Chapter 10 This one's in real time - 2021

The next day Freddie busied himself with work and his daughter while his mother was at her job. He had been working mostly from home for quite some time now. As a software developer, he could do the majority of his job from a laptop at his leisure so he was able to devote as much time as needed to the little girl.

There was no school today and other than the occasional question about the educational activities that Freddie had programmed onto the child's tablet computer, she kept out of her dad's hair and left him set about to coding in peace.

After lunchtime, with the sun peeking through the clouds, Freddie decided it was soon time to take the young girl outside for some fresh air and exercise. His exercise generally amounted to a few hours, several evenings a week at the local gym once his mother was home, but the same could not be said for a kid her age. She loved to run and play at the park down the street and had made several friends that she played with there.

The young father and daughter stepped off the elevator in the lobby and before they could make their way across the lobby, the two met by his middle school crush.

"Freddie!" Carly shouted and grabbed him into a hug. The last time he hugged her was the day she left for Italy with her dad. That was the last time he saw her in person or caught a whiff of the strawberry and vanilla conditioner which she apparently still used.

"Hey, Carls!" He was glad to see her, but not as much as his thirteen year old self would have pictured after such a separation. She looked good, but the attraction of years ago was not as strong as it used to be.

"Will you two give it a break!" Lewbert shouted from his office. "I can see you! No canoodling in the lobby!"

"Some things never change." Carly chuckled. "Good thing Sam's not here or she would probably use that sleeper hold thing she does on him."

Freddie chuckled. "Nah."

"Butter sock." They both said with a laugh.

Freddie's face suddenly dropped and Carly felt his comfort level change. "Sorry. I, um, I . . . "

"'Salright." He simply replied. "Hey, baby girl. You remember Carly from our chats online?" He turned away from the brunette and picked up the child. Having his arms full of a kid would certainly keep Carly at distance if she had any ideas of moving in.

"Well aren't you just the sweetest little thing." Carly fawned at the girl, surprising Freddie by putting her arms out and taking the girl from his grasp, holding her for a few seconds herself before putting the girl on her own feet.

"I cannot believe this, Freddie." Carly cooed. "It wasn't that long ago, we were kids. Oh, she is so beautiful. My God, she looks just like you."

Nervously, he finally spoke. "Uh, yeah. That's what mom says, too. Just her hair's got a little more red in it."

"Can't figure where that came from. I mean, I've met your grandparents, and seen pictures of your dad. There's not a ginger anywhere in your family tree." The brunette completely ignored the child's mother's genetics.

"So, um . . . " He wasn't sure why, maybe it was the awkwardness of seeing his old friend and crush for the first time in nearly a decade. Maybe it was the current conversation or maybe he just needed fresh air. Either way, Freddie felt the need to go outside. "We were just going out to go for a walk. We really should be, like, uh . . . "

Carly sensed his discomfort. "Right, yeah. I need to go up and check on Spencer. You know, make sure he didn't hot glue himself to something. Hey, maybe you want to come over after bit. You know, get caught up. Just us."

He could have fainted at the thought. "Yeah, maybe. We'll see, be-because I, like, have a lot to do for work. I work from home, but I guess I've told you that. I'm working on this new app for the PearPad 4000. I can't really discuss it, but it's really gonna make a difference for people who travel a lot."

"I understand, Freddie. You've told me that you do most of your actual work after your mom gets home."

He decided to appease her as much as he could. "But, um, you're not going anywhere, right? I mean, we can get caught up. It's just that there was a meeting yesterday and the deadline for the beta prototype got moved up by three days. And I was a little behind anyway. I just really need to keep my nose to the grindstone."

"Uh, sure. Maybe, like, over the weekend or something. Hey, how about I'll bring you some lunch tomorrow. Maybe I can even watch this little one for a while and give you some time to yourself?"

"Oh, Carly. I couldn't ask you to do that." He wasn't sure how felt about the idea but he was desperate and he knew he could definitely trust her. "Would you seriously be able to do that? My mom's going out of town for a day or two. If I could have just a couple of good, quiet hours with no interruption, I could get a lot done."

"It's not like I haven't baby sat before. I mean I'm no professional like Sam but I've kept kids on occasion when we were in school. I used to sit for my friend Courtney's twins when I lived in Italy. I love kids. The rate I'm going, God knows I'll never have any of my own." Suddenly she shifted to the 'woe is me, I'm single' mode.

"Uh-huh." Freddie was now being pulled to the door by his little girl who was anxious to get to the park to hopefully see her friends. "I'll bring her over tomorrow morning."

"Not too early. I'm still getting used to the time difference." Carly shouted after him. "Maybe ten?"

