"Are you ready?" Amelié asked.
"We don't want to be late." Louis said. "Why do you girls take an age to get ready?"
"I'm ready!" I said, clattering down the stairs. "It's these new heels."
"Why are you wearing them, then?" Louis asked.
"They look good."
"When did you get heels anyway? When did we let her wear heels?" He asked Amelié.
"For her birthday." Amelié asked.
"We never talked about this." He frowned.
"Yes we did." Amelié wasn't paying attention, she was checking the Hugo's diaper. "Do we have enough baby wipes?"
"Yes mon amour. They're in the bag." Louis said. "And stop trying to distract me. She's just a little girl she doesn't need to wear heels."
"She asked for them. She's fifteen."
"Exactly. What does she need to be taller for?"
"They're only little heels, Papa." I said.
"That's how it starts!" He cried. "First heels, then hair and then hormones. They take our little girls over day by day until you don't recognise them anymore." He turned back to Amelié. "We never talked about this."
"We did. Last month."
"Did you talk to me when I was asleep?"
"No. I gave you a chance to respond." She said. "You were watching football."
"Of course." He muttered. "She doesn't need to wear heels. She's too young."
"They're kitten heels. They barely count." She dismissed.
"I can't find my purse." Max called.
Louis pretended to bang his head against the wall in frustration.
"It's upstairs on your bed." I said. "Hurry."
I reached my arms out for Hugo and Amelié handed him over gratefully.
"Bonjour, mon beau." I whispered.
He giggled and blew raspberries.
"Is your sister taking forever to get ready again?" I asked him in French as I strapped him into the car seat. "She's a nightmare."
Louis coughed and I'm sure I heard him say hypocrite under his breath. Hugo laughed again as if he was agreeing with him.
Max climbed into the car.
"Are you ready?" Louis said. "No last minute stops to the bathroom? No sudden desire to change shoes? Everyone good?"
"Yes." Everyone said.
"Seems you were the first one to be ready again, Hugo." Louis told him.
The baby giggled and I tickled him to make him chortle.
I'll never get tired of his laughter.
"Cute shoes." Max said. "When do I get to wear kitten heels, Papa?"
"Never, not until you're thirty." He said.
"You can wear them when you turn fifteen like Emma." Amelié said.
"What has society done to our girls?" Louis murmured. "They're encouraging them to grow up way too fast."
Louis reversed the car and I smiled at Hugo who was giggling like he had never done this before.
YOU ARE READING
Lonely Hearts 2
General FictionLincoln may have been taken back to the children's home, but that doesn't mean he's going to give up. Thrown into a foster home and told it's his final chance, he isn't going to stop until he reaches his sisters again. But maybe, just maybe, he'll...
