Tuesday Night Later
The adults are drunk, which means Becker and I have to get the kids ready for bed. The adults are asleep... probably... I won't think about it... in each of their rooms, and Becker is with Weston, getting him into pjs. I am helping Laura brush her few teeth and her thin blonde hair.
"So are you married yet?" She giggles at me in the mirror.
"I won't be married for a long time." I'm still fully dressed up, unlike Laura in her Sophia the First purple pjs, and I think to myself that I look really pretty.
"Me too," Laura grins, "maybe we can get married at the same time."
"When do you plan on getting married?" I ask her as I brush her hair back.
"When I'm 25," she grins.
"I'll be 38 when you're 25," I laugh.
"Yeah, but you won't be married," she giggles at her cruel joke, and I lift her up off of her step stool.
"Maybe I will be," I say to her as I set her down on the tile floor.
"Are you going to marry Emmett?" she asks me as she reaches for my hand. I glance quickly to the staircase. Emmett is only one floor lower, and I can faintly hear him whispering to Weston as he tucks him into bed.
"It's bed time," I tug her little hand and we walk down the stairs to her pull-out bed.
Becker is sitting on the bed next to Weston, and they're chatting about dinosaurs. Laura lets go of my hand and runs at Emmett who lifts her up and plops her down in the bed next to Weston.
"You're my favorite baby sitter," she whispers loudly in Becker's ear, "and that," she points at me, "is my second favorite babysitter." Then, she giggles as if that seals some sort of a deal, before climbing under the covers and loudly declaring, "goodnight!"
Becker and I glance at each other suspiciously and then stand. Becker clicks off the lamp next to the bed. We both walk downstairs, still fully dressed.
"It's only 8:30," I said as we crash on the three seater in front of the tv.
"Wanna watch Midsomer Murders and make ice cream sundaes?" Becker asks as he pulls a DVD set from under the couch.
"Where did you find that?" I chuckle.
"It was under the tv set," he points to the tv stand's wood drawers.
"Then why was it under the couch?" I giggle.
"Is that a no?" He mocks putting the DVD set back under the couch.
"No," I laughed as I stood, "I mean yes, it's a yes. Just let me change real quick."
"Wait," he says standing too. He walks over to me, slowly, and reaches up to my ear. I feel the warmth of his hand in my hair as he... grabs something and pulls away. "A leaf," he smiles and hands it to me.
"How long was that there!" I exclaim.
"I just now noticed it," he laughs stepping back. He looks me up and down. "That dress, Trisha... it's... you are just. Even without the dress... No wait I don't mean as in no dress! I don't. Not that I am imagining you without the dress on... I," he flushes crimson.
I burst out laughing. "I'm starting to think the reputation that proceeded you was just made up of your miscommunications when trying to compliment women."
"This doesn't happen to me with most women," he smirks, "just the pretty, freckled ones."
As his blush fades, mine comes roaring in. "Thank you," I whisper. "I'm going to go slip into something more comfortable," I wink at him, turn around, and run up the stairs. I hear him laughing as I leave.
YOU ARE READING
Ski Lodge
General Fiction"Out of all the emotions I expected to feel after throwing someone into the snow, regret was not the one I imagined would be the strongest." When three neighboring families go on a ski vacation together, eldest children Emmett Becker and Trisha Phil...