After over an hour of running around the park and playing with several other kids close to her own age, Freddie's daughter was getting tired and ready to get back home. They stopped in the smoothie shop on the way to their building to pick up a small treat and before long, the little girl was settled down for a quick power nap while he made their dinner.

Marissa returned home from work long enough to eat and gather things for her weekend trip. The child was tucked into bed and Freddie sat down at his desk to try to get some work done. He opened his email and had several messages from others he worked with regarding the software. There was a message from Sam that amounted to a video clip of a screaming goat wearing a silly hat. There was a message from Gibby, too. That was unusual, he had hardly heard from Gibby since he moved back to Seattle.

Hey dude! I talked to Carly a bit ago. She called to tell me she made it back to Seattle safely. I'm sorry I wasn't there to see her but with work and all, I couldn't get away. It's not like I have time anyway. Between work and Nevel always wanting to do something. I'm just glad we got to be friends. He says to tell you hi by the way. For some reason, he really wants to see Carly. He told me that he wants to invite her to his wedding some day.

Did you talk to Sam lately? I hope she's alright. The last couple of times I tried calling all I got was her voice mail and she never returns my calls. Nevel says she's probably in jail somewhere but I doubt that. I just hope she's not still wazzed off about the time I told Nora where she was living.

So how's life with your mom? I never thought you'd move back after you left. But I guess you didn't have much choice. Anyway give me a call sometime. I'd really like to hear how you're doing. And send me a picture of your kid. Your bud, Gibbaayyy!

Freddie sighed, how did his life get away from himself? Not that he wasn't ecstatic to be a dad, but when he first found out he was, he never thought he'd be going it alone, living at his mother's place again for crying out loud.

Here was his buddy from high school, Gibby, with a great job, out jet-setting and seeing the world. Granted he was hanging out with Nevel Papperman of all people, but still. Freddie wasn't the only one of his classmates to be married with children. Brad had also married shortly after college just like Freddie. Of course he also knew that Wendy and Jonah got married along with several other of his classmates.

"Daddy?" He heard a small, soft voice from behind him.

"Hey, baby girl. You're supposed to be asleep. You know what grandma says about getting proper rest."

"But I'm thirsty." The child argued. "You forgot to leave my water bottle the dresser like you always do."

"Oh, sorry about that, sweetheart. Come on, let's get you a drink." He picked up his daughter and headed for the kitchen.

The next morning, Freddie waited until after ten as requested and took his daughter over to spend a little time with Carly so that he could get caught up on his work project. He slyly handed the dark haired young lady a note asking her to please not say anything in front of the child about her mother. It had been quite some time since he had even heard from the woman and one of his biggest fears was to do anything to get the little girl's hopes up that she'd be returning anytime soon. Even the mention of her name generally gave him anxiety for fear of her reaction.

By the middle of the afternoon, the girl and her 'aunt' had spent hours playing dress up and creating all kinds of adventures with the kid's collection of Pretty Little Ponies. They had a healthy lunch and had now settled in to watch the new version of the Freezing movie with the two princesses and the silly snowman.

Freddie sent Carly a text telling her he'd be over in a few minutes to retrieve the little girl and they began to pack up her things to take home.

"I hope you can come back some time soon." Carly hugged her once Freddie arrived. "You're such a good girl."

Freddie promised he'd bring her back and turned to leave the apartment. Carly stopped him with a gentle hand to his shoulder. "When your mom gets back maybe you could come over and we can hang out for a bit. Or grab a smoothie or lunch or something."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Maybe." He responded before seeing her sad look at his non-commitment and becoming more receptive to the idea. "Of course, we'll have to do that. She gets back tomorrow afternoon. Maybe after that some time. Sounds great."

It wasn't that Freddie didn't want to spend time with Carly. It had literally been years since they were in the same room alone and she was one of his best friends growing up. Heck, there was a point when he thought his life wouldn't be complete without her in it. So what had him feeling so funny about the whole idea?

They had spoken over the years. Honestly, he had closer contact with her than most of his other friends. Especially as of late. There was a point after she moved, after they both started college, where they had little contact other than the occasional email but of late they had called or talked on video chat fairly often. He was even the first person to find out she was moving back to Seattle.

It was right about the time that he moved home when the emails and texts developed into more personal, and more frequent contact. She never said so, but Freddie suspected there may have been a breakup in Carly's life right before that, this was a fact that would soon be verified.

He moved back to his mother's place because he had a child to raise with absolutely no partner in sight and his own mother was insistent on helping him raise his daughter, Carly knew this much. And it certainly appeared as though he had little time in his life for romance or dating.