I Am The Highway || Chris Cornell

Seattle Washington, December 31 2000

"I don't know Chris," I say, pushing a stray curl from my eyes that had escaped my hair tie as I wait for the water on the stove to boil.

"Come on baby, It'll be good for us to get out. It's New Years Eve," Chris says as he stands holding Vada against his chest as she begins to make soft whining sounds, waiting for me to warm up her bottle.

He's right, it would be good for us to get out of the house. Chris and I haven't done anything together, just the two of us, since Vada was born.

I make a skeptical look as I set the bottle of formula in the pot of water with Chris still giving me that pleading look. To be honest I'm scared to leave Vada, even if it is only just a few hours.

"Babe, we can go out and grab some food somewhere and we'll make a whole night of it, just the two of us," Chris says, his blue eyes looking at me as he moves towards me with Vada in his arms. He looks so gorgeous with his dark hair curly, wearing a plain black t-shirt and those button fly jeans I love on him.

"I don't know..." I say as I take the bottle out of the pot and test the formula on my wrist.

Just right.

Then like all the other times, Vada begins to cry. She knows it's time for food. Chris takes the bottle from me and starts to feed her as she makes those adorable sucking sounds.

"Mom said she could watch her for the night so you know you have nothing to worry about," Chris says as he feeds her.

"I know but... it's just..."

"Just what?" Chris looks at me and I can tell he really wants to go out tonight, which is weird because he's normally the one who wants to stay in.

"I'm just worried about leaving her. I've never been away from her for more than just a few hours, let alone all night," I say, my brow furrowing as I look at my Vada studying her daddy as she eats.

"Babe, it's my mom we're talking here. I mean I know we've sort of been on weird terms over the years but, I don't know... It's like since we had Vada and I see how good my mom is with her, I feel like she's in good hands you know? I know she wasn't all that great with me growing up but, when I see her with Vada... she's just so, different... she's happy," Chris says as he looks at me. I think it over for a few moments and realize that maybe it's not so bad. I mean what wife doesn't want their husband to take them out on New Years Eve?

"Ok... Ok we'll go out tonight," I say and Chris leans down and places a kiss on my lips.

"I'm just going to run up and take a quick shower, and uh, do my hair before you go to your meeting thing... you ok with her?" I ask and he raises his eyebrow at me.

"Ok, I'll take that as a 'yes'" I say and tap him on the arm as I head out of the kitchen and make my way upstairs. Chris has a meeting with his manager this afternoon and he's not sure how long it would be so I figure I should clean myself up a bit before he goes.

I quickly remove my tank top and 90 logo track pants, take off my wedding and engagement ring and set them down on my dresser, grab a towel and head into the bathroom for a quick shower. Normally I keep them on but it's annoying when I'm trying to wash my hair. They get caught up in my curls and it takes forever to get them out. I quickly take my shower and wash my hair as fast as I can so that I can blow dry and straighten my hair. I've pretty much got the whole straightening part of my hair down so it doesn't nearly take as long as it used to. The trick is to blow it dry with a round brush first and then flat iron. I can get my hair done in 40 minutes by doing it that way. A lot better than the 2 hours that I used to struggle with. It's amazing the short cuts you figure out once you have a baby.