17. Callie
Callie
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6TH
I t’s wrong to lust after a man when his kid is in the room, right?
Don’t answer that.
In all honestly, his kid is probably more incredible than he is. I felt like a big sister, listening to her gossip about school, then tell me about each of her Squishmallow pillows. When we talked about the rhinestone designs she always has on, she told me they make her feel more confident. So, of course, I had to ask her if she could decorate my face as well. While she painstakingly placed every gem, we discussed how individual makeup can be…how it can be fun…how it can be like an armor. Lexie is still twelve in a lot of ways, but in others, I think she’s wise well beyond her years.
I know Finn is trying his damndest right now to figure out how I got her to try the pizza she clearly had no interest in touching when he left.
I don’t think I have the heart to tell him that all I did was ask her to.
“Don’t spill anything, Miss Callie. You’re in Dad’s bed right now and he gets pissed if there’s crumbs.”
“Alexis, seriously?” Finn scolds around a mouthful of pizza.
“What? You do!”
“Yes, I do! But you know you’re not supposed to swear. You also don’t need to tell everyone who comes over here that I sleep on the pull-out sofa.”
The red is rising in Finn’s cheeks, but I can’t tell if it’s from being flustered that his daughter was cursing or that I’m sitting in his bed right now.
Oh snap, I’m sitting in his bed right now! That actually makes the red rise in my cheeks a little. Quick! Divert!
“Uh, I, um…”
Brilliant strategy, Napoleon.
“Who’s everyone?” Lexie asks. “Miss Callie’s the only one who’s been over, except for Uncle Jonah and Aunt Delilah.”
Finn hangs his head.
“I promise I won’t spill,” I force a chuckle. “I’m used to having a ferret on scrap patrol, so I have to be really careful at home.”
“Oh! Dad! Can we get a ferret?”
Middle schoolers are prone to inflicting conversational whiplash. It’s science.
“Are you serious right now?” Finn may never let me back over.
“Miss Callie was showing me pictures of Fettuccini and he is so cute ! Have you seen him?”
The poor man can’t even formulate a sentence at this point, so I bail him out. “Why don’t you come hang out with Fettuccini a few times first? Ferrets are a lot of work, even though they’re super cute. You might find you’re happier just visiting one instead of adopting one.”
“Yes,” Finn exhales loudly. “That. What she said.”
Lexie shrugs and takes a bite of pizza. “Okay, that sounds cool. When can I come by?”
“We’ll figure something out,” I laugh. Then, after a beat, “So what kind of physical therapy torture are you gonna put me through, Doc? Or, wait, is it Doc? Coach? Doctor Coach?”
“Finn is just fine, thanks,” he says.
“Boring,” Lexie mumbles, mimicking her dad’s earlier comment on her pizza choice.
Finn ignores her and looks up at the ceiling in thought while he finishes chewing. “We’ll start out slow,” he explains. “Probably some deep lunges.”
I almost drop my plate (and what a disaster that would have been, amIright?). His face is stone cold serious. “Deep lunges? Are you…that doesn’t sound right.”
“No, he’s right,” Lexie pipes up. “Probably some squats, too, right, Dad? With the weighted bar thingee?”
“Absolutely. Good idea, Lex. We’ll wrap it up with some burpees and a brisk walk around the town.”
They’re messing with me. They’re messing with me and I’m embarrassed that it took me a beat to pick up on it.
“Ha ha,” I mock. “You two are hilarious. Once my ankle is healed, I’m gonna high kick you both out of town.”
“Ms. Longspur will save us,” Lexie grins. “She says I’m her star photographer.”
I relent. “Piper Longspur is pretty formidable. I guess I’ll have to wait until summer to high kick you out of town.”
“Dad, that reminds me! Can I go to Hazel’s for a sleepover tonight?”
“How does that remind you of a sleepover? And I don’t even know who Hazel is.”
Lexie’s eyes roll. “Oh my god, Dad, she’s on the school paper with me, I told you that like a thousand times.”
“Okay, fine, but I know nothing about Hazel or her parents, so no, I’m not sending you to a sleepover there tonight.”
“Miss Callie knows her!”
All eyes turn to me and I don’t want to let Lexie down, but I have zero clue who this Hazel kid is. “I…uh, I do?”
Lexie nods vigorously. “Yeah, her sister is in your class. Annika.”
Now Annika, I know very well. Because she hasn’t stopped talking to me since Back to School Night. “Ah, yes. I don’t know Hazel, but I’ve met their parents. Really nice people. I think they run the insurance agency across town.”
“See? It’s fine! Please, Dad?”
Finn looks at me, almost like he’s deferring to my judgment, before he turns to Lexie. “If Hazel’s parents don’t mind you coming over for a little bit, that’s fine. But no sleepover, and the mom or the dad has to call me to talk to me first.”
Lexie must know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em because she doesn’t protest like I expect her to. “Okay,” she says, shoveling the last of her pizza into her mouth. “I’ll go call her now.”