For Fiona

36. Chapstick

Fiona really loved baseball. She swung and hit the ball every time, and her dad was always so proud of her while Kojo supported her by fetching each hit.

Lucy really loved Tim. She watched him scoop Fiona up in his arms and spin her around claiming she hit a grand slam when the ball went the furthest ever, and Lucy almost melted. She really tried to keep her thoughts pure and simply cheer on their daughter, but Tim was making it impossible, so she said, "It's getting late, honey. Let's play inside."

"Mommy, I need to hit another grand slam," Fiona insisted.

The four year-old's pleading eyes were nothing compared to Tim's, who was just as eager to keep playing with their daughter. "Fine," Lucy determined. "One more grand slam."

Fiona focused on the ball and swung with all of her might making the wiffle ball soar through air. She cheered for herself as her parents did, too, and that was a great place to pause her baseball practice for the day. She removed her helmet and touched her blue ribbon to make sure it had not gone askew, then she smiled. "Daddy! I could play for the Dodgers!"

"Of course you can, munchkin," Tim replied proudly.

"Can I also take care of animals?"

"Like an animal doctor?"

"Yeah! An animal doctor! I want to be a baseball player and an animal doctor!"

"Sure, Fi, those sound like two great careers," he replied.

"Kojo, I just practiced playing for the Dodgers. Now I have to practice being a doctor. Will you help me?" Fiona asked her dog, and he barked in response, clearly being supportive of her dreams.

Lucy snickered. "I'll cook us some pasta while you go practice being a doctor." She watched her daughter race into the house with Kojo at her side, then she threaded her fingers with Tim's. "Our kid has her whole life figured out."

"Our daughter is going to be on the Dodgers, which means we'll buy great seats right behind home plate for every game."

She hummed, picturing Tim cheering on their daughter like he did every time they played baseball in the backyard, but Fiona was older and the stadium was bigger. "That sounds like fun." Lucy began dragging him into the house while he distractedly followed with a far off look in his eye. "You know what else would be fun?" She asked and answered her own question by standing up tall on her tip toes to bring her lips to his.

He blindly moved with her as she backed into their home. Once he registered they were probably in the kitchen, that reminded him of something, so he broke away to ask, "How can I help with dinner?"

She took her phone out, tapped on the screen a few times, then took his face in her hands. "Done."

"Done?"

"I ordered Italian. Should be here in like half an hour."

"Luce, if you didn't want to cook, I could've cooked."

"You can't cook right now."

"Why not?"

She blew out a breath, annoyed he was unable to read her mind as if she was not making herself very clear. "I changed my mind and want to do laundry instead."

"There's not a single piece of dirty clothing left in our house after we spent Fiona's nap time doing laundry."

She looked down at her shorts and t shirt and decided, "These are pretty dirty. Want to take them off of me and wash them?"

"That's what happened literally a few hours ago. Did you forget that or something?"

"No, I didn't forget." She clicked her tongue. "Do you want me to come up with something original or do you want to go to the laundry room?"