It was 11:30 at night and Abigail was frustrated. At 37, her second child was nothing like the dream the first one was. He woke up several times, feeding him was hard as he didn't latch and she was overproducing. She sat there in the dimly lit living room, trying hard to get the breast pump to work. She fumbled with the device, unplugged it and then plugged it back to no avail.
"God..." she said to herself, developing a little bit of sweat on her forehead as her luck didn't change. There was a little 'whirr' once which made her eyes light up and then it died again.
She settled back into her oversized chair, pulled out her phone, tied her hair up into a bun and googled 'breast pump not working'. There were several articles that came up and a few videos. She was looking for a silver bullet and there wasn't any. She swallowed, letting out a half moan as she felt her breasts full and needing to be emptied. The tired mother raised her arms, anxiety driving her actions. Her faded gray sleeveless tee rose with her arms, showing the glimpse of her belly and the white pyjama shorts she had on. She licked her lips nervously and fiddled with the pump again. Her hands were now clammy, making it slip all around. "Fuck!" she growled and hit the bottom of the pump with her palm once and then again. She looked up at the shadow and it was Jillian.
The skinny au pair was dressed down, the short pink t shirt she had on was crumpled and barely came down to her waist, the bottom of her white panties visible.
"You ok, Abi?" the young blonde asked, giving her a look that was a mix of concern and being bemused at her predicament.
"This..." Abigail replied, looking down at the breast pump she held in her hand, a forlorn expression on her own face. "It doesn't work!"
"The breast pump?" Jillian asked and got down on one knee, to inspect, taking it from Abigail. With her tee now bunched around her waist, she tried the exact same things that had just been unsuccessful and looked up, with a puzzled expression, met with the anxious look from Abigail.
"Did you google it?" Jillian asked, her tone slightly sarcastic.
The response from Abigail was a glare and a sharp "Yes!"
Abigail was a sweet woman, a yes person, a people person and this wasn't typical for her.