Page 58 of Grump Daddy

I open my eyes to an alarm blaring, shaking me out of my blissful dreams.

“Shut that thing off before I smash it to pieces,” Jack moans out, his face still snuggling into the crook of my neck, a heavy arm strewn across my waist.

I look over at the time on the clock. It’s set an hour before I have to get up. “That’s for you, dear,” I mumble, pushing at him. “Get up, you oaf.” I turn away from him and press my face deeper into my creased pillow to block out the light.

Jack grudgingly rouses from his sleep, and just as he reaches across and puts it on snooze, my alarm rings out. It’s Ava crying.

I swear I feel Jack smiling against my back. “And that, my dear, is for you,” he says.

“Ugh. Get off me. I can’t breathe.” I push him off and get out of bed. God, I feel like I just went to sleep.

Well, that’s one way to start your morning. I go to Ava’s room and pick her up, soothing her gently. She’s wet and hungry. Poor thing’s miserable.

“There, baby. It’s okay. Mama’s here,” I coo at her as I hold her. I go to the rocking chair in the room and sit down. She nuzzles her face into my chest, eager to be fed.

“Babe! I’m getting Martin ready for school. Can you start some breakfast?”

“Sure, babe!” I say it brighter than how I feel.

He peeks his head into the room and sees I’m feeding her. “How’s that whole weaning thing going?”

I narrow my eyes at him and he puts his hands up in surrender. “Sorry. I mean, you’re the one who said it was time.”

“Don’t you have a five-year-old to take care of?” I say.

“He’s brushing his teeth. Listen, if you want me to cook—”

“I got it,” I say, looking back down at Ava. Her sweet face is soothing enough for me right now. Jack takes the hint and backs out of the room.

I make breakfast and Jack and Martin eat it all up like a couple of beasts. I wonder if they even tasted it.

When they’re gone, I start with the housework. Housework, then Ava and I go to our “Baby and me” class, then back home where I get her lunch, and after lunch…

We normally play with her blocks, but I’m so damned tired still. My phone alarm goes off and I realize I have a meeting.

Not that long enough, shortly after I’d started weaning Ava, I’d started working from home a few days a week. Usually, I have the sitter come by and watch Ava while I check in on Zoom or stop in to make an occasional appearance at the job…but today, it just slipped my mind…and I’m due on Zoom in about five minutes.

I pick Ava up and open my laptop, bouncing her on my knee as I pull up the program.

“Who’s a good baby? Who’s a good baby?” I coo at Ava as she watches, chewing on her teething ring. The screen pops up with my boss and the moment she sees my baby her face softens a little.

“The work-from-home life, huh?” she says with a laugh.

“Yeah. I’m sorry, I forgot all about our meeting today. I usually have a sitter.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I understand,” she says. “We’ll just go over the basics of the new projects and we can reconnect next week about it. How does that sound?”

That sounds good to me. We go over things and remarkably, Ava is being extremely well-behaved. As we get to the final points of the project, she starts to get fussy, rubbing her eyes and resting her head on my shoulder. She’s tired.So, am I, kid. So am I.

The meeting ends and I sigh, looking down at Ava as she whimpers up at me. “Okay,” I say. “Let’s take a power nap, all right? A quick fifteen minutes.”

I lie down with her on the bed and before I know it, Ava and I are deep in dreamland. I’m in my Nana’s garden again, playing with my friends, happy and fulfilled in the sun…

I’m jolted out of my sleep by the sound of my phone ringing. I sit up and realize that it’s nowhere near me. I can hear it in the living room. I get out of bed and scramble to find my phone amidst all the clothes and toys and a mountain of other things that have been scattered onto the couch and scattered on the floor. When I do find it, I see that it’s Jack.

“Hey. Hello?” I’m still a little groggy. I rub my face in an effort to wake myself up more. “What’s up? Is everything okay?” I sound breathless and flustered.

“Jesus, I was about to ask you the same thing,” he says, “I’ve been calling you for the last half hour. Where are you?”

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