Problematic Summer Romance (Not in Love, #2)

by Ali Hazelwood

Kaede was born a week ago, and we were both at Minami’s today, sitting next to each other, taking turns holding her and smelling her head. Marveling at every yawn, blink, squeeze of her little finger. Tuning out the conversation to just stare at her. He calls me the second he gets home. I’m waiting, phone in my hand. “Do you want a family?” I ask him after a while. “At some point, I mean.” His windows must be open. I can hear the distant sounds of traffic. “I’m not sure how to explain it.” “Okay.” I wait, patient. Knowing that he’ll get there. He always does. “I don’t think that my default state is wanting a family,” he says. “But if I was with the right person, I would want it so much, I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else. I would constantly imagine that she…” He stops. A sharp breath. Laughter, maybe. “It would require a lot of changes, anyway.” “Such as?” “I’d want the parenting to be evenly split. I’d have to restructure my work schedule. My habits.” “You could do that.” “Yeah, I…Yeah. What about you? Do you want a family?” “I love kids. They’re just fun, you know? But I love the idea of having my own kids. I know Eli loathed Mom and Dad, but I had so much fun with them. I would tease them and they’d get all mad at me and then I’d tease them even more, and they’d look at each other as if to say, ‘What even is this terrible child we made?’ But with pride. I’d like something like that.” I swallow. “I’d love to make someone feel the way they made me feel. Like the...