Not just me & you anymore (G!P)

C.10 - Maya

Hi! Here we are for some Vivi-Maya time..! 
Enjoy your reading!
(And thank you, as always!)

My crazy plan that I hatched in the night came crashing down on me as soon as Viviana and I were alone in the car on the highway, with her falling asleep after very few miles, leaving me alone with my thoughts and a bad Disney signature soundtrack. This is certainly not the first time I have spent a day alone with Viviana: there have been Sundays out on the road alone, there have been nights when we have slept alone without Carina and I have provided the dinner, the bath, the bedtime story. When I think about it, I laugh thinking back to how much panic I felt the first time I had to tell her a bedtime story: I had no idea what I was going to come up with, she was used to Carina always getting lost in wondrous adventures invented on the spur of the moment, and I always had the imagination of a baboon. But I soon discovered that evidently my baboon fantasy makes Viviana laugh so much that she now almost prefers my hesitant and careless little stories. What always reassured me, however, in spending time with Viviana was the idea that sooner or later Carina would return. Now I am facing at least two full days totally alone with a little pest, and suddenly I feel as insecure as I have ever felt in my life. Not even on the day when Carina, years ago, showed up in my office unannounced demanding clarification after our wonderful and surprising first date that I was too afraid to follow up on, however, did I feel so insecure. Suddenly the responsibility of having to solely look after Viviana, paying attention to her needs, weighed on me and suddenly the idea of taking her with me, even if done for good, seemed like the biggest bullshit I could have ever proposed.

Yet here we are, squeezed at a restaurant table, having dinner, sandwiched between Viviana humming in a low voice coloring a drawing from some cartoon that is so fashionable right now and Caterina, who tries to entertain our customers as much as possible even for me, who spends more time picking pennette with sauce from Viviana's plate to feed her rather than discussing work plans, renovations, sustainability and costs. The situation only seems to get even worse when Viviana begins to show the first signs of fatigue and slowly drifts off to sleep in my arms, sitting astride me, her head sunk into my chest. Extraordinarily, however, the clients must find the situation tender, or at least less freaky than I think, because we manage to strike a deal in record time.

When I get up from the table with Viviana in my arms, she does not move a muscle and remains peacefully asleep as if nothing had happened. So I decide to slip on my earphones, to call Carina, and tackle the short drive between the restaurant and our hotel room on foot, leaving Caterina to take care of my car, as we will meet again tomorrow morning, for a day that we will spend all in scouting and various rides.

C < hey, love!> exclaims Carina, even if she looks tired to me.

M < hi...how are you? Are you tired?> I ask right away and hear her laugh.

C < yes, a little, but you don't need to worry..>

M < how was work?> I ask: I love hearing about your day.

C < so long that I'm still here..>

M < but how?> her shift should have ended at least two hours ago.

C < there was an emergency and I had some backlog of paperwork. I'll take the opportunity to put some order in the folders..>

M < amore..> she interrupts me huffing.

C < I won't get tired, I won't exaggerate, everything won't...rest assured!> I smile: she's already fed up with my being overly thoughtful after the pregnancy news. < how come my daughter doesn't quiver to greet me? Has she forgotten me already?> she changes the subject.