Things are getting better, I think

There’s been a few changes around here lately, the main reason being that a guy Hannah was seeing before Fred got into town—the violinist—came back from his tour last week. The violinist (let’s just call him Hayden) was, to say the least, not very happy to find out that another man has been hanging out with Hannah, even though the two of them aren’t anything. But Hannah’s been putting off getting coffee with Hayden and has lost interest in him. One guess why.

            Lucy’s really been pushing Hannah to give Hayden a chance, probably in order to make getting Fred for herself easier and less awkward, but Hannah mumbles about how things have changed, she was just bored before, what they had wasn’t as strong as she’d thought. If Fred hadn’t come into town, though, I’m sure Hannah wouldn’t be saying this.

            But that hasn’t been the only difference around here. Last Friday, I had a big case I had to work on—like, hundreds of thousands of dollars at risk if I didn’t sort things through efficiently. I’m still working at home three days out of the week, and this was one of them. 

First, Hayden came over looking for Hannah, and I said she went to the grocery store with Lucy but would be back soon, so he decided to stay and wait. Then Fred came by too, looking for Hannah and Lucy. I told him the same thing and he decided to stay as well.

            A bit uncomfortable, but at least I could concentrate on the case while the two of them stared at each other awkwardly.

            Then Marie came. She insisted that I watch my nephew while she went to the grocery store to buy supplies for Thanksgiving. Even when I told her I had important work to do, she gasped and said, “More important than Little Charlie?” When I asked why she couldn’t just bring him she said that children are too difficult to deal with in public areas.

            Little Charlie was already getting into my pots and pans while Marie hurried out, so I had no choice but to watch him. I took the pots and pans away because it was making it too hard to talk on the phone with another one of the company’s attorneys, then he decided the only other thing good enough in the apartment to play with was me. He kept on climbing and my back and shouting “Pyop me! Pyop me!” which is two-year-old for “plop me,” meaning he wanted our game where I “plopped” him onto the couch. I had to work on this case, but Little Charlie was making it nearly impossible, even when I asked him to stop.

            Hayden just sat at a kitchen stool watching me struggle. But after a few minutes of this, Fred walked over from where he was in the front part of the room and removed Little Charlie from my back, and played with him while I finished up my phone call and worked more on the case.

            Nothing else happened, really. Hannah and Lucy got back, Hayden left after enduring ten minutes of being ignored, and Marie picked up Little Charlie. Fred didn’t say a word to me—he still hardly looks at me—but this has to be something, right? After all, Hayden didn’t even do anything, and we don’t have an awkward history or anything. Fred didn’t need to help me, but he did. I’m not crazy enough to suggest that he’s feeling anything that he felt eight years ago, but maybe he’s not as mad at me? Maybe we’re on the right track to becoming...not friends, but maybe not as awkward as it has been. 

            Though maybe he was just sick of hearing Little Charlie scream. That’s probably the more likely answer. Still, it’s not like anything is getting worse.

            Well, I probably won’t see Fred for a while, anyway. He and Carrie and Adam left for Thanksgiving at their brothers’ house and won’t be back until Sunday. Which reminds me, I’m planning on not posting Wednesday, since pre-Thanksgiving preparations will keep me busy. Have a Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the states, and I’ll see you in a week.