Somebody to Love

"It's Auntie Sarah?" Tom asks.

"Yeah. Should I answer it?"

"Um... let me see, please."

Arielle gets off of the counter and hands her father the phone. Tom turns off the screen and lets it continue to ring until time runs out.

"Are you gonna answer it?" Arielle says.

"No, dear, not right now."

"Why not?"

"Well we're doing this. We're making omelettes and are about to have breakfast. Your sister should be up very soon and she'll want breakfast and I want to spend some time with her. I'll call her back later."

"When's Grandma coming over?" Arielle asks while kicking her feet against the counter.

"Around 4. That's why I'm cleaning up. We gotta get you and your sister showered as well."

"I don't want to."

"Arielle,"

"Fine. One cause Grandma is coming over and I don't want to be stinky."

"But you'll stink up my room?" Tom teases.

"Well you made me. It's on you."

Tom teasingly rolls his eyes and continues making breakfast. Soon after, Bethany and Arabella join them downstairs for breakfast.

At 4 o'clock, Diana rings on the doorbell to the house. She has a key, Tom gave her one just in case, but Diana always rang the doorbell. She didn’t want to just walk into her son’s house.

“Beth,” Tom says while looking at the door. “Can you please answer the door? My hands are covered in chicken juice and I can’t get there yet.”

“Of course, baby.” Bethany says and gets out of her chair. She rests her left hand on her stomach as she walks to the door. “Hi, Diana.”

“Oh, look at you!” Diana exclaims. “And look at my grandson. He’ll be my first grandson, you know?”

Bethany chuckles and lets her in. “He will be. Tell me, what name do you like better, Alistar or Nicholas?”

“Oh, leave me out of it. Tommy will be sad if I don’t pick his name.”

“Mum, that is simply not true,” Tom says from the kitchen sink.

“Yes, it is.” she chuckles and walks behind her son, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “What are you doing over there?”

“Oh, everything else is ready but Arielle was being a wee bit difficult before shower time so I couldn’t get a start on the chicken.”

“That’s alright, honey. I can help if you need.”

“No, no, Mum, it’s alright. Thank you though.”

“Well, what did Arielle do?”

Tom looks at Bethany and she laughs. “We ran out of her special scented soap. Bella offered Arielle hers but she didn’t want to smell like blueberries. I offered her mine and she didn’t like roses either.”

“Oh, that girl. She’s got her father’s stubbornness.” Diana smiles.

“I’m not stubborn.” Tom defends while battering the chicken.

Bethany and Diana look at Tom directly in the eyes.

“Sweetheart, you’d fight me on everything. Take it from the women who raised you, you’re stubborn.”