parenthood

Episode 10; Magic Brownies

"Hey, your Madeline right? Harry's wife?" A woman with fiery red hair and ocean blue eyes notices me. I thought since today had been relatively nice out I would take Scout out to the park even though she didn't ever really play with the other kids that dangled from the playground. She loved watching all the older kids play while she bounced her legs up and down on my lap letting my support her by her torso.

"Actually I am his girlfriend, we aren't married. I'm sorry who are you?" I ask a little confused as I feel Scout bounce up and down in my arms watching the kids run around.

"I am MaryAnne I live across the hall from you! I just wanted to tell you how cute your baby is! She is adorable!" MaryAnne compliments as I thank her for the kind words. I notice beside her is a baby wrapped in a blue blanket sleeping in a stroller.

"Thank you so much! Is that your baby? He is the sweetest thing!" I gush at the chubby little baby not paying any mind to anything at all.

"Yep, this is Jake! What is your baby's name?" She asks me as soon as I sit Scout down on her my lap. She sucks her thumb but smiles brightly at MaryAnne as soon as she makes eye contact with her.

"This is Scout, she is six months!" I explain as Scout blinks her long eyelashes and pretends to be shy by hiding her face with a smile occasionally peeking out to see MaryAnne greet her.

"What a... unique name!" She plays off even though I can tell she isn't a fan of the name. I was taking bets that she was expecting a normal name like Ashley or Hailey but Scout's name really fit her. She was our little scout, fighting to make it through the pregnancy when her other twin lost the battle due to unknown causes.

"Definitely not a name you hear every day that's for sure," I replied unsure of how I was supposed to take that.

"You know Jake is six months as well! We should plan a little play date, plus I am always looking for new mommy friends!" MaryAnne gushes to me as I pretend to happily agree. This woman was striking me as strange if I am completely honest.

"Oh yeah totally," I said bending over when Scout pulled out her little lace black head band.

"Girl, I am so happy that I finally know someone cool in our building! There's only one other young mom in our building but I swear all that woman does is meditate, burn incense around her apartment and, give her husband blowjobs!" MaryAnne and I laugh at the observation as I realize who she is talking about. She lived on the third floor which smelled thickly of incense which now all made sense due to the revelation MaryAnne had just dropped on me.

"Oh my god that was something I never wanted to know," I say standing up laughing awkwardly as I set Scout in her stroller. I knew it was close to nap time and I preferred to stay on a tight ship since Scout wasn't fun to deal with when she was tired.

"Oh Honey the tea I have about different people in this building is insane, you know what are you doing tomorrow?" MaryAnne and I begin to walk through the park taking the route back to our apartment building. I actually didn't mind the company since normally I walked alone with Scout.

"I don't know yet," I said being more short with her.

"Well, Jake and I are going to a baby yoga class! You should come with Scout," MaryAnne enthused to me offering up an invite to the class.

"Yeah, I 'll see what Harry thinks about it and get back to you!" I tell her just as I hear my phone going off. Thank God!