Chapter 7 #2
“Bay-Bay, huh?” He kind of liked it. He rubbed their noses together.
“Bay-Bay!” Her laughter made him feel ten feet tall.
He hugged her close. She smelled like sand and baby. “What were you building in the sand?” he asked her.
“House.” She beamed at him, so pleased with herself.
“Well look at that, so it is. Is this our house? Do we all live here?” This was such a different life than what he was used to. Not bad, but different like whoa.
“Uh-huh, you and me and sisters and brothers and Petey, all of us, a fambly.”
He wasn’t sure if it was amazing that she was recovering so quickly or devastating that she didn’t remember her mom and dad.
He figured it was probably best to look at it on the good side. This was easier on her than it was Belle, that was for sure, and he wouldn’t wish the pain of loss on any of them.
His stomach growled loudly, and Merida’s eyes went wide. “Bay-Bay!”
“I’m hungry, baby girl.”
“Itz-a, itz-a, itz-a! Petey, bring the itz-a!”
“It’s coming, baby girl. It takes a little while to cook.” Pete rolled his eyes and shook his head, but his smile was warm and fond. “It’s all right, it’s gonna be soon. Soon, soon, soon.”
“I’ll be okay, the monster in my tummy won’t eat me,” he promised her.
Her eyes went wide, “A monster? In you’s tummy?” She poked him. “Lemme see.”
“You can’t see it, you can only hear it.” As if on cue, his belly growled again.
Her lips dropped open. She squealed, clapping, and then leaned down to put her ear against his belly. “Monster? Monster, I hear!”
Oh god what if it didn’t growl again? She was going to be disappointed. So he picked up a trick from when he was a kid, swallowing as much air as he could. The resulting belch was loud, like really.
Her eyes went wide and she gasped, “Wow!”
“I know, right!” He was as surprised as she was; he hadn’t expected that to work quite as well as it had.
She giggled at him, then she wiggled down. “I make monster a house.”
“That’s very kind of you, but doesn’t he already have a house in my tummy?”
“Tummies not houses. Tummies don’t have winnows.”
Pete was cackling now.
“Tummies have belly buttons,” he countered, giving Pete a glare.
“I had babby butt too!” Merida yanked up her shirt.
Babby butt… He had to bite his lip to not burst out laughing at that. “Belly button,” he said slowly.
She nodded and patted her tummy. “Babby butt-bun!”
He supposed that would be close enough for now.
The doorbell went off, announcing the arrival of their pizzas.
“I’ll grab them. Be right back.”
Now he was alone with four children. For the first time. He’d somehow managed to avoid being alone with all of them before.
It wasn’t going to be for long, though, right? Pete would be back in a minute. He could do this for a minute. What could go wrong in a minute?
Belle popped off of her swing. “Is the pizza here? Was that what that was? Are you excited?”
“I’m very excited. I’m soooo hungry and can’t wait to eat. Are you excited? Is pizza a good food?” He was learning that the things he didn’t know about kids, and these kids in particular, was monumental.
“Pizza is the best!”
“Nuh-uh, tacos is the best,” Eric argued. “But pizza is good.”
“Itz-a yum!” Merida added in.
“Pizza is yum. Eric is right. though, so are tacos.”
“And murmurs!”
His eyes went wide, and Belle whispered. “Hamburgers.”
“How about chicken fingers?” he asked Merida. “Are those good, too?” Everyone loved fast food, it seemed.
“And sketties!”
Belle nodded, “Oh yeah, Psghetti and meatballs? Yum-o! With garlic bread that has cheese.”
“I like my garlic bread without cheese,” Bay admitted. He liked cheese, and he liked garlic. He wasn’t sure the two belonged that closely together.
“I’ll take the cheese from yours,” Belle said. “No problem.”
“It’s a deal.”
“What’s a deal?” Pete asked, returning with boxes of pizza.
“If we have cheesy garlic bread Belle will eat my cheesy parts.”
“Oh, well that’s a great deal. I’m glad that you all worked that out.” Pete grinned at them both, but the words were, while amused, not in the slightest bit mean.
“Picnic table or our laps?” Frankly, the tiredness was beginning to catch up with him, and Bay didn’t really want to have to move. That would involve getting up.
“I brought some paper plates. I think maybe all the kids should get out on the table, and then you can just stay where you are. Fair?”
“Not having to move sounds amazing to me,” he admitted.
Pete pulled over one of the little tables and put the pizza on top. Handed him a beer and a paper plate. “I’m gonna get the kids settled, and then I’ll come and sit in between everyone.”
“You sure that’s okay? I could move my ass—ets over to the picnic table.” He was just being a lazy slob.
“You sit, you’ve been working hard.” Pete actually touched his shoulder and electricity shot through him.
Whoa. He blinked and resisted touching the spot Pete had touched. Was he really that tired he was thinking stupid thoughts?
He accepted his plate with a couple pieces of pizza on it with a quiet, “thanks,” and took a bite.
The pizza was amazing. The beer was better. And the fact that everyone was eating and laughing and talking was kind of amazing, too.
He finished his two pieces, and his beer around the same time, and just sat there, letting the sounds flow around him, feeling… tired, sure, but also at home.
It was warm. Everybody was happy. He had fully expected to walk into a nightmare, and somehow, it was fine.
He thought just maybe he could get used to this.
Peter smiled over at him and he smiled back and nodded. And yeah, he definitely could.