At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [40]
“Then let’s go with this one,” Jeremy said, pointing to one with black-and-white designs.
“But I was going to go with an animal theme, and I don’t think it’ll match.”
“It’s just a mobile. No one’s going to notice.”
“I’ll notice.”
“Then let’s go with this one. With the hippos and giraffes.”
“But it’s not black and white.”
“Do you really think it matters? That if our baby doesn’t have a black-and-white mobile as an infant, she’s going to flunk out of kindergarten?”
“No, of course not,” Lexie said. Still, she stood in the aisle, her arms crossed, seemingly no closer to a decision.
“What about this one?” Jeremy finally offered. “It’s got panels that you can switch from black and white to animals, and it spins and plays music to boot.”
Her expression was almost sad as she peered at him. “Don’t you think she might get overstimulated by something like that?”
Somehow, they were able to select the mobile (black-and-white animals, able to spin, but no music), and for some reason, Jeremy made the assumption that everything would go more smoothly from that point on. And over the next few hours, some choices were easy—blankets, pacifiers, and, surprisingly, the crib itself—but when they hit the aisle offering car seats, they were flummoxed again. Jeremy had never imagined that it wasn’t possible to make do with only one car seat; instead, there were the “less than six months old facing backward” car seat, the “easy to remove and lightweight” car seat, the “can be attached to a stroller” car seat, the “toddler forward facing” car seat, and the “heavy duty if there’s an accident” car seat. Add in the endless patterns and colors, the ease or difficulty with which it could be removed from the car, and the buckling mechanisms, and by the end, Jeremy felt lucky that they ended up with only two, both rated as a “Best Buy” for safety in Consumer Reports. This Best Buy status seemed ironic in light of the exorbitant price and the fact that the infant car seat would more than likely end up in the attic only a few months after the baby was born.
But safety was paramount. As Lexie reminded him, “You want our baby to be safe, don’t you?”
It wasn’t as if he could disagree, was it?
“You’re right,” he answered, loading the two boxes atop the mountain of items they’d accumulated. Two carts were already filled, and they were working on the third. “By the way, what time is it?”
“It’s ten after three. About ten minutes later than the last time you asked.”
“Really? It seems later.”
“That’s what you said ten minutes ago.”
“Sorry about that.”
“I tried to warn you that you’d be bored.”
“I’m not bored,” he lied. “Unlike some fathers, I care about my baby.”
She seemed amused. “Good. But we’re almost done here anyway.”
“Really?”
“I just want to look at some clothes real quick.”
“Great,” Jeremy forced out, thinking that was an unlikely scenario if ever there was one.
“It’ll only be a minute.”
“Take your time,” he said, as if proving his gallantry.
She did. All in all, he figured they spent nearly six years looking at clothing that afternoon. With aching legs and feeling something like a pack mule, Jeremy found a ledge to sit on while Lexie seemed intent on examining each and every baby outfit the store had to offer. One by one, she’d select an item, hold it up, and either frown or smile in delight, as she imagined their little girl wearing it. Which, of course, made no sense at all to Jeremy, since they had no idea what their baby was going to look like.
“How about Savannah?” Lexie said while holding up yet another outfit. This one, Jeremy noticed, was pink with purple bunnies.
“I’ve only been there once,” he said.
She lowered the outfit. “I’m talking about a name for the baby. How about Savannah?”
Jeremy thought about it. “Nah,” he said, “it sounds too southern.”
“What’s wrong with that? She is southern.”
“But her daddy’s a Yankee, remember?”
“Fine. What names do you like?”
“How about Anna?”
“Aren’t half the women in your family named Anna?”
This was true, Jeremy thought. “Yes, but think how flattered