A Puck Between Us

“What are you doing up?” I quietly asked Emerson, picking him up and taking him out of the room.

“Hi.” He said to me, full of excitement and energy, as I carried him down the stairs.

I couldn’t help but chuckle a little as him as I said ‘Hi’ back.

“Hi.” He said again, still smiling.

I guess that was the only thing he knew how to say.

I placed him on the counter.

“How about some juice?” I asked him.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!” He said, as he shook his head up and down rapidly.

“I pulled out on of the cups from the dishwasher that we had bought the night before and filled it half water and half apple juice, like my mom used to give us when we were kids.

I handed him the sippy cup, but realized that I should probably change his diaper first since he had been in it the entire night.

I pulled the cup away and he had sucked down almost the whole thing.

“Someone was thirsty!” I said to him, with a smile, and he put his arms up for me to grab him.

I laid him on the towel on the floor that Addison had put in the family room as an improvised changing ‘table’ and got a clean diaper on him. I don’t think I have ever been so relieved to do something so successfully, knowing that there could have just been really ugly.

I went back into the Kitchen to throw away the diaper and wash my hands and Emerson followed behind me.

I handed him back his juice and within seconds he had finished the entire thing—not that there was much left from before to begin with.

I decided to go get something for us to all eat, since I can’t cook and there was barely any food in the house anyway.

If I knew anything about Addison, it was that she always eats and she can sleep through virtually anything.

“Hey little dude, you wanna go for a ride? Let’s go get dressed!”

I picked him up and carried him over to the table where we had put the bag with the new clothes we bought him last night.

I picked out a pair of little jeans and a sweatshirt with a onesie for underneath. I guess having four sisters that played with dolls all the time paid off somehow. I’ve been trying to figure out the reason…

After I got him dressed I went upstairs to that I could get changed.

As we walked in the room, I put my finger over my lips and whispered ‘shhh’ and he did the same. Hopefully he understood what that meant so Addison wouldn’t wake up. As hard as she is to wake up, you don’t want to be the one that does.

I went into my drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans and a tshirt.

I didn’t want to leave Emerson in the room alone with her sleeping, so I decided to quickly get changed right in the room. I put on a new pair of pants and started to take off my shirt and he started to get cranky. I pulled my phone off the dresser and gave it to him to hold on to.

I ran into the bathroom and brushed my teeth really quietly, and then threw on my shirt.

I scooped up the baby and took my phone, throwing it in my pocket.

I slowly shut the door so it wouldn’t make much noise and carried Emerson down the stairs to put him and my shoes on.

I put a jacket on over his sweatshirt and then grabbed one for myself.

We were about to walk out the door when I realized that I should probably leave Addison a note of where we went in case she woke up while we were gone. The last thing I would want is for her to think she did something else wrong and I stole him or something.

After I set it on the counter, we walked out the door and as I walked to the car, I looked over at their house. All the lights were still off and the newspaper was in the driveway, so I assumed that she was still sleeping.

“Let’s go, little man.” I said as I got in the car, looking at him smile in my rearview mirror.

We didn’t go anywhere crazy, just Dunkin Donuts and I picked up some bagels and a few muffins, as well as coffee for Addison and me. Emerson was set on a bottle of chocolate milk, so I got it for him, not even knowing if he could have it or not.

I carried the stuff back out to the car and Emerson walked right next to me back out to the car. I got everything in, including him, and we were already on our way back after only 15 minutes.

When we got back, Emerson didn’t want to walk, so I carried him in, along with the bag of food and one of the coffees and went up to the door. I put him down for a second, just to open it up and we walked inside.

I went toward the kitchen leaving the door open and he slammed it shut.

Next thing I know, Addison was downstairs and he was in her arms, still holding on to the chocolate milk for dear life.

"What do you have here, you lucky boy?" She said to him, softly, smiling ear to ear.

“Hey, goodmorning.” I said to her when I saw her.

“Hey! Thanks for taking the little devil this morning. He wakes up way to early!”

“Huhh? You wake up sooooo early!!” She said to Emerson in a low cheery voice.

I liked watching the way she acted with him. She had so much love in every word and action.
“I got us some stuff for breakfast if you’re hungry.” I offered her.

“If I’m hungry? Did you completely forget me, Jeff Skinner? I am never not hungry!”

I smiled at her.

“Here, I got you coffee too.” I said, as I went to hand her the cup, but noticed it was mine. “Wait, let me go get yours in the car, this one is just milk and I know you can’t drink coffee unless it has a half a pound of sugar in it—at least”

She smiled a playfully evil grin at me as I walked toward the door. I couldn’t help but think that her being here would bring us closer as, at least, as friends, even though I was hoping for more.

I grabbed the handle to the door and pulled it open and there in front of me was Mrs. Banks.

I’ve seen that woman ruin my relationship with Addison once before and seeing her standing there brought all of that back to me. I couldn’t let it happen again. I had to be there for her and stand up for us—if she gives me another chance after her mother messed things up the first time.