Seasons [h.s]

Winter-Part 8

I couldn't remember the last time I had dressed up.

It had taken me almost a whole hour just to find a nice dress to wear. The amount of dresses in my closet were minimal, let alone formal dresses. I settled on a pink dress from many years back; it was the dress that I thought I would graduate from high school in. It had never been worn.

I sighed as I slipped my bare body into the dress. I zipped myself up and walked over to my mirror, trying to think of something to do with my unruly hair. I decided to pull it into a low bun - leaving my bangs free. After topping my makeup off with a mauve pink gloss, I headed out to meet Mia.

"Oh Momma..." Her eyes grew bigger when she saw me, "you look very b-beautiful!"

I grinned, "I do?" I smoothed out the bottom of my dress.

"Yes, yes! You look like a p-princess. Princess Mommy!" She ran to hug me.

"Thank you, Lovey. Why don't you go get some of your Barbie's to take to Emily's house?" I waited as she ran back to her room before slipping on my nude heels.

The doorbell rang exactly at 6:30.

"I'm coming!" I called as finished putting on both Mia and I's coats. I ran to the door, to find Harry holding red roses.

"Oh my, you didn't have to do that." I shook my head as he handed me the bouquet.

"It was the least I could do." His smile was small, yet sweet.

"Shall we go?" I asked, taking Mia's hand.

"Yes, let's." He nodded.

**

The entire car ride, Mia went on about how excited she was to show Emily her dolls. She rambled about each scenario her and Emily would play out: going to the mall, playing doctor, and even becoming famous ballerinas.

"What do you want to be when you grow up, Mia?" Harry asked while Mia was still on the subject of doctors.

"I want to be an astronaut." Mia stated nonchalantly.

"An astronaut? Will you take me up to Mars with you? I've always wanted to go."

"No! Boys can't go to Mars!" Mia stuck her nose in the air.

"And why not?" I chimed in.

"Boys only go to Jupiter... to get more s-stupider!" She went into a laughing fit. My eyes went straight to Harry as I tried to suppress the laughter that was trying so hard to escape.

"Is that so?" Harry began to laugh as well, "I guess you'll have to take me to Jupiter then, eh?" He caught my eye and winked at me - causing my heart to go into a frenzy.

We arrived at Gemma's house a short time after. She lived outside of the city - her house sat on a beautiful piece green grass.. It was a light yellow, two story house, with a long porch that wrapped from the front of the house to the back. Though winter created gray skies, the home still seemed to shine. Gemma ran out to meet us once we pulled in. She helped Mia out first before taking her brother into a strong hug.

"Hello, brother!" She greeted. She then danced over to my side and engulfed me as well, "it's good to see you again, Grace." She whispered before letting go of me.

"You too, Gemma. Thanks again for allowing Mia to spend some time here with you and your family. She's been so excited to play with Emily again."

"Emily, as well! Those two are going to be great friends, I can see it already. Anyway, Harry's got my number if you need to call and check in. I promise that the girls will be fine while you're away, we'll make sure they're taken care of."