My Buddy Archie [3]

76..

I woke up to rustling and whines over the baby monitor. Connie was still asleep, and since there was no crying yet, I assumed whichever baby was awake didn't need to be fed. After rubbing my eyes and stretching, I got out of bed and patted towards the nursery, pushing the light switch up to just a dim glow so I could see. I peeked over at Zach, smiling as she smacked his lips in his sleep. When I looked over at Aria though, she was a lot less peaceful looking.

"What's wrong, love?" I hushed. "Why are you fussing?" She whimpered at the sight of me, but I didn't let that stop me from picking her up. I carried her out of the room so she didn't end up wake Zach up, and took her downstairs, clicking a lamp on as I sat on the couch.

I grabbed her chubby legs and kissed her feet. "You're a piece of work, you know that?" Her grumbles died down as I encased her little hand and let her press her feet against my cheek. "That's all you wanted, isn't it? To abuse Daddy? Terrible."

She stared at me with her big brown eyes, and I swear, if it was even possible I fell more in love with her. She may be the fussiest baby on the planet, but she was just so damn cute. And she was mine. My first and only daughter. It was still surreal to me that I even had her and Zach.

Turning my head to the side, I pressed a kiss to her ankle. A toothless smile—I think she was smiling. "Love you so much, Aria." I leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Even if you do have me up the night before my interview..."

Talk about things I'm dreading...

When the morning rolled around, it seemed like the universe was trying to send me a sign about this interview. Zach was crying since five in the morning, Aria had probably the worst smelling diaper to happen in the history of diapers, and Archie was in one of his moods again. I didn't get to have breakfast. I barely said ten words to Connie, both because she probably wouldn't have heard me over Zach crying, and because I was feeling guilty for not telling her about getting fired. It was just a bad morning.

My first interview was at Stein publishing firm in Reading. It was a reasonable distance from home both by car and train, so this was the one I wanted. The pay was okay, my hours will be flexible, and I'll have Thursdays off—for whatever reason. I wanted this. I needed this.

And I think it went well. The guy seemed impressed that I worked for Flander Inc. and was kind of acquaintances with Robert Flander himself. The setting was conversational instead of interrogational, and by the time I got out of there, I felt confident. It wasn't until I got in my car that I realized it only took forty minutes to get in and out of there.

What am I supposed to do now?

▼▲▼▲

I was proud of myself.

I've never been fully alone with the babies before, so I was a little apprehensive about Niall started up work again, but I think I was doing pretty well. There were a couple times when I had to let baby cry while I changed or fed the other, but for the most part, everyone was happy. I didn't feel terribly exhausted since both babies slept almost fully through the night. This is good. It's almost like I can handle my children.

Except Archie.

"Oh Archie," I sighed, staring down at the twins as they watched the mobile spin over them. I tried to imagine a time when Archie was so innocent and easily amused, but the image was destroyed by the scowl he's been wearing lately.

He was so frustrating. Talking to him was useless. Nothing I did for him was good enough, and nothing Niall did lasted long enough before he needed to help with the babies. I was at the point where I couldn't make up excuses for him anymore, being nice has gotten me nowhere for almost three months; he was just being a rotten little kid. I never thought I'd saw that about sweet little Archie, but it's true.