Breathe Easy

|20.| A heartfelt holiday for the dysfunctional

On Thanksgiving Day, Freya lost one of her front teeth while eating breakfast, and for her, that was when the idea of the tooth fairy was born. Because this was her first time losing teeth, she'd never even heard of the magical fairy who flew in your room to leave a few dollars under your pillow in exchange for a tooth.

Camila mentioned it, of course. The thought was far from my mind whenever Freya came up and told me one of her teeth had fallen out. I simply patted her head and said, "Aw, kid. You're growing up."

She went in to the bathroom, rinsed out her mouth with saltwater, and that was that. According to Camila, though, this was a milestone. Freya had a wet paper towel hanging from her mouth to absorb the blood and Camz started going on about the tooth fairy, putting all these ideas and questions in the kid's head.

Then she left me all alone with an inquisitive child to go last minute shopping with Dinah.

We were sitting on the couch beside one another, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. This was something I did with Chris, Mom and Taylor every Thanksgiving as a kid, while Dad was in bed snoring. He'd later join us though, usually just an hour before it was about to end. He'd never miss Santa's appearance at the end though.

That was the most exciting part to us as little kids. As Chris and I got older, we'd take joy in seeing Taylor rhapsodize over Santa, and give each other a knowing look because we knew the old fat man in a red suit wasn't real. But we wouldn't dare ruin her childhood.

"How will the tooth fairy know where I live?" Freya asked.

She tore me from my reminiscence. I glanced down at her and thought a moment, not sure how to answer that one. If Camila were here, she'd know exactly what to say. I was good with Freya, but it was pretty obvious that Camila was way better with kids than I.

"She has a map. It'll be easy for her to find you," I explained casually. "Just remember to put your tooth under the pillow tonight, or she won't give you any money because she won't know."

Freya studied me excitedly, her big brown eyes full of wonder. "I can't wait to see her!"

I furrowed my eyes dramatically. "No, you can't see her. No one ever sees her."

"Why?" She eagerly grabbed onto my arm, shifting herself against me and fidgeting like children do.

"Well, that's just the rules," I said, and took a swig of my soda. "Want some?"

Freya shook her head, too intrigued by the thought of this magical tooth fairy to indulge in a can of grape soda, which was her favorite by the way. She focused on the parade once again, but I could tell she wasn't really watching it. Her mind was steadfast on tonight.

I smiled down at her, all of the sudden admiring her innocence and youth. How lucky of her? All she had to worry about today was getting her tooth underneath a pillow so an imaginary fairy could fly in and leave her some money.

How I missed those days dearly.

There was a knock at the door, which forced me to leave my comfortable spot on the couch. I groaned and got up lazily to answer it. Looking through the peephole, I was surprised to see Sadie standing patiently on the other side. I sighed to myself.

Really? On Thanksgiving Day? Now I'd have to invite her over for the dinner. Dinah surely won't like that, and Camila probably won't either but she won't tell me how it really makes her feel.

Glaring up to the ceiling in annoyance, I ran my tongue along my bottom lip and reluctantly swung the door open.

"Hey," I greeted with an awkward smile. "Haven't heard from you in quite a while."