I darted out the door, closing it quietly behind me. Down the hall, Laurie’s door was open and her dolls and Care Bears were arranged around a white table. A plastic tea set from one of her friends was set up ever so carefully. Except for the tea pot that had somehow ended up under Laurie’s bed.
Laurie’s tousled blond hair was a halo of snarls around her head. She was searching around the room, picking up toys and discarding them.
“Under your bed.”
“Ally!” Her huge blue eyes went wide and she slapped her mouth shut. “Shhh,” she said through her fingers.
I tried not to laugh. “Nothing’s going to wake your dad up right now. But if you’re looking for your tea pot, it somehow got under your bed.”
“Share Bear was very rude.” It came out more like berry rood, but she was too adorable to correct.
She was a super smart kid and often spoke in a manner that seemed far beyond her years. But sometimes she was just a four-year-old.
“Well, that’s not good. Why don’t you grab it and we’ll go down and make some breakfast for Daddy?”
Laurie crawled across her rainbow rug to the ruffle of her bed. “There you is.”
“You are,” I corrected.
“That’s what I said.”
I snorted. She picked up her tea pot and set it on the table then proceeded to take each of her stuffed animals off the table.
“You can bring down one of your friends.”
She looked up at me with her arms full of Care Bears. “But Ally.”
“We’re going to make pancakes. It gets too…” I trailed off when she dropped three out of the four in her arms and ran for the door. “Sticky.” I crossed my arms. “Laurie?”
She halted. “Yes?”
“Is that how you treat your toys?”
She scrunched up her face and hugged Share Bear tighter. “Um, yes?”
“I don’t think so.”
She sighed dramatically. “Okay, but only because I should put my friends on my bed.” She set Grumpy Bear and Leo on the bed. “There, just like Daddy.”
“Grumpy?”
“No. Friends in bed. All snuggled like you and Daddy.”
My eyes widened and I choked. “Uh, let’s go downstairs, okay?”
“Okay. Can we have chocolate chip pancakes?”
“How about banana?”
She put Share Bear in a headlock as we neared the stairs. “Ohh. I’ve never had those before.”
“Never? We need to fix that ASAP. How about banana with peanut butter?”
She squinted up at me. “I don’t know. That sounds gross.”
“Banana and nutella?”
“Now we’re talking.”