39. Ellie
Chapter thirty-nine
Ellie
“Huntie!” I call out in search of my friend.
No, my best friend, now that Asher says he won’t play.
I’ve been playing “superhero battle fight” in the fort all day with Asher and Wyatt.
Wyatt had to go to the dentist, but Asher should have said yes to playing house with me and Rosie.
It’s only fair! And there needs to be a daddy.
I don’t want to have to do all the work.
Hunter walks into his living room where me and Rosie are sitting on the Dawsons’ fluffy flower couch. I’m holding my favorite baby doll. She has the prettiest rainbow ruffled dress.
“Will you play house with us?” I ask.
He doesn’t really look happy about this idea, but he’s so nice and always plays with me when I ask. And shares his snacks if his are better than mine. He knows how much I love Goldfish.
“It will be fun, I promise,” I add, just in case. “You can be the dad.”
“Alright. I’ll play. But I can’t play forever. I got other things I wanna do today.”
“Things better than playing house?”
He shrugs. “Yeah.”
“You don’t really want to play house, do you?” I look down as tears start to fill my eyes. I drag my toes through the thick brown carpet. I’m done playing all this fighting junk with the boys. I’ll just wait for Rosie to get a little bigger.
Hunter steps closer. “I do. You’ll just have to tell me what to do.”
I push my tears away with my hand and smile my best smile. “Okay.”
I lay the babydoll on the couch near Rosie, then lay on top of it.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to lay on top of babies,” Hunter says with a laugh.
“Hang on. I’m doing what I’m supposta do.”
It’s hard work, but I reach forward and pull the baby out from beneath me. “Hunter! It’s our baby! She’s adorbable!”
“What just happened?” Hunter asks.
“I saw one of mommy’s shows,” I whisper, because this is not part of our playing. “And a baby came out of the lady’s private area. I asked mommy about it after she caught me watching, and she said that’s where babies come out.”
“That’s weird.”
“Yeah. And that woman was screaming a lot … I should do it again and scream!”
“Nah. The baby’s already here. We should just keep going.”
“Okay. You name the baby. She has dark hair just like you.”
“Oh, so it’s a girl?” he asks.
Did he not notice her dress? I nod and hand the baby to Hunter. He holds her carefully like she’s real. I’m glad Asher didn’t want to play. He woulda dropped the baby for sure.
“Let’s call her Ellie Junior,” Hunter suggests.
“Huntie. Eww,” I whisper. “That’s awful. Try again.”
“Okay.” He thinks for a minute. “How about April? There’s a nice girl in my class named April.”
“That’s perfect. April.” I lean in and look at April, then up at Hunter. “Do you want to give her a bottle? Then you can go to work. I’ll stay here with Rosie and April. Then you come back in a few minutes. You could bring us home a pizza for supper!”
“Okay.”
I hand Hunter a bottle, and he sits on the couch with the baby. Rosie and I watch him so he does it right.
“The bottle’s empty,” he says a minute later. “I guess I’ll go to work.”
“Okay.” Then, in a whisper, I add, “You should hug everyone goodbye.”
Hunter stands. “Bye April.” Then he hands her to me and hugs Rosie. “Bye, Rosie.”
Rosie pulls out her pappy so she can talk. “Bye-bye, Hunner.”
“Bye, Ellie.” He hugs me. “I’ll be home after work, and I’ll bring a pizza.”
“You could kiss my cheek. My dad always kisses my mom when he leaves.”
He scrunches up his face. “Maybe we’re just a hugging family.” He heads toward the stairs.
“He also kisses her when he gets back,” I call after him. I like for things to be right.
“Bye, family. I’ll see you later,” he calls over his shoulder as he flies up the stairs.
I picked a good husband.