8. 8
8
I shouldn’t have to give my young child melatonin in order for her to sleep. It’s cruel of you to think I should just so you can carry on with your noise pollution.
I quickly run out the front door so I can tape the note up before Dahlia comes out behind me and asks what I’m doing. I barely have time to step away before she appears in the doorway, ready to go.
“Did you want to bring your backpack?” I ask her before I move to pull our front door closed.
She goes through phases, gets attached to certain objects, and lately it’s been a little purple backpack purse that she picked out at the mall.
“My backpack!” she yells, flabbergasted that she could’ve possibly forgotten it.
“Go grab it, bug. I’m not going to leave without you.” I give her a reassuring smile, and she rushes past me to retrieve it.
I listen as she talks to herself, trying to pinpoint the location she last saw it. Toys are thrown around, that much is also obvious. That’ll be a fun group effort to clean up later.
She announces when she finds it, running back out to me with the most victorious grin on her face, and holding the straps up in one hand.
“Do you have everything you need now?” I ask.
“I think so,” she says, and turns to head for the car.
“Dahlia Anne, do not go down those stairs without holding my hand.”
“I wasn’t! I was going to wait right here.”
She stands by the railing right before the stairs and does one little hop to show me that it’s exactly where she was going to wait.
There’s a fifty-fifty chance that’s true.
I lock my front door, and then I check my little table to grab the travel cup I inevitably sat down there. It’s a windy day today, and I don’t want to admit how many cups I’ve set on that table and never saw again. Today’s choice is a glass tumbler with cute little mushroom design, and I’d be devastated if it was knocked over and shattered.
As I turn with my cup in hand, ready to grab Dahlia’s hand with my other, I see a small flash of movement. The black curtains in the next door apartment are swaying as if they’d been pushed aside and then dropped.
So, she’s curious about me. That’s good to know.
I pick up Sunny and Rainy from my parents house, along with their minivan. We could technically fit in my car just fine, but it wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable.
Dahlia giggles and squeals the whole time. Either because one of the dogs is licking her face, drooling on her, or sticking their butt in her face when they turn to put their heads out the window.
It’s fun to listen to, and I smile to myself the whole way there. It doesn’t mean that I would ever get a dog of my own, because this could easily become too much with their high energy every day. I know myself, I’d be overstimulated and cranky after a few hours of it.
It also doesn’t mean I love these two any less.
The excitement in the van increases when we pull up to Autumn and Miles’ house. It’s like Sunny and Rainy know what waits for them despite never being here before. But Dahlia, she knows exactly where we are. She’s clapping her hands excitedly when I open the side door to let everyone out.
“Are you excited to see Mimi and Eli today?”
The exaggerated scream she lets out is a sharp pain in my ears. It even startles the dogs, and they freeze to assess any nearby danger. I stroke Sunny’s back to calm her down.
“Oof, sweet girl. That volume was not necessary.”
“Yes it was! Mimi!” she yells. “Mimi! Mimi!”
The way she loves Amira, Vic’s oldest, warms my heart.
“I know, I know!” I tell her.
I leash the dogs, just to get them inside without worrying they’ll run off.
“Can you get your seatbelt?” I ask her.
I’ve never seen her unclip the thing so fast before.
“Alright, let’s go have some fun!”
It’s still winter, and the wind is chilly, but I’m just glad it’s not raining. Today is the nicest weather we’ll probably have for a couple more months, so it’s a good thing we’re soaking it up while we can.
“Dahlia!” Autumn smiles wide when she opens her door, and my girl runs up to hug her.
I put a hand on her shoulder to decrease her momentum.
“Careful,” I say. When they do collide, it’s not as concerning as it would’ve been. Autumn doesn’t even flinch.
Freddy barks from behind her, and I see him in Miles’ arms, eager to get down and find out what all the fuss is about.
We step inside, and I guide my two animals towards the back yard.
“You do not want me to let them loose in here. You guys have too many expensive decorations.”
The three dogs are set free, and they immediately run around and jump all over each other. Miles hangs back out there to throw them tennis balls, and the rest of us head inside where it’s warmer.
“Where’s Mimi?” Dahlia asks with a pout.
“She’s going to be here any second, her mama just called me from the car,” Autumn explains.
She claps her hands some more, and runs over to the toy kitchen in the corner of the room. They keep lots of toys around for whenever they babysit Miles’ niece and nephew. I think it’s the sweetest thing, considering that only happens once or twice a month.
Autumn and I catch up for a couple minutes, talking about work and how she’s feeling. The answer is very, very pregnant, and sore, and tired, unfortunately. Miles has been working less to be there for her when she needs, which I’m grateful for. He gets a hundred extra points. It’s more than I usually give out at a time, but Autumn is worth a million. Anyone that treats her the way she deserves is pretty high in my ranking.
I make a note to come over more often and check on her these next few months. The more support, the merrier, and I don’t have so much going on in my life that I can’t make time to do that.
There’s a lot of screaming, jumping, laughing, and hugging when Vic’s family walks in. Her husband greets us all with a polite smile and a nod, and then Autumn points to the backdoor. He goes for it quickly, leaving the girls to their chaos. He and Miles were fast friends, which is extremely convenient for us on days like today.
