The Perfect Timing

Chapter Twelve

Maddie

Now that Isabelle discovered that she can walk she can't seem to stop. I find myself constantly having to watch her since she falls about every five steps. She thinks she can run a marathon, her little feet shuffling quickly until she plops down to the ground.

However, it does make my job at the salon a little more complicated. I normally bring Izzy to work with me since Maya is the owner. She has a playpen in the break room, and we keep a monitor on to watch her, but now that she can walk she hates being confined in it.

Maya is finishing up a client and you can hear Isabelle wailing from the other room. I'm trying to check out Ms. Bennett from her perm, but it's almost impossible. You can tell that all of the clientele in here is becoming annoyed, and as Ms. Bennett leaves in a hurry when I'm finished I let out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm going to try and just hold her up here if that's okay," I say to Maya. She gives me a thumbs up, the end of the comb between her teeth while she makes a part on her client's head.

As soon as I open the door to the break room Izzy gets a huge smile on her face, and it's funny how crazy your kid can make you feel. I was just feeling completely overwhelmed, but as soon as that smile falls onto her face I seem to forget any ounce of irritation I once had.

"Come here, grumpy." I sigh and lift her up into my arms, running my fingers through her blonde curls. "What's gotten into you? You normally love your playpen."

Izzy twists and groans again to try to get onto the floor. "You can't play in here," I say once we reach my desk. "If you want to be out of your playpen then you have to sit on mommy's lap."

Of course, this isn't what she wants to hear, and in seconds the wailing starts again. I have so much paperwork to do, and so many client charts to fill out that this is literally the last thing that needs to be happening right now.

 Maya shrugs. "You can take her home. Just leave early. I'll do the paperwork."

"Maya you'll be here all night If you do that. Absolutely not."

"Or..." She trails off with a smile on her face. "You could ask for help from her father, who bought an entire apartment here just to spend more time with her."

"Really?" The client's eyes grow wide as she sits in the chair. "That's crazy."

Maya nods and lowers her lips to her ear. "Her ex but soon-to-be lover again is Cameron Holden."

Her eyes grow wide again. "The football player?"

Izzy fidgets and is desperately trying to get out of my grasp. I'm starting to lose my patience, and she can tell. At this point, I'll never get any work done.

"The only reason I am doing this is because I need to get work done," I say. "And you really shouldn't gossip so much."

"This is a salon," Maya emphasizes. "It's made for gossiping, right Hannah?"

The client nods, another tiny smile on her face.

With Izzy on one hip and my phone pressed against my ear, I go back into the break room and dial Cam's number. It only takes two rings before he answers.

"Hey," I say, but Isabelle gets irritated again and starts to cry. It looks like I don't have to even explain what's wrong.

"Is everything okay?" Cameron asks, sounding panicked. "Why is she crying?"

"Everything is fine." I huff and let out another irritated sigh, setting her down into her playpen again. She continues to wail. "I'm at Maya's salon, and Izzy wants to get down and walk around, but for whatever reason not in her playpen. I can't watch her because I have work to do, and I just didn't know who else to call. I need help."

I put my fingers against my temple as she continues to cry, praying and pleading that he will say yes. I don't know what else I'm going to do. My mom is working and so is Ethan.

"I'm on my way now." He smiles through the phone, the sound of keys echoing through the speaker. In seconds my anger subsides. "Have you had lunch yet?"

***

In record timing, Cameron shows up at the salon, a pizza box in hand. Maya, who also knows this is my favorite food, raises a brow and holds herself back from saying something embarrassing.

Thank god.

"You didn't have to get anything," I tell him, but Maya quickly cuts me off.

"Speak for yourself." She groans and grabs the box from Cam's hands to set it on top of the reception desk. "I'm starving, thank you very much."

"Nice to see you too Maya." He gives her a quick side hug before he extends his hands out to Izzy. "Come here, baby girl."

I pass her over, utterly annoyed by the fact that she is completely calm in his arms. She's not fussing like she was right before he walked through the door, and Maya notices too, letting out a laugh.

"Unbelievable," I tell him. "I'm telling you she wouldn't stop crying."

"I don't believe it for a second." He says in his baby talk voice, tickling Izzy right underneath her chin. "You? A grumpy baby? Not a chance."

Rolling my eyes, I see that Maya already has a piece of pizza shoved in her mouth. She only has fifteen more minutes until her next appointment, so I'm not surprised.

"I'm not sure if you're wanting to take her somewhere or not, but if you do then I'll just have to put the car seat in your car and-"

"Oh, I already have one." He replies, completely catching me off guard. "A crib, a stroller, the car seat. All the safest. I researched before I bought them."

"Really?"

He nods. "I had to go to the fire station to have them show me how to properly install the car seat. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. Ethan helped with the crib."

"Wait, you guys are friends again?" I ask. So much has happened in the last week that it's making my head spin. I'm not surprised that he's being such a good dad, I had no doubt, but what I wasn't expecting was for this to be such a turn-on for me.

"You know how us men are." Cam shrugs and then looks at Izzy. "We will probably just hang out here for the day if that's okay?"

Maya smirks behind Cam's back.

"Why wouldn't that be okay?" I ask. "As long as you're watching her and I can work then I don't have a problem. She clearly seems to be fine now that you're here."

"That's just because she missed her daddy." He coos and she giggles, completely eating up his attention as he sinks to the ground with her to set her on her feet. "And maybe when mommy is off work daddy can take the both of you out to dinner."

Glancing quickly up at me, he searches for a reaction, my stomach erupting into about a million butterflies. I love this man so much. Of course, I'd want to go out to dinner with him.

Is this a date? No, it couldn't be. It shouldn't be. This is just a family outing. That's all.

"Sure." I smile, and to make it less awkward I clear my throat. "Um, the break room is down that hallway. Third door on the left. She's got a playpen and everything set up in there."

"Alright," Cam says, and even though he isn't saying anything I can tell that he's over the moon right now. His green eyes are shining so brightly, looking just like emeralds. "Come on baby girl, let's go."

Wandering off down the hallway holding onto Izzy's hand, we both hear the door finally close before Maya lets out a loud whistle. "Well, I'll be damned," she gloats while grabbing another slice. "Looks like I was right after all."

"He didn't mean it as a date!" I reply, completely exasperated. "He probably just wants to all go out as a family."

"Madison," she deadpans. "Are you really that dense? Do you see the way that man looks at you?"

I don't want to tell her that I can't get my hopes up. Every time it seems like we're going to work out something always happens. Something gets in the way of our happiness. Things are going well right now so I don't want to jinx it.

"We're friends for now," I finally reply and grab a slice of pizza for myself. "Healthy co-parenting."