Chapter 42

“See? She can already do buttons.”

“Yay,” Erik said sourly.

Andreas chuckled. “Stop worrying! I know you want her to be walking and talking and doing everything the minute your apps tell you she should be, but she’s a human being and they don’t develop at the same rate.”

“I know! I know, I just—I can’t help it,” Erik admitted.

“First baby worries.”

“Yeah.”

“Trust me,” Andreas said. “According to my mother, I never crawled at all. I jumped straight from lying around doing nothing to walking.”

“I know,” Erik said, blowing upwards into his hair.

“She’s going to be fine, aren’t you, sweetie?”

Beatriz fixed him with a look, then yawned and stretched out her arms towards him.

“Oh, are we done for the afternoon?”

He leaned back, cuddling her, and felt Erik slide his socks off. Fingers began to tease and rub at his bare toes, and he sighed.

“Mm, I could get used to that.”

Erik smiled, but it was wan.

“Erik…”