Just Breathe

Unexpected

"Adah. Adah. Adah! Shhhhh. Be quiet." I whispered with soft tears rolling down my cheeks. Picking her up out of her crib, and rocking her in my arms, her cries get louder. "Are you hungry?" She wails louder, causing a migraine to form in my head.

Flicking on the lights, I walk out of her room, down the hallway and into the kitchen. Grabbing a bottle from the fridge, I warm it up a tad. Going into the living room, I sit on the navy blue couch, prop up against a pillow, and feed her. Thankfully, her crying had stopped, but mine didn't. Putting Adah in the small playpen next to the couch, I hear a knock at the apartment door. It was probably Emily, or my sister.

Unlocking the plain white door with bits of dirt marks, man I needed to clean it, I open it and-

"Hey." Wyatt looks at me dead in the eyes.

"Hi, uhh, come in." I mumble trying to avoid his stare.

As he steps in, he wraps his arms around me. "Are you drunk?"

"No. I'm not. Why would you ask that?"

"You smell like cigarettes and beer."

"I would be illegally drinking, and I wasn't at a party so no. I was at a bar with my mom. It's her birthday." There was a silence until he continued, "but I was smoking."

"Why are you here?" I ask him as I sit on the couch.

"Kat called me. She told me you haven't been well,and that you've been feeling alone."

"Well I haven't. I'm in fact happy."

"Then why is it that why your favorite blue blanket is covered in mascara and tears?"

Before I could answer, Adah starts crying again.

"Are you babysitting? Is this a bad time?" Wyatt gets up.

"You can stay. Here you can hold her."

"What's her name?" He takes Adah in his arms and puts the pacifier that I had in my hands, in her mouth. If only he knew.

"Her name is Adah." I can't help but stare at them.

"Who's daughter is this? She's adorable." Wyatt sits, and starts making funny faces at her.

Before I can answer, I hear a sweet voice ring out. "How's your daughter doing?" It was Mrs. Isaksen.

"Adah, sweetheart, you can't just walk into Erea's home."

"I can and I will." She stubbornly replies. I see her eyes widen. "Who is this gorgeous man?"

"I'm Wyatt Miland. I'm her best friend."

"So you're the one who's the fa-," giving her a stare that screamed 'don't say a damn thing or I will internally die', she cleared her throat, "best friend. You're Erea's friend."

"Yeah." Wyatt mumbles. "Something like that."

"We're going to go take Adah for a few hours. Is that okay?" Noel, Adah's husband looked at me.

"Yeah, that's cool. Thank you." I get up and hand them her stroller with the carrier, and her black fur lined coat, with her knit hat and gloves.

"Bye sweetheart." Noel bundles up my baby.

They each take turns kissing my cheek, and I kiss my daughters forehead and whisper, "I love you." She lets out her cute laugh.

As they leave, Wyatt breaks the silence. "You had a baby?"

"I did."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was embarrassed okay."

"Is she-"

"She's not Justin's baby."

"What about your boyfriends. What's his name? Daniel? Danny? Damien?"

"It was Damien and we broke up. She's not his."

"So who's her dad then?"

"I can't really tell you." I look away.

"Why can't you tell me?"

"You'll be really pissed off at me for not telling you sooner."

"Can you just lie to me for now and tell me that you had drunken sex and don't know who it is? I don't want to fight."

"Fine. I'll lie and tell you that I have no idea who the father is. I don't want to fight either." 

"Why didn't you tell me you had her?"

"Can I not answer that right now? Cause I seriously have no idea why I didn't tell you." I crawl into his lap and start crying. 

"Shhh. Shhh. Don't cry." He pulls me closer and kisses my temple.

"I can't help but cry. All I do is cry. I cry more than Adah does." Wyatt chuckles. "Shut it or I'll punch you." I try to stare at him with a blank face but end up quivering out a smile.

"Go ahead punch me." As I punch his shoulder, very hard, he puts his lips next to my ear and whispers, "that really fucking hurt."

"Oh well." I whisper back.

"How long has it been since you've done your laundry?"

"Since Emily was here, like two months ago. Why?"

"Go take a shower. De-stress. I'm going to help you." He drags out the word you, and pulls me off the couch.

"Fine. But I need to separate my clothes and write down the exact way to wash my clothes for you."

"Alright." Quickly sorting my clothes in piles; dark, light, white, dance/sports attire, fancy, delicate, and towels/sheets, I hand him a list of the exact way to wash my clothes; all on cold water, with fabric softener, and all on hand-wash mode except for dance/sports and towels/sheets those are on cotton wash.

"You're so picky." Wyatt rolls his eyes at me.

"I know." I smile and head to the bathroom.

•••

An hour later I was out of the shower and now smelled like Dove soap, and raspberry lotion. Putting coconut oil and moisturizer on my face, I walk out of my bathroom wearing grey joggers, and a loose black tank-top.

"Yeah,  yeah. She needs her time to rest. She is a new mother. Plus I can see the way she trusts you guys. Adah can spend the night at your house tonight. You have clothes and formula right? Okay, thanks. She'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Who was that?" Wyatt sets my phone down,  as I ask.

"The elderly couple from earlier. They wanted to know if Adah could spend the night with them."

"You mean Mr and Mrs Isaksen?"

"Yeah I guess so. I told them she could spend the night."

"I know I heard." Adding to that, I stand on the balls of my feet, tilt his head down and whisper, "maybe you can spend the night?"

"Maybe I will." He bites his lip, causing me to kiss him. "Maybe I definitely will."