“Wook,” Piper says after I place her in the car seat. My eyes go to Cammy’s. She’s already clicked into place, watching Piper do her thing with the plastic chest harness, patient while she watches her sister attempt to do it, once, twice, and on the third time, it starts to lock together. I almost screwed up and offered to do it for her. I’m glad I didn’t. The big toothy smile she gives me, her being proud of herself, it’ll be worth it if we’re late again.
“Great job, baby.” I hold my hand up to high-five her. She slaps my hand, then I do the bottom part, ready to rock and roll. I could have left Piper home with Bailey, done a quicker drop-off with one kid instead of both, but it didn’t sit right with me. Neither was having Bailey do the whole morning routine when I was actually home.
“I taught her that,” Cammy says nonchalantly, with a smile only an older sister could have. I smile, close the door, and head to the driver’s side to climb in.
“I’m sure you did. Alright, since we’re running late, bakery stop after school?” I slide into my seat, start the truck, and reverse out of the garage. Some days, we’ll stop on the way even if we’re behind. Today, it looks like we may get there in the nick of time. I’ve definitely got Bailey to thank for that.
“Yes!” Cammy responds.
“Ya-ya-ya!” Piper’s response is what I expected. My eyes hit the mirror for a quick moment, seeing my girls happy and content. The shadows that were once surrounding them aren’t there. I know it takes a village to raise children, my family being that village. Bailey, though, she’s wedging her way into it as well.
THIRTEEN
Bailey
“Who wants to go swimming?” I ask the girls after Cammy got home from school today. She had a few worksheets, nothing too hard; it was more or less the ants in her pants making it take twice as long. I cut up a couple of apples, brought out the peanut butter, and made them both a snack during the process. Piper decided she wanted in on the homework fiasco and went to the cabinet that’s still in disarray, making it worse to grab what she needed to sit with Cammy, pretending to do the same thing. My agenda for next week while both girls are in school, Piper in her half day, is to hit the store, buy some clear containers, labels, and get down to business on their toys and art supplies.
“I do! I do!” Cammy jumps up from her chair, dropping her papers that she was about to put away, abandoning them.
“Me, wim! Me, wim!” Piper follows suit.
“Okay, let’s put everything back where it belongs. Cammy, bag in the mudroom. Piper, I’ll help you put your stuff away. Then off to get your bathing suