Sophie's babysitter was half an hour late. The girls had just gone down for their nap and if the doorbell rang, they would be awake and cranky all afternoon. Leaving the door ajar, she stood at the kitchen counter and quickly made her shopping list.
Maggie showed up panting, with rumpled hair. Sophie knew that Maggie's parents were out of town and the high school senior was rumored to have a boyfriend against her parents' wishes. She had young love once, before kids and work and life got in the way. She reminded Maggie to leave the boyfriend at home and advised that she would be home in a couple of hours, hopefully before the twins woke up from their nap.
Sophie waived to her friend Melanie and they headed into the grocery store for their weekly adult chat time. They both had sitters so they could shop in peace and used the hour to catch up on gossip and compare notes on their kids. Melanie's son was two and was great at giving Sophie helpful tips for her four month old twin girls.
Mrs. Baker, with her eight month old son Alex spotted the women picking out bananas and headed their way. Alex, busy cutting teeth, was crying for all he was worth and Mandy couldn't console him.
Sophie silently swore and excused herself to go to the ladies' room. Alex's crying had caused her hyper productive breast to swell painfully with milk. The restroom was empty when Sophie went into the large stall at the end of the room and sat on the closed toilet seat lid. She opened the front of her baby doll top and unsnapped the closure of her nursing bra.
"Sophie, are you in here?" Melanie called.
"I'm in the last stall. I'll be out in a few minutes," she called back.