after a lot more tears and hugs, and daisy getting settled with her babysitter, nadia and fletcher headed for the store.
"hey, I know I don't really have to ask this, but... can we not mention anything to everyone else? I wanna tell them when i'm ready, and i'm not. yet."
nadia shrugged as she reached for a cart. "it's your choice. and it's not really my place to say, but... if it was me, i'd be shouting from the rooftops that that little girl was mine... not to guilt trip you or anything, just putting it into perspective."
silently, fletcher nodded, a sullen look on his face. in their silence, the two heard a continuous clattering come up behind them. they both turned to see gordon with his work cart.
"party people! you're shopping for the thing later, right? make sure you get pizza rolls, it's one of the few things eric will eat without preparing it himself."
he turned to nadia for a hug after giving a handshake to fletcher, both of them smiling at their friend's energy.
"where is eric? I didn't see him up front."
"he took the day." gordon rolled his eyes, smiling a bit to himself afterwards. "said he needed an energy refresh or something. it's been so boring without him today."
fletcher and nadia shared a look, but otherwise didn't acknowledge gordon's comment, nodding along as he continued.
"he still plans to come later tonight, if it's still okay that I bring him?" he looked a bit squeamish, as if he honestly thought that they would tell him no.
fletcher nodded immediately, clapping him on the shoulder. "of course, he's cool. the more the merrier. we love him."
gordon seemed to switch back into his usual upbeat demeanor after that, the biggest part of the hill conquered. nadia and fletcher began walking down aisles to pick out snacks as gordon trailed behind with his work cart.
"i also like the garden salsa sun chips- aislefifteen- and sparkling flavored water- aislenine- so if you happen to find them anywhere, you should pick them up." nadia smiled, turning to fletcher who mirrored her grin.
"you know, fletch, i'm suddenly craving sparkling water-"
"and recently i've had a taste for garden salsa sun chips! you think we should look for some?"
at their impromptu role play, gordon laughed, stopping a bit behind them and turning his cart of supplies.
"thanks guys, we'll see you at 6!"
after getting all the snacks and quickly checking out (since eric wasn't there to chat), the two climbed into fletcher's car to set up for their friends. "we're heading to the apartment?"
"yup." fletcher answered matter of factly, seeming like he didn't want any other questions to be asked of him; though nadia wanted to talk, so she ignored that.
"and daisy just..."
"she's with stephanie."
nodding, nadia bit her lip before turning out to the window. she stared in silence at the quickly passing trees for about a minute and a half before turning back to face fletcher, ready to hound him once again.
"yes, nadia, what?" fletcher snapped, predicting her inevitable follow up and beating her to the punch. "okay, it's just... what if they bring saylor? I mean, he and daisy are about the same age, they could totally be friends. and wouldn't that just be the cutest thing ever?" she finished her statement with her tone rising, trying to entice him to imagine the cuteness of his daughter and nephew becoming friends.
