaw was capable of hitting the ground, it would have as I saw that the person standing behind me was none other than Isaac’s brother, Taylor. I had seen enough pictures of him to recognize him immediately, but he had never looked like this before. He looked pissed.
“Are you Julianne?” he demanded.
Every part of my stubborn, now equally pissed off self wanted to yell at him for grabbing me and acting the way he was, but I forced it back. This was Isaac’s brother, the one who didn’t want to meet me, who had been glaringly absent from all conversations and meetings ever since Isaac had found out about Fallon. I couldn’t be rude to him, even though he was being incredibly rude to me.
“Yes,” I said, trying to keep the irritation from my voice, “And you’re Taylor.”
“Do you live here now?”
“Yes,” I answered, finding myself unable to say anything else for fear of losing my temper. He was glaring at me and he didn’t even know me.
“With Isaac?” he asked.
“No, I have my own place. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go,” I told him. I turned and walked out the door when he called out after me.
“What you’re doing is wrong!” I spun on my heels and stared him down, unable to maintain my nice facade any longer.
“What I’m doing is none of your business. Isaac is a grown man and if he wants to have his daughter in the same building so he can see her whenever he wants, then that’s his business,” I spat before storming off.
When I reached the elevators, I repeatedly stabbed the button, swearing at it to hurry up, but he didn’t follow me. The doors finally opened and I rushed into the safety of the elevator and leaned against the back wall. I didn’t know what to do. Should I tell Isaac what had just happened?
The doors started to close when footsteps ran towards me and a hand shot through to stop them. A familiar face came into view, panting and looking victorious.
“Made it!” Zac exclaimed, then realizing it was me, “Hey!”
I couldn’t muster up the pleasantness to return the sentiment, but was happy to see him. I didn’t know Zac well, but I had a feeling that telling him about my run-in with Taylor would be okay. Good even.
“I just went down to the mail room and Isaac called me,” I explained as he entered, his face immediately changing to one of concern as he took in the mood I was projecting, “I asked if he was done dealing with Fallon, joking of course, and when I went to leave, a guy grabbed me by the arm and demanded to know if I was Julianne.”
“Taylor?” he asked. I nodded and he sighed.
“He was glaring at me and told me that what I was doing is wrong. What the hell was that all about? I mean, he doesn’t even know me,” I said.
“He shouldn’t have done that,” Zac said, “I’m sorry he did.”
“What’s going on, Zac? I deserve to know, it’s obviously about me.”
“It is, but not exactly. Not entirely. It’s not my story to tell. Don’t tell Ike about what he did, okay? I’ll go talk to Taylor. I was going to go hang out with Ike for a bit, but I’ll do this first.”
“Fine. But if someone doesn’t tell me soon, I’m going to go confront him. This isn’t good for any of us,” I told him, “Especially not since he apparently lives here, which I didn’t know.”
“I’ll go talk to him,” Zac repeated as the doors opened to the eighth floor, “Try to have a good night.”
“Yeah, this isn’t exactly how I wanted my first night here to end,” I admitted, stepping out into the hall.
“Maybe something will happen to make it better,” he offered with a weak, but honest, smile as the doors closed between us.
I took a deep breath and started my way to Isaac’s apartment, wondering how in the hell I was going to shrug it off and be normal with him. Some gut instinct was telling me to trust Zac, and was also telling me that letting Isaac know what Taylor had done would be a really bad idea.
“She just fell asleep,” Isaac whispered when he opened the door.
“Well, let’s get her downstairs then. I’m beat, too,” I said. He nodded in agreement and we went back into Fallon’s bedroom to get her so I could take her back to my apartment. We had agreed that Fallon would sleep there every night, at least for now until she got used to her new environment. When she was older, we’d start splitting our nights, but that was a hurdle we would cross when the time came.
I took her carefully from the crib and placed her in the baby carrier I’d brought her upstairs in.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” he smiled as he walked me to the door, “I’ll be down sometime before lunch.”
I smiled back at him and the butterflies returned. It would have been so easy for him to lean down and kiss me again, but all he did was kiss me on the cheek and I left trying not to feel disappointed. So it had just been a moment of leftover feelings that afternoon after all.
Fallon woke up several times during the night, and when Isaac called to ask if he could take her for a few hours, I was more than happy to oblige him so I could get a few more hours of sleep. He said that he would be down in an hour to pick her up, but I was so tired that when someone knocked on the door ten minutes later, I assumed in my desperation that it would be him.
I shuffled sleepily to the door and pulled it open without hesitation, but my body shocked to alertness when I saw Taylor standing in the hallway instead.
“We need to talk,” he said, “Can I come in?”