Lonely Together

37

MARIAH

Valentino looked at me like I was crazy as I rushed around the living room of his apartment, looking for anything that could fall and harm Riley.

"Ri, calm down. She can't even walk yet, how is she gonna hurt herself?" Val muttered from his seat on the couch, scrolling through his phone.

"Amber said she can stand when she holds onto things. I'm not taking any risks," I replied frantically, grabbing one of the outlet covers we brought and pressing it into the wall.

Just then, the intercom buzzed and I rushed over to it. Charles let me know that Amber and Wesley were here with the baby and that he would send them up. I made my final rounds, checking to make sure everything was safe just as they stepped out of the elevator.

"Hey!" Amber said excitedly, still in a hushed tone as she motioned down to Riley who was fast asleep in the carseat that Wesley was holding. "Thank you so much for doing this."

"Of course," I replied, knowing that her and Wesley both definitely needed a break from taking care of her.

I felt as Valentino walked up beside me, placing a hand on the small of my back as him and Wesley dapped each other up.

"Okay, so she should wake up in about ten minutes. She might need to be changed and will probably want a bottle. I left a full schedule in the diaper bag for you...she has enough clothes, diapers, and formula. Oh...and-" she began rambling, talking so fast that I barely could soak in a single thing she was saying.

"Amber, they can handle it," Wesley interjected from beside her, rubbing a hand along her back soothingly as he passed the carseat to Valentino.

"You're right," she muttered, looking sadly at Riley who was knocked out. It was so cute to see how attached she had become to Riley in the seven months she's been caring for her. It was even wild for me to see Riley go from being six to eleven months old.

The couple turned to walk back to the elevator as we waved them goodbye and told them to enjoy their weekend.

"One more thing," Wesley said with a smirk as he held the elevator doors open so he could speak to us. "She can talk now and her favorite word is 'no. Good luck!"

With that, the elevator doors closed and they descended, leaving Valentino and I with the child. When we agreed to this, I knew I would do great since I had watched my sister's kids on occasion, but the most Valentino had ever done was watch his cousin's baby with his mom's help.

"What do we do while we wait for her to wake up?" Valentino inquired as we both gazed down at the sleeping baby, a peaceful expression on her chubby face.

"Make her a bottle I guess. So it's ready when she wakes up."

Luckily, Amber left the bottles at the top of one of the bags she brought for us, so it was easy to find them and the formula. After setting up one of the baby monitors she gave us, we ventured to the kitchen where we attempted to make a bottle together.

"That's too much!" I scolded him as he scooped out a huge amount to put in the bottle. "She can't drink all that!"

"She'll know when to stop," he retorted with raised eyebrows before dumping out the rest nonetheless.

Making the bottle took way longer than necessary, but we were able to accomplish it just as she woke from her nap. Her eyes danced between Valentino and I, clearly shocked that her father and Amber were no longer around her.

"Hi Riley," I cooed, reaching down to lift the chubby girl out of the carseat, settling her on my hip as she turned to observe my face. "You ready for your bottle?"

I almost expected her to respond, but she instead simply reached for the bottle that Valentino was holding, snatching it out of his hand and popping it in her mouth.

"Rude!" He laughed, brushing a hand over her curls as she looked up at him wit her big, doe eyes.

Everything was going great so far.

***

"Look at the toy!" Valentino spoke to Riley as he laid on the ground with her, playing with a toy bear that Amber had left for her.

While they played, I read the instructions Amber had left for us, trying to memorize them to the best of my ability. She wrote as if this were her college final and I was grading her—everything was divided in sections. I was surprised she didn't use MLA formatting.

"Ow!" Valentino hissed, gaining my attention as I watched Riley grabbing his hair roughly as she stood to her feet, balancing for a second before falling right back onto her butt.

"Good job, Riley!"

"Don't reward her for bad behavior," Valentino muttered, rubbing the spot where she finally let go.

Putting down the paper, I moved to ground with them as Valentino poked her nose, making her let out the cutest giggle that made a huge smile grow on his face. It was adorable seeing the way he interacted with her, very clearly having fun with her. Although it warmed my heart, it definitely didn't give me any baby fever. Watching Riley was the extent of time I wanted to spend with a baby.

"When is she gonna speak?" He groaned, growing bored as she hadn't uttered a single understandable word yet even though we knew she could talk.

"I don't know. Ask her a question and she if she responds."

"Riley, are you having fun?"

No response.

"Are you gonna speak at all?"

Again, no response.

"Riley," I spoke, making her turn to look at me instead. "Is Valentino smarter than me?"

"No," she replied in her raspy baby voice, eliciting laughter from me as Valentino booed in response.

"Wrong answer," he told the little girl whose attention was on his once again.

"No."

I burst out in laughter, clapping my hands and watching as Riley copied my clapping, which only made me laugh even harder.

***

"I think she's falling asleep," Valentino whispered from beside me as we watched the movie on the TV, Riley rested on his chest as he patted her to sleep.

I looked over at him and the sleeping baby, filled with adoration at the way he was gazing down at her. I admired how much of a caring person Valentino was—the way he never hid his compassion was one of the biggest things that attracted me to him.

"Let's put her to sleep."

He stood up as slowly as possible, not wanting to wake her up as we crept upstairs and went into the guest room beside his bedroom. As softly as possible, he laid her in the Pack-and-Play that Amber and Wesley loaned us for the weekend.

"She looks so peaceful," I remarked, hand over my chest as I took in her balled up hands that rested beside her head and her cute, chubby cheeks. "She's too cute."

"Don't get any ideas," he replied, poking my hip playfully and stalking out of the room, motioning for me to follow him.

I whispered a quick 'good night' to Riley and followed after him, completely exhausted from just a few hours with her. I don't know how Amber manages.

I definitely wasn't getting any ideas.

a/n: i think ya'll are gonna like the next couple of chapters...

think this one was kinda cute!

i hope you enjoyed and please vote!