Little Do You Know

Chapter 23

1992

Dani slid the meatloaf in the oven before turning the burner on high for the potatoes. She rummaged in the cabinets, finding a can of peas toward the back, deciding that would do. She tried to get a vegetable in at every dinner but Lyric often battled anything green on her plate. It didn't stop her from trying, though, hoping one day her daughter would decide they weren't so bad. It was hard providing your kids a well balanced diet when they were so damn picky. 

Speaking of her daughter, she'd been awfully quiet for the last twenty minutes while Dani was preparing dinner. That was never a good sign. Heading up the stairs, she peeked in on Jett first, who was fast asleep in his crib, and then made her way to Lyric's room. Pushing open the door, she gasped.

"Lyric...what did you do?"

"I drew all my favorite things!" she announced proudly, grinning.

"I see that, but we don't...oh my god..."

Dani's eyes tracked the walls, crayon drawings everywhere. Little girl doodles of carebears, ponies, dogs, X-men, Elmo, a dragon from DnD with three heads, Belle and Beast. Brightly colored drawings on almost every single space her five year old could reach. She'd defaced the walls completely and Dani felt panic setting in. Jesus, she was going to have to wash all this after dinner. It would take her hours. After working all day, grabbing the kids, doing two loads of laundry, taking Ozzy for a walk, and fixing dinner, she'd been really looking forward to putting her feet up on the couch. Instead she'd be in here with a sponge and soapy water.

"Baby girl, I know you love to draw but we don't draw on walls," she told her gently, reminding herself to stay calm, to not yell.

"But I like it," Lyric countered. "Mommy, I made my room all the things I love. You say I should be creative and I can draw whenever I want."

"Yes, in your notebooks or on your drawing pad."

"But it's my room. Why can't I make my walls pretty?"

"I...because..." Dani paused, looking down at her daughter's face, so happy, so proud of herself. Really, what harm did it do if Lyric really loved it this way? "You know what? You're right. It is your room. If you like these things on your walls, then that's okay." She smiled, taking in the rainbow that was now Lyric's walls. "I love it, Lyric because it's completely you. And you did so good. These drawings are beautiful. You definitely got that from your daddy."

"Yeah, daddy draws in notebooks but I wanted something bigger. My walls are really big."

"Your walls are really big," laughed Dani, taking her daughter's face in her hands and kissing the top of her head. "But how about we take a break from drawing on walls and you make daddy a picture for when he gets home from work?"

"Okay! I am going to draw all of us for daddy and you can put it on the fridge."

"Sounds perfect," Dani said, thinking there wasn't any more room on the fridge. Lyric already had it covered with her drawings. They were out of magnets to hold anything and Lyric would fight getting rid of any picture that were already there but that was a problem for later.

Heading back downstairs, Dani was turning the burner down to let the potatoes cook as she heard the front door open. She spun to see Eddie walk in, looking dirty and cranky.

"Hey, baby," she said with a smile.

"Hey," he muttered, kicking off his boots right there, in the middle of the door where someone would trip if they tried to walk in. Dani bit her lip, not wanting to worsen his mood by saying anything. She could just move them later.