7. Hayes
HAYES
My heart is beating fast as Elodie leans down and, with careful fingers, unbuttons Lola’s coat.
They’re in my hallway to join me for the afternoon.
Spending time with Lola is important, and Elodie agrees, but I also sense she wants to inspect where our daughter will be spending some of her time.
Lola, with part of her hair up in a ponytail on the top of her head, glances up at me with curiosity as Elodie unclasps the last button.
Lola timidly stares at me. That’s a promising start.
Elodie slowly stands up, and the air thickens between us. The situation is delicate.
“Come on. I’ll show you around.” I wave to them to follow me.
Elodie takes Lola’s hand. They trail into the large, open living room. The ceilings are high, and the windows stretch from floor to ceiling. It makes the place seem bright.
I hear Elodie begin to chuckle, and I glance at her.
“Brave. A cream-colored sofa. You clearly haven’t spent much time around kids.”
I scratch the back of my head, realizing my error. “No snacks on the couch then,” I say, already picturing crumbs on the cushions.
Elodie continues to beam as she shakes her head back and forth. “Wrong answer. How will she enter a daze of watching cartoons while snacking? It’s your moment of silence to regain your sanity.”
Grinning, I appreciate her lighthearted judgment. "Speaking of snacks, would you like one after the tour?"
Lola appears shy yet smiles as she clasps Elodie’s hand. Snack is apparently a trigger word.
I crouch down to her level. She snuggles onto Elodie’s leg. “I have a banana, crackers, yogurt pouches, and grapes.” At Elodie's soft throat-clearing, I glance up. "Cut in half, of course." Her smile returns.
“Cookie?” Lola’s eyes light up.
I remember what Elodie told me once about Lola's favorite foods. “Blueberry bagels.”
She stares up at Elodie with a wide smile. Standing, I’ve achieved a step in winning her over, and I grin proudly.
“The way to her heart,” Elodie casually mentions.
Inside, I beg a higher power that it’s true.
I continue to walk, and they follow behind me. Elodie pauses to set Lola’s little backpack down on the side table along the wall. I’m not entirely sure what the contents are, but I’ll assume something to play with.
But it’s not needed. “I have toys,” I blurt out. “You didn’t need to bring any.”
“Oh? Okay.” Elodie continues to smile.
I head straight to the built-in shelves near the television and open the bottom cupboard to reveal toys.
It doesn’t take long to hear little feet running toward me, and when I see Lola’s expression, then I believe all humans in the room are absent to her.
Elodie stands next to me, watching the scene unfold.
Lola is quick to check out the new boxes of toys: crayons and coloring books catch her attention first. She also explores Play-Doh, wood puzzles, toy animals, and whatever else my assistant crammed in there.
“Wow, okay. That’s a success,” I remark as Lola already drags out a puzzle.
“Lola, ask first,” Elodie reminds her. I’m thankful that Elodie is raising Lola to be kind and have manners.
Little blue eyes look up at me. “Puzzles now?”
“Please,” Elodie whispers.
“Please,” Lola adds.
My grin grows to the extreme. “Of course. Play away.”
She flops down onto her bottom and gets to work.
We both watch her ignore the world around her, and I feel Elodie bump into my arm. “Nice play, Hayes. Snacks and toys.”
“Yeah? Thanks.” We glance at one another, and I’m grateful that in terms of our daughter, we are more and more on the same page. “I can show you the rest of the place.”
“Depends on how big this place is. I don’t want to leave her alone. Safety, a new place, and all. It takes two seconds for her curiosity to turn into an adventure.”
I didn’t think about that. “You can have a wander if you want. I can stay with her.”
Elodie’s eyes blaze open. “Really? Just letting me loose to explore?” She seems surprised.
I shrug. “Why not? You’re going to be here a lot.”
“Logical.” Her mouth slides back and forth, and she considers as she studies Lola for a long second. “Okay. But let’s take a few minutes for her to get used to you.”
I nod in agreement, and for the next ten minutes, we all play on the floor with Elodie next to me. Elodie gives me a glance as the cue that she is going to escape.
“Have fun.” I touch her shoulder.
“I’ll be right back, Lola. I’m just down the hall. You okay with that?” Lola nods as she continues her quest of discovering the toys.
I can’t help noticing how Elodie flutters her eyelashes, still trying to adjust to all of this, but after a few seconds, she walks away.
For the next few minutes, Lola and I break out the small wooden train set.
