Baby Love

Chapter 12

Word Count: 2089

Taylor's POV

"Taylor, Taylor, Taylor," Joe nudges me awake. I must've fallen asleep with Averie.

"What?" I look up at him a bit dazed and still sleepy.

"What are you doing out here?"

"I woke up and was gonna make some coffee but I found her sleeping on the couch, so that kind of derailed my plan," I glance down at Averie who's very peacefully sleeping on top of me. Like I said before she's so stinkin' cute and I don't know if you've ever had a toddler fall asleep on you but it's precious. It gives you the kind of butterflies that make you think that you could do anything and still be considered a good person.

"Why wasn't she in her bed?" Joe asks.

"No idea, what time is it now?"

"Just past nine, you can wake her up. She'll probably take an afternoon nap since it's the weekend," he tells me before walking away to the kitchen.

"But she's so cute," I fuss as I watch her eyes flicker in her sleep.

"I know love but we don't want her to sleep too long or she will be grumpy this evening," he reminds me. That's true. I recently met grumpy Averie at his parents' house. I'm not sure what was going on but she was very upset about everything. Everything was a sassy remark or a meltdown. Joe eventually sent her to her room for timeout and then we listened to her cry for the next twenty minutes. I always thought the rule was one minute per one year of age but not in this household.

Even Joe's mom seemed to accept it as she ignored Averie's temper tantrum. It was only when we all heard a loud crashing that Thomas and Joe go check on her. I still don't know what happened but no one was injured so that's good.

When we got back to Joe's, he sent her straight to bed. He also went to bed angry right after making sure she was in bed. I wasn't sure what to do. I called my mom and texted Selena and Blake for a little before going to bed also.

"I know but Joe, your daughter is adorable," I coo.

"I know, now what do you want for breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry," I tell him. The hateful headlines wondering if I'm pregnant flash in my head.

"Can you rephrase that? I am sorry I cannot compute," he replies in his best robot voice, making me laugh.

"I'm not very hungry," I tell him again, sitting up to look at him properly.

"No, that is not possible," he continues to act like a robot, making me giggle.

"Stop, I'm serious," I fail to hold back my laughter while trying not to wake Averie.

"Taylor, you've got to eat something, we're going on a drive and a hike," Joe tells me, dropping his robot voice. 

"Where are we going?"

"To some land my family owns," he explains.

"Averie too?"

"If she wants to and she's not grumpy," he confirms, making a slight jab at me for not waking her up. 

"But just look how sweet that little face is," I coo turning on the couch so Joe can see her face.

"I know," he smiles proudly at me, "I am surprised that she's cuddling with you. Normally she hates that."

"Really? She initiated it this morning and I don't know if Thursday counts. I just held her close, which wasn't a complete cuddle but pretty close," I explain to him, surprised by this knowledge.