Chapter 2

"Preparations'

"Why are you laughing?" Lindsey asked his brother/best friend Vince, the only sibling he still really had contact with.

"I am laughing because I thought I just heard you say you have a kid." Vince answered.

"I did." Lindsey said into the cell phone he called his brother on as he was driving home from the Social Services office.

"And you're positive its yours?" Vince questioned.

"Yes." Lindsey heard more laughing. "Why are you finding this so damn funny?"

"Because Lins, it's you, with a child how can I not find it funny?" Vince said jokingly, but then he got more serious. "Honestly Lins do you think you can do this?"

"I don't see why not. This girl, Rachel, she's mine. I have to take care of her. I can't just walk away."

"Ok." Vince answered understanding what Lindsey said."Look I gotta go. We'll talk soon."

"Alright," Lindsey said.

A few minutes later Lindsey was in his 2 bedroom, 3 bathroom apartment. He entered the second bedroom, which he had turned into an office but now he realized he'd have to make it a bedroom again. He could move the desk either into his room or the living room. The walls were painted gray so he figured he could get away with leaving them like that, but he needed furniture. Which meant shopping. Lindsey wasn't a big fan of shopping. The bedroom had its own bathroom, which he never used so it had nothing in it. He took a look around the entire place to see if there was anything else he needed this way he could get it all in one outing. Then he left and headed to his car, this time he got in his brown truck and not the blue BMW he was driving earlier. The BMW was only for work, the occasional date and any situation where he wanted to impress.

The first store Lindsey decided to hit when he got to the mall was the furniture store, better to get the big items out of the way he figured.

"Can I help you with something?" a sales lady asked him noticing the slight look of confusion he had on his face as he looked around.

"Yes I am looking for a bed....actually a whole room set."

"Ok, is it for yourself?"

"Um no... its for my daughter." Lindsey answered a bit awkwardly. 'Now there's something I wasn't expecting to say today...or ever. It doesn't sound half bad though, I could get used to it.'

The sales women lead him to the section of the store with the children's furniture. "What kind of bed are you looking for?"

'Ah...the kind you sleep on. Is there any other kind? Does she realize that I am a guy and there for am not fully equipped with this kind of knowledge?'

"I am not sure....what ever's good for a four year old." Lindsey said.

"This is our most popular one." The women pointed out going towards a white wood twin bed with a tall dresser and a long dresser, a nice sized chair and a matching toy box that had pink flowers painted on the top.

Lindsey didn't see anything wrong with it. "Alright, I'll take it."

"Great."

Lindsey paid for the furniture and flirted with the sales women until she moved his name up on the delivery list so it could arrive at his place over the weekend. Next stop; linens and bathroom supplies.

Words could not describe how odd Lindsey felt looking at girls bedding. Everything was so...girly. Pinks, purples, yellows and light blues surrounded him. Finally he decided on a multi colored butterfly set, he never heard of the brand but it costs $200 so he figured it can't be bad. Then hem headed over to the bathroom section of the store, eventually he came across a hand/face towel ring, toothbrush holder, cup, shower curtain, soap holder, floor matt and toilet lid over all sporting ducks on them. There was even a ruber duck on a nearby shelf. Kids like ducks, Lindsey was sure of at least that much. Lindsey took out his platinum card, which was getting a good work out that day, and headed to the check out.

Then it was on to the toy store. Lindsey only intended on buying one or two dolls and maybe a coloring book, yet somehow he ended up spending a few hundred dollars on dolls; both of the Barbie kind and non Barbie kind, doll houses, games, coloring books, crayons/markers/ finger paints (which he somehow subconsciously knew he was going to regret), a tea party set, a small table and more stuffed animals then he even knew existed.

The last stop was his trip was the book store. He picked up a large book full of different fairy takes, but mostly this store was for him. He headed to the section on parenting and picked up about 5 books on parenting, including 'Parenting For Dummies.' As he was leaving the parenting section he saw none other then his colleague and nemesis Lilah. The last he wanted want to deal with was her seeing him so he hid in the next aisle, which happened to be where the erotic books were. The fact that the erotic and parenting books were right next to each other both disturbed and made perfect sense to Lindsey.

'Only in LA'

Once Lindsey saw Lilah was looking at the 'Self Help' books he knew that he was in the clear because she wouldn't want to see him with her books anymore then he wanted her to see him. He was also a little surprised he always knew she was a bit paranoid but for the most part she seemed like a confident person. So we went to the cash register and paid for his books, marking the end of his shopping trip.

TBC