Baby on Board

Sapphires

I kept my eye on the clock above the door of La Petite as the big hand inched closer to the hour. Now that Seraphina was over a week old, Lottie was starting to become more and more comfortable with taking the baby out into the real world and of all the places to take Sera on her first outing, Lottie decided that coming to her shop was ideal. She said it was because she wanted to show Sera off to her colleagues but we both knew that she was headed there to check up on Nate. 

However, the real test today was in us getting ready to take Sera out. As it happens, our daughter isn't a fan of being put into her buggy, Lottie went overboard in a number of nappies that she packed and I didn't load the boot of the car in one go. We kept driving away only to return so I could pick up another item I'd left behind. When we finally had it down pat, I took a photo of the full boot so we wouldn't be in the same situation again. 

Sera, naturally, screamed all the way to La Petite. Lottie tried her best to calm Sera down, waving her kangaroo teddy in front of her face, singing some French lullabies, and wiggling her fingers in front of the baby's face but nothing satisfied Sera. Seraphina Eve Fletcher is a little madam. It wasn't until we were out of the car, unloading everything, that I finally managed to get the crying to stop. Who knew that being in Daddy's arms was the answer to the problem?

Naturally, everyone cooed over Sera just as soon as we walked through the door. Forget customer service, a newborn was everyone's top priority. Even Arnaud, Lottie's maître pâtissier, came out of the kitchen to see Sera. He made a comment, something about belle, and then returned to the kitchen to continue with his job. 

Customers still came through and while the regular staff were too busy arguing over whose turn it was to hold Sera, I decided to help out a little. Lottie disappeared while I was busy making coffee and plating up sweet treats, heading up tot he office to look over 'the books'. I had hoped she'd take a back seat in the running of the business but once her maternity leave 'officially', Lottie became more and more obsessed with getting back into work. Her OCD when it came to handing over the reins was starting to show. 

"You're new," a woman observed when I took her order. Nodding in response, I took the twenty-pound note from the customer and presented her with her change before I stepped aside to start making the drink she had ordered. "Are you a permanent addition?"

I shake my head. "No, I'm not. I'm just helping out for the afternoon."

"That's a shame," the woman said. Hearing the intonation in her voice, I realise a little too late that she's flirting with me. "If you were here every day, so would I."

Not knowing what more to say, I simply give the woman a faint smile and hand over the mug of coffee. Going through the motions, I serve the early afternoon rush single-handedly, until I become bored and decide that I'd very much like to spend the last few remaining days of my parental leave with Sera. And Lottie, if she could tear herself away from the computer.