“It’s me, Sam,” I call through the crack in the door. “It’s just me and Miles. I sent your dad on an errand. Can I come in?”
She cracks the door and I can see her dark-stained panties in the sink where she had apparently been scrubbing them. “Is he really gone?” she asks. She looks around behind me.
“He’s really gone.” I walk in, still holding Miles in my arms, and close the door behind me. “So, what’s up?” I ask as I sit down on the edge of the tub and rest Miles on my knees.
“My dad is completely useless in a crisis,” she says, and she blows a lock of hair from her forehead with one well-placed breath. “Utterly and completely useless,” she says for emphasis.
“So you got your period, huh?”
She spins to look at me, a look of horror on her face. “Did he tell you?”
I nod toward the panties in the sink. “I kind of figured it out.”
“Oh.” Some of the anger leaks out of her and her shoulders fall back into their normal place. “Yeah, I got my period.”
“Did your dad get what you need for it?” I ask. I don’t go into a ton of detail.
“He came back with pads and tampons, but I don’t want to use the tampons yet.” She shudders lightly.
“Well, when you’re ready, you’ll have them.” Miles kicks his feet, which makes me laugh and encourage him more. “So you figured out how to use them?” I pretend like I’m not paying much attention to her, but in reality she has all my attention.
“It’s not rocket science,” she says quietly. She wiggles in place. “Although it does feel a little crooked.”
“You can try for a straighter one when you switch to a new one.”
“I ruined my favorite panties.” She starts to scrub again.
“So now you have period panties. Every woman has period panties. They’re the ones with the stains we can’t get out, and we don’t care because we know they’re only going to get more stains.”
“Do you have period panties?” she asks quietly.
“Many, many pairs,” I say flippantly. “Just put those to the side of your underwear drawer and you can pull them out when you need them.”
“Oh, okay.” She stops her frantic scrubbing.
A knock sounds on the door. “Sam,” Aaron calls out.
“Go away, Dad!” she yells back. “God, he’s insufferable,” she mutters.
I bite back my grin and go to the door, open it a crack, and step out. I hand Miles to Aaron and take the bag he’s holding. I glance between Aaron and Eli. “Everything go okay at the store?”
“Fine,” they both say at the same time. I can only imagine the chaos that was the two of them shopping for low flow sanitary supplies.
I open the bag and glance inside. “Will one of you go to our cabin and get my pink nail polish?” I look from one to the other and back.
“I’ll go,” Eli says, and he looks grateful that he gets to leave.
“Is she okay?” Aaron asks me.
“She’s fine.” I lay a hand on his arm. “It’s just new and confusing, Aaron,” I say calmly. “And she doesn’t understand it any better than you do.” I cover my mouth to hold in my laugh.
“You suck so bad, Bess,” he says, but he starts to grin, too.
I point toward the bathroom. “I’m going back in there.”
“I hope you survive. I through she was going to snap my head off and throw it out the window.”
I laugh. “I’ll be fine.”