It’s too bad for them that I won’t be adding a third guy to their little group someday.
Dahlia drags them over to said kitchen to show them how to properly cook chicken apparently, and they both watch her with rapt attention as she adds a plastic bottle of ketchup straight into the plastic frying pan.
I hug Vic, and give her a quick peck on the cheek. She pulls on a strand of my hair.
“Girl, I swear this is even longer than it was the other week. Who are you?”
“I don’t know, but I really like it.”
“So do I,” Autumn adds. “You have the prettiest curls.”
“We all know you have a thing for curly hair,” I tell her and I swear she blushes.
It’s not news anymore!
Gosh, she’s cute.
I look at Vic and laugh, but I notice something that shuts me up.
At least for a second.
“ Victoria ! Are those hickeys?” I gasp.
Then all three of us glance over at the children to make sure none of them heard me. I could have thought that one through before saying it so loudly. Oops.
“I’m a married woman, don’t act so scandalized.” She pulls up her shirt to hide the purple marks above her breasts. “My parents had the kids last night and we used our time wisely.”
“Wise would’ve been making those a little further down, you know? Was he expecting you to wear nothing but turtlenecks for a while?”
She laughs, and we follow her to sit down at the barstools in the kitchen. There are snacks laid out for everyone, and a box of Pepsi.
Have I mentioned how much I love Autumn?
I help myself as I listen to the other two continue chatting.
“You might be right, there wasn’t much wisdom involved. My legs are so sore today, I can barely walk. I should’ve thought that one through a little better.”
“Good for you guys,” Autumn says. “Glad you’re still able to find the time.”
“And you? How watered is your garden?” Vic asks.
There she goes blushing again, being all sweet and shy about it. She’s not a prude by any means, but Vic and I are definitely the vocal ones in this group.
“Very. I thought…” She clears her throat. “I thought that a lot less would be possible at this stage, but he’s very creative.”
I sip on my soda loudly.
“And very generous,” she adds.
“I need to get laid,” I whisper, thinking out loud.
“Oh! Speaking of, you never told me how it went with the bartender.”
“Bartender?” Autumn asks.
Vic looks at her as she pats me on the shoulder.
“ Pinky over here had her tongue down her throat when I left for the night.”
I hide behind the can of soda.
“First of all, do not call me that ever again. It was painful, and I was dying to correct her. Second, I don’t do any tongue shoving in public.” I sip my drink. “We waited until we got into the Uber for that.”
They burst out laughing.
Our day goes on with more of that. There are a couple meltdowns amongst the children, either because someone doesn’t want to share something, or because they’re hungry and upset they can’t eat the plastic cake. Eli tried. It went as well as one would think.
The men come inside, and I pray that the dogs have let out enough of their energy when they follow. I would feel so bad if they were at fault for knocking something over or chewing on something they shouldn’t.
Miles starts an early dinner for all of us, and while I wasn’t planning on staying to eat, I can’t say no to free food. I’m especially not going to turn down tacos, when the spread of toppings is being laid out and the entire house smells like seasoned meat. It’s heaven.
And Miles is a good cook.
“This is one of the last times we’ll all be together without an extra person,” Vic says. “There’s my baby shower, and then…” she trails off, but we get what she means.
It hits me like a truck that she’s right. In one month, she’ll have Angeline. In three, Autumn will have her baby boy. Our chosen families just keep getting bigger.
“I love all of you so much,” Autumn says, her voice full of emotion.
“I love you too, babe.”
We all take turns with hugs, and saying goodbye. The kids are impatient and tired, so it’s rushed, but it’s also really special.
Everything’s about to change.
The green Subaru isn’t in the parking lot when I get off work, which I think means that monster of a woman won’t be home tonight. I breathe out a sigh of relief, and hope I’m not getting my hopes up for nothing. It’s already ten, and the last time she was gone at this hour, I got to sleep through the night.
I carry Dahlia up the steps, even though it is a struggle the entire time. She’s getting too big for this. I try not to think too much about that, or I’m going to get even more emotional. I think there’s been enough of it tonight.
There’s a response on my door. Shocker.
I pull it off without reading it, and focus on unlocking the door. Dahlia is so tired she can barely keep her eyes open.
“More mail?” she asks. I don't know how she even noticed, but I nod.
“Nothing important,” I say. “Can you go brush your teeth, and I’ll be there in a minute?”
She nods and I set her on her feet, making sure she’s steady before letting go. She sluggishly heads towards the bathroom, and I quietly chuckle to myself about how much she reminds me of me.
I didn’t know you had a kid.
I flip the note over, confused. There’s nothing else, just the one sentence.
What does that mean?
I can’t read the tone on this piece of paper. It’s not even a piece of paper, it’s a purple sticky note. Surely this isn’t an attempt to start a conversation. Or apologize? I mean, it’s definitely not an apology, but…
I'm probably thinking about it a little too hard. She just didn’t know I had a kid. That’s all.
Ugh , there could be so many reasons she wrote that. How am I supposed to respond when I don’t know?
I have no choice but to sit on it. I’m too tired after the long day we had to figure it out.