Baby Green Eyes

As the days passed by John tried all he could to spend his time just with Ava, trying to be the best father he could be. He took time off from the band, since there weren’t any more tours or shows scheduled in the near future.

He was at the local grocery store picking up some things for his mom, when Ava started wailing.

“Need help?” a female voice asked him as he was picking out vegetables.

He looked at her. She was just a little shorter than him, her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail, her blue eyes searching him for a response, the only response she’d accept. “Uh, no. I, I got it.” He told her, rejecting her help.

She didn’t take that as an actual answer; she leaned down, picking Ava up out of the carrier. She cradled the baby in her arms, rocking her side to side, whispering “Shh.” Soon Ava stopped her fussing and quietly laid in the strange girls arms.

“Thank you.” John thanked the kind women, looking at her in awe that she was able to so easily get the baby to stop her fussing.

“No problem, you looked like you were having trouble.” He smirked at her bluntness. “Is she your first?”

“Is it obvious?” John questioned back.

“Kind of.” She smiled with an amazing smirk of her own. “I’m Molly by the way.” She introduced herself to the strange new daddy.

“John.” He nodded towards her in that weird way guys do when they meet someone and don’t shake their hand or wave. “And that’s Ava.” He pointed to his daughter still in Molly’s arms.

“Well, John, I hope your wife has the hang of parenting because you sure do need some help.” She tried to joke.

“I’m, I’m not married.” John stuttered thinking of Amanda and where she could be and what she could be doing at this moment.

“Oh, sorry.” She apologized to him.

“No, it’s okay.” He assured her. “And before you ask I don’t have a girlfriend either.” He added to save her a little embarrassment.

“Oh.” She couldn’t help but wonder what happened to the girl’s mother, the baby obviously looked like him and he looked too young to adopt. “Well if you need help, you should look at the local daycares here in Tempe.” She suggested to John.

“I never thought of that.”

She chuckled. “Glad I could help.” She said as he leaned down to place the now sleeping Ava in her carrier.

He watched as the amazing girl walked past him down the aisle, never to be seen again.
__________________________________________________________________________

John took Molly’s advice and the next day he took Ava to register her for day care at Tempe Toddlers. After signing all the papers, John was showed to the specified room where Ava will be brought to every morning for the rest of the year.

John entered the room, standing there awkwardly as all the caregivers bustled around busy with babies. He unknowingly spotted the back of a familiar head, and once she turned around it was obvious who she was.

“Molly?” John asked just to be sure he was correct.

“John, Hi.” She greeted him back, coming over to where he was still standing in the doorway. “I see you checked out the daycares.” She smirked at how weird it was that he picked this one out of all the others.

“Yeah.” he replied. “You work here?” he asked without thinking then internally cursed himself for say the stupid question out loud.

“Uh huh. I have a thing for kids.”

“I never noticed.” He said sarcastically.

Molly bent down to the baby in his arms. “Hey, Ava.” She rubbed the awake babies cheek, then taking her out of the carrier. “You didn’t change her diaper, did you?” she asked as she felt that Ava was a little too bottom heavy.

“My mom was supposed to.” John told her.

She shook her head and sighed, “You need training.”

“Huh?”

“Parent training.” She clarified.

“There’s a class for that?”

“Sort of.” He looked confused. “Leave Ava here, go do what you have to do, then come back and we’ll start from there.”

“Okay.” He agreed, watching Molly walk with Ava towards the changing area, before he too turned on his heels and went to run some errands and chill with his friends.