Madeline begins to fuss, and I know my time is up. With a groan, I roll off the couch, feeling years older than my twenty-four years. When I reach her bedroom and push open the door, her cries grow louder. “Hey, sweetie,” I call out to her. She immediately stops crying and turns toward my voice. My heart swells. This tiny human is the light of my life.
“Let’s get you changed,” I tell her, lifting her from her crib. She begins to root around my chest and I chuckle. She’s hungry. “Just a minute. We have to get this soaked diaper off you. Oh, and guess what?” I keep talking while I make quick work of changing her diaper. “Aunt Carrie is on her way to see us.”
My daughter couldn’t care less about our visitor. She’s hungry and is making sure I know it. I guess that’s a small price to pay for her sleeping all night long. Diaper changed, I head to the living room, taking a seat on the couch, and pull up my shirt. The seasoned pro that she is, she latches on and settles in my arms. Grabbing the small blanket of hers that I use for feedings, I drape it over both of us just in time for a knock to come at the door.
“Coming!” I call out. I manage to pull myself from the couch, and not disturb my daughter’s breakfast, and open the door.
Carrie grins, holding up a popular drive-thru food chain bag. “Breakfast of champions,” she says, stepping past me into my tiny apartment.
“You know you don’t have to bring breakfast with you every time that you come to visit.”
“La la la,” she sings, pretending to not hear me. “You know that if you would let me add you to my phone plan, we could catch up more often,” she smarts off.
“Fair enough.” I nod. “Thank you for breakfast.” I don’t bother to try and pay her. We’ve traveled down this road many times, and I’m always the one who gets left in the dust.
“Now, tell me everything. What’s been going on with you?”
“You first.”
“Fine.” She sighs dramatically. “I might have gone out on a date.”
“What? And you didn’t tell me?” I shriek, making Madeline jump in my arms. I rub her back to soothe her. “You didn’t tell me?” I say, softer this time.
“Phone minutes.” She raises her eyebrows.
“Fine. I get it. Now, please proceed.”
“Dr. Danning, well, Elijah, that’s his name, he’s the one who’s been asking me out for months. I finally gave in.”
“Finally!” I smile at my best friend. She’s a workaholic and still healing from a broken heart. Her high school boyfriend destroyed her when he left for college. He told her they would try long distance. She went to surprise him and found him in his dorm with another girl. They were together for over four years, and Carrie was devastated. It’s been nothing but a casual hookup here and there for her since then. No dating, until now.
“How was it?”
“It was… nice.”
“Nice? Come on, Carrie, you can do better than that. Where did you go? Did he kiss you? Are you seeing him again?” I blurt out a scroll of questions to my best friend.
“We went to dinner and then hung out on Broadway. He walked me to the door, and yes, he kissed me. We’re going out again next weekend.”
“Eep! I’m so excited for you. When do I get to meet him?”
“Slow your roll, Wren.” She chuckles. “It was one date. We both had a good time. He hasn’t reached the ‘let’s meet the best friend’ level just yet.”
“Well, when you get there, you’ll tell me? Call me? Send me a text?”
“I don’t want to use up all of your minutes.”
“To hell with the minutes. I’ll scrimp to buy more. This is important information.”
“Okay. I’ll be sure to tell you if we happen to get there. What about you? What’s been going on in your life?”
“Well, working like always. This little one is thriving, coming up on her six-month birthday.” I smile as I pull my shirt back in place and sit Madeline up on my lap. She grins at Carrie, and my best friend wastes no time snatching her from my arms.
“I’ve actually met some new people.”
“Really? Wren, that’s amazing. I’m so proud of you for busting out of your comfort zone. Wait, where did you meet these new people?” She eyes me suspiciously. She knows that I don’t go out, and the likelihood of meeting new friends at the grocery store or pediatrician’s office is slim to none.
She already knows about Marshall and him saving me, paying for Madeline’s prescription. I catch her up on the day in front of the bakery and everything she’s missed since then. “So, yeah, I’ve met some new people.”