"Adrienne, they wouldn't leave this early, if they were going to the wedding, am I right? It should have been by five o'clock, at the earliest. Weddings aren't celebrated in the afternoon, it's really strange, don't you think?"
"They had to get ready."
"What you mean?"
"I mean they had to get ready" she said and laughed. "You know, iron some things, decide what to wear, apply makeup, and so on."
"Sheeran, careful with me, I might cut my fingers hearing this talk - I'm serious" he told her. He concentrated even more on cutting, fearing he would make a mistake anytime, but then, listened thoroughly to what she had to say.
"It could even take five hours or more..." she said quietly.
"Can't believe you are telling me, getting ready takes that long? It can't..."
"Ed Sheeran, I need to chop these, stop talking" she said instead of him.
"I was just about to say that" he told her.
* * * *
"Sheeran!" he screamed, "I finished making the salad, come check it."
Adrienne was in the leaving room with the baby, "you have been making that salad for the past thirty minutes" she told him.
"I've only been here for thirty minutes how is that possible?" he responded. "Aren't you interested in the results?" He later says. But she didn't come.
He came to the living room short after and showed her the salad, surprisingly she complimented him but she was playing with the baby and didn't give him much attention. He was happy to her that regardless.
"I can make some more salad for you in the future" he told her, looking down on the salad and smiling brightly.
She gave him the baby and told him to take a break, "you have exhausted yourself, chef, let your sidekick help out." The irony in her voice didn't bother him..
"Adrienne, what would you have done without me" he walked to the kitchen, "if I wasn't here you might have starved." Instead of reacting to sarcasm he complimented himself even more.
From the moment he arrived until now Zachary didn't give picking on Adrienne a break. "What do you mean?"
"To put it simply; I make the salad, look after this kid, I fed the kittens before coming here and am giving you company by being here." He sat down on the chair, in the kitchen and placed the baby on the table.
"Speaking of company, do you have any movie you would like to watch with me tonight?" She asked him but he didn't answer her. Tonight kept reflecting in his mind, perhaps he wondered elsewhere. "Zachary, you with me?"
How long will I stay here, he thought. When will her parents be back? Perhaps I will stay until the time reaches nine pm. We have never stayed this long together... so late.
"Zachary! Don't let him lick that." He looked at Adrienne questionably and then back at the baby - took the salt from his hands and placed it back on the table, but further away. "You finally snapped out of it, huh?" she told him.
Zachary kept glaring at the kid who looked him right back in the eye that even Adrienne was wondering about what was going on in their minds...
Could he have gotten mad at the baby, she thought to herself. But why would the baby give him that look back?
Then, in a whispering manner he said; "Adrienne, when are your parents coming back?" The love and attraction he carried in his eyes, was discernible, very clear when he asked her.
"Before dinner is almost ready, you are going to feed the baby while I set the table and prepare the food, you got it?" Adrienne, who had not heard, told him.
He was disappointing, but it might have been better off this way, he sighted, otherwise she could have gotten the wrong idea.
"I don't want to feed the baby" he said, upward about what he mentioned. "He doesn't want to listen to me at all while he does with you. Let me prepare the food, cook or whatever while you feed him - Adrienne, look at him, he doesn't even want to be held by me."
She looked at the both of them then chuckled. The baby was indeed not following his orders, doing quite the opposite of what Zachary was telling it but it was cute. It reminded of how a baby would act with his older brother; as Zachary held him, he kept swinging right to left, kicking with his leg, and trying to push him with his arms against Zachary's chest.
"Whats his name?" He asked her. "...I forgot" he says after she gave him a weird look.
She looked at him wonderingly, as her eyebrows moved closer to each other, grimacing at him. "There is no question about it. You don't even remember his name, and I've been calling him ever since you got here, but you, didn't notice?" She exhaled deeply, "Zachary kids ain't dumb, he probably feels no care coming from you." She was done cooking the food on the stove. She put everything down and went up to him, "look" she said.
Adrienne stretched her arms and reached them in front of the baby, "you can't force him but make him come to you instead." As she was telling him, he listened carefully to what she had to say, and took it seriously afterwards; "What do you say?" she asked him in the end.
"Let me have a try" - he stretched his arms froward just he way she did, tried to smile gently then called his name.
"Have another try" she said.
"Let me place him on the table and see what happens." She placed him and asked Zachary to try again. The baby threw himself to the side, grabbed the glass of water placed there and spilled it on the table. "Zachary your pants are all wet, all the water from the table has dropped on you."
Now, it truly seemed like the kid didn't wish to be held by anyone but Adrienne.
"Zachary, follow me"... but just as he stood up the kid spilled his milk on Zachary's shirt. Adrienne was speechless, if she hadn't known any better she would have thought the baby was targeting him on purpose. There was like a grudge between the two of them, it was something she didn't know about.
"Come with me." She carried the baby herself this time and Zachary was right behind her. She went upstairs and turned towards her room. The baby was surprisingly still clean, she placed him on the bed, lying on his back and turned around, facing Zachary. "I can probably find some over sized t-shirt and pants for you to wear. You can wear the shirt I will give you back home with the jacket you came with on top it while you wait for you pants to dry since they are only drenched with water. You can get changed back to them later."
She took out a pair of paints and a shirt form her closet and handed them over to him. "Do you fill that you need to wash up before that?"
"No, no, no, all good. Thank you..."
"Ok" she said calmly, "tell me when you are done."