Admittedly, that was a selfish purchase I asked my assistant to arrange.
I loved having a train when I was a kid.
My dad and I would spend hours playing together.
It's a fond memory. Even as an adult, when I walk by toy stores and see one in the window, I always stop to peek.
Now it's a reminder to me how I want to be a hands-on father like my own was.
I want to share the experience with Lola who is clearly a pink princess and unicorn girl, but maybe I can win her over with the train.
My daughter’s shyness remained but eased by the minute, and we still managed to play together on the floor. I’ve learned her favorite sentence is “train go,” and she’s excellent at sharing.
I barely hear Elodie return to the living room, but the feeling of eyes on me weighs heavily, and when I look up, I see that she is watching us with a peculiar look. She’s calm but lost in thought.
“How is it?” I ask.
“You two seem to be best friends.” She avoids answering. “I was just admiring you two for a second.”
Handing Lola the caboose piece, I stand up and lightly touch Elodie’s elbow, guiding her to step a few feet away from our daughter. “We seem to be getting along. I’m relieved,” I say.
"You gave her a palace." Her voice is monotoned. I lift a brow, trying to catch up. "You set up her bedroom. It has a tent with stars, a library of books, a bed, a crib, and a sofa. I’m very confident her closet is well-stocked. Did I mention the giant stuffed bunny on a rocking horse?"
Is she angry? I can’t for the life of me read her right now. “Is it a bad thing…?” My voice drags.
The beautiful smile of hers begins to draw on her face. “It’s overboard, but it’s… perfect.”
I pretend to wipe my forehead. “Phew, you had me worried there.”
“I’m not sure she’ll ever want to live at my place again,” she says. Her sarcasm fades; the undermining hits too hard. Soon, Lola will split time. The idea of all of us living together is an event in itself, if it happens.
“I remember you mentioned that she is soon moving out of a crib to a bed. Oh, and there’s the guest room.
The sofa in Lola’s room also turns into a bed if you want to stay.
” She smiles in appreciation. It gives me the sign that I can make her laugh or test the waters.
“Also, my room. In case you didn’t check it out.
Did you check it out?” I tease her, but I'm aware that I'm digging for clues to where her mind is when it comes to the two of us on a romantic level.
She shoves me as she grins. “Don’t. Don’t drag us there.” She rolls one shoulder back and avoids looking at me. “But maybe I did take a peek,” she mumbles.
“Oh yeah?” I smirk cheekily.
“I should see everywhere in the home where Lola will be. Inspection and all.”
“Sure,” I pretend to believe her.
We both return our focus to our daughter, who seems content. “We won’t show her the room yet, okay? Small steps.”
“I get that.” I comply because we do see eye to eye on some things.
“And how in the world did you arrange all of this?”
“My assistant.”
The way Elodie hums sounds like suspicion to some, but she works at the same company and knows who my assistant is. “They gave you the assistant who’s married with a kid in college, right?” she asks, double-checking.
Smirking to myself, I enjoy hearing her maybe having a little moment of jealousy. “Yep. Why? Would it be a problem if I had someone else?” I’m riling her. It’s easy to do, we have banter.
“Of course not.” She sounds unconvincing.
“Sure. Anyhow, should we head to the kitchen?”
“Bagels!” Lola shoots up, clearly having heard a trigger word that is apparently “kitchen.”
Elodie and I look at one another and just laugh.
After eating, Lola fell asleep on the opposite sofa, curled up under the knitted blanket Elodie brought and with her two stuffed bunnies tucked under her arms. Elodie and I sit on the other sofa, talking quietly and holding glasses of wine.
The blanket intrigues me, though I’m unsure why. “It’s a beautiful blanket. Did your mom knit it?”
She smiles shyly. “This is where you are going to discover that I am such a nerd who deals with numbers and has a hobby of knitting.” She buries her face in her hands as though she’s embarrassed yet finds it funny.
My eyes grow, and my grin hurts as I learn the fact. “I am trying to imagine you just sitting there and stitching away. I wasn't expecting this to be your thing.”
“Well, you have swimming, and I have knitting.
I haven't had time lately, but when I was pregnant, there were days when I didn't want to get out of bed, and I was bored. Figured I would make something for my dau—” She stops herself and smacks her lips together.
“Our daughter, I mean,” she corrects herself.
It's going to take a while for her to get it into her head that she now shares parenthood.
“She’ll cherish it forever. I had a quilt growing up from my grandma, it’s probably still in a box somewhere.”