The Baby Battle by Laura Marie Altom

Flynn any more than you do, but those were the cards we were dealt.”
    “I’m sorry.” Head bowed, she searched for words that wouldn’t come. How did she explain that although she was enjoying getting to know Tag, she still had concerns about how the logistics would be dealt with back home? Tag lived thirty minutes from her. She couldn’t imaginebeing so far from Flynn for one night, let alone a week or more. “I just—”
    “I get it, okay? Let’s get back to trying to make the best of this, and steer clear of personal subjects.”
    “Agreed.” While Flynn napped in his carrier a safe distance from the warm, cracking fire, Olivia resumed eating, only the meal now tasted flat. The mashed potatoes and glazed carrots and once-sumptuous roast might as well have been cardboard.
    “Do you have any hobbies?” Tag asked.
    “No.”
    “What are your favorite pizza toppings?”
    Glaring at him, she asked, “What’s the point of this?”
    “Getting to know you better, since apparently we still have some deep-seated issues to work out.”
    “You’re a drama queen.” Pushing her chair back, she took her plate and set it on the kitchen counter. She turned to Flynn. “We’re going for a walk.”
    “Not with our son.”
    Olivia sighed. “What? Do you think I’m going to take off hiking across the Ozarks with him? Set up camp in a cave?”
    “Leave him,” Tag said, also standing. “As a sign of good faith.”
    “You can’t even change a diaper,” Olivia was all too happy to point out. “What are you going to do if something worse pops up?”
    “Oh—like in the next thirty minutes he’s going to come down with malaria or chicken pox?”
    Lacing her tennis shoes, Olivia said, “It could happen. Besides, how do I know you won’t drive off with him in your great big car?”
    Tag shook his head. “Do you still honestly think so little of me that I’d put Flynn in a vehicle with no car seat?”
    Perching on a sofa arm, she said, “I don’t even remember what started all of this. We’re talking in circles.”
    “Oh,” he said with a sharp laugh, “I’ll remind you exactly what started this. You saying that before you knew I existed, you were happy. Do you know how that makes me feel? Like you just wanted what I could give you—a son. You didn’t even give a crap whether my parents ever meet their grandson.”
    “Whoa—if the sperm hadn’t been yours, but that of the donor I’d selected, it wouldn’t have even been an issue. If you want someone to blame, look to the lab. Didn’t you even question the fat settlement they’ve offered? Face it, we were both screwed.”
    So furious she was finding it tough to even focus on the matter at hand, Olivia said, “I’ve got to get out of here, and in my current state I have no business caring for Flynn. Give me your car keys, and I’ll give you mine.”
    “That doesn’t make sense. Your car has the safety seat.”
    “Good point.” Stopping at the counter where they’dboth dropped their keys, she took both sets. “Now we’re even. You have Flynn, and I have the transportation. See you in fifteen minutes.”
     
    W ITH THE DARK SKY threatening rain, Olivia didn’t go far in terms of physical distance—just headed along the trail winding through the cabins. Emotionally, however, she was all over the map. She didn’t know what had prompted her to say such a thing to Tag. He’d been wonderful. Kind and funny and helpful. Gut instinct told her Flynn was lucky to have the man for a father. But another, deeper instinct told her she had a far greater problem.
    The fact that with every walk she and Tag shared, every laugh over an old movie, every meal, conversation and even their trip to the grocery store, she was starting to enjoy his company more.
    It hadn’t been until the diaper debacle, though, that she’d realized just how much fun sharing parenthood could be. It was like going on a vacation with someone you love and sharing the sights. Not