Accept My Baby

 “Yeah, I was running late for a meeting this morning and Brett had some time to spare so he let me use his car while he picked up mine from the shop.” Amanda sighed. “I can’t wait to go back to my own car tomorrow.”

Sienna smiled and walked up to where Amanda was before handing her the dish.

“I know this is long overdue but to be fair, this dish has literally been all the way to Philadelphia and Manhattan. If I didn’t bring it back, it would have been officially deemed part of the family.”

Amanda smiled.

“Thanks. I had honestly forgotten all about it.”

Sienna forced out a laugh.

“I don’t blame you. The last time you saw it was when you brought me that amazing sausage and potato casserole when I was sick last Thanksgiving.”

“It’s been that long?” she asked and Sienna nodded.

“It’s been through two of my family’s Thanksgiving dinners, one Christmas and an Easter weekend. And all in different houses too, thanks to the many potlucks we like to have.”

“Would you like some wine? I was just about to pour myself a glass,” Amanda said as she put the casserole dish in one of the overhead cabinets. She turned around and shifted her weight before she put a plate on the counter. “You know what? Stay for dinner.”

“Amanda…” Sienna started but Amanda was not hearing it.

“You have been my neighbor for almost two years and I still don’t know you as well as I would like to. Not to mention Brett got his BFF in your husband and Zachary Fontaine down the street.” She put another wine glass on the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. “When do I get my happy ending?”

Sienna smiled and then laughed.

“You make a good point but for Pete’s sake Amanda, for someone who works from home, we barely get to see you.”

“That’s because I moved my workspace to an office building downtown. I get more work done there.”

“Did I ever mention that you have an awesome job?” Sienna asked and Amanda shrugged.

“You want to be part of my awesome job by joining me for a glass of Merlot and possibly dinner later?” Amanda asked as she waved the bottle of wine.

“Fine. But just the one glass,” Sienna said and Amanda smiled.

“You and I both know that it is never just the one,” she said before she poured the wine.

“Yeah, sometimes I think that’s how I ended up marrying a guy in the navy,” Sienna said smiling.

Amanda handed her one glass and frowned.

“It can’t be that bad. Your husband is amazing not to mention…” she pretended to look around. “Kyle is quite the eye candy.”

“Says the woman married to the one man the whole neighborhood can’t get their eyes off,” Sienna said. “I mean even the gay Tony couple also think so.”

Amanda smiled and then shook her head.

“Why do people even call them ‘the gay Tony couple’ anyway? I never quite got that.”

“That’s easy. They are both called Tony,” Sienna said rolling her eyes.

“You are kidding me, right?” Amanda asked as Sienna took a long sip.

“I swear. They are both called Tony. You should have been there for the Christmas party last year when one of the Tonys finally came out to his parents.” She laughed. “It was hilarious!”

“I can only imagine,” Amanda said as they walked towards the dining room. “I would love to be in the same house when those two are in an argument. It would make for a good laugh.”

She took a placement mat on the table and began setting a third place on the table.

“You were not kidding when you asked me to stay for dinner, were you?” Sienna said as she looked at Amanda who was sipping on her wine.

“Come on. You are all alone in that big house. It must get lonely,” Amanda pointed out. “Plus I kind of miss how we used to hang out before you got that big important job at the bank.”

“You do know that I am just a branch manager, right?” Sienna asked.

“Well, to be fair, the bank cannot get robbed if you are not there now can it?” Amanda asked and Sienna smiled.

“That is a really terrible way to determine the role I play in my place of employment but yeah, I guess I have missed us too.”

Amanda shrugged and smiled. Sienna was one of the first people to welcome her and Brett to the neighborhood when they first moved in. She had been a little reserved about moving into a neighborhood with so many soccer moms and families. It was literally like moving into Wisteria Lane on Desperate Housewives. She felt like she had a lot to live up to. Like she was trying to make a positive impression on someone…or heck, the whole neighborhood altogether.

She was already feeling like the neighbors were judging her for moving in with a man who was not her husband. One of the women in the neighborhood had actually gone as far as calling her out on her sin but Sienna had stood by her then and just like that, Amanda knew who she had to align herself with. But since she moved her workplace downtown, she rarely saw Sienna anymore. Even in all the neighborhood block parties which Amanda struggled to pretend to have a good time while Brett hung out with all his stud buddies, Sienna was almost always never seen.

“So, you mentioned some help with your job?” Sienna asked and Amanda nodded.

“Remember last month when I visited Hong Kong?” she asked as she led Sienna to the counter where her laptop was. “I have already done the whole article but the big dilemma I have right now is the photos.”

Sienna raised an eyebrow over the other.

“That’s your big dilemma? Can we switch jobs for a week or something?”

Amanda laughed.

“Come on, this is serious.”

“For me, serious is when I have to decide to talk to a woman whose loan application has been denied for the fourth time in a row because her credit score is way down…and did I mention that said woman is an old widow who is barely getting by on her pension?”

Amanda took a long sip of her wine.