The New Girl

Lilly

By noon, Ayden and I were out of the hotel for checkout and on our way to pick up Lilly to spend the day with her.

Ellen allowed us inside their house this time instead of my dad. She was holding Lilly on her hip who was wearing a pear of pink shorts and a white tank top with a pink flower on it. Her short brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail with a pink hair tie. Someone was a fan of the color pink.

My dad came down the stairs in a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt.

"Here's some money in case you want to take her out to do anything." Since the money was offered up for Lilly, I accepted it. Plus, I wasn't in the mood to cause a scene.

My dad gave Lilly's car seat to Ayden and showed him how to strap it into the vehicle properly. Then, Ayden opened his trunk and Dad put Lilly's stroller in.

"If you need anything, just call." Ellen insisted, kissing Lilly on the forehead. I took the toddler into my arms, making sure not to grown as I held the small, but heavy child in my weak arms.

"She's dense." My dad commented when he noticed I was struggling to hold her. "Just like you were."

I pretended as though I didn't hear the addition to his comment and turned to Ayden.

"Here," Ayden held out his arms to take her and she immediately leaned forward to go into Ayden's grasp. She probably wasn't very comfortable with how I was attempting to hold her.

"See you later on, Gabby." Dad waved. "Bye, Lil."

Ayden buckled Lilly up with ease, much to my shock.

"How did you do that so easily?" I looked at him in disbelief.

"Audrey and I are almost 7 years apart; my parents pretty much had me buckling her up from the day she was brought home from the hospital." A smile etched on my face at the thought of little Ayden buckling his baby sister up in her car seat. "Okay, that's a lie. My parents would barely even let me touch her for, like, the first week of her life."

That was enough to turn my smile into unattractive laughter.

Now, I could just imagine little Ayden excited to hold his little sister, but not being able to because his parents don't want him to ungraciously drop her.

Lilly started giggling uncontrollably in the backseat, merely the sound of my laughter being enough to cause hers.

"She really is adorable." I commented as I watched her try and grab her feet with her hands. It was more of a generalized statement then to Ayden in specific, so I didn't expect him to reply back.

"Park first?" Ayden suggested a few minutes later, after we took a turn. Oh, yeah...I guess having a plan on what we are going to do today would've been a smart thing to think about.

"Sure," hopefully he knows how where this GPS is taking us.

"Park!" Lilly started clapping her hands, and feet, together enthusiastically.

"I'll grab the stroller, you grab the child?" Ayden offered. I nodded in agreement and we both got out of the car to fulfill our duties.

We crossed paths when I walked around the back of the car to get to the other side of the vehicle that Lilly was sitting on.

I wrestled with the several confusing straps that protected the child from an accident that could occur for a hot second, but I ended up the winner of that brawl.

Ayden had just appeared behind me with the stroller when I had gotten her out.

"Nooo!" She drawled out her whine that quickly turned into a cry. "No stroller!" She screamed and started kicking the air between her and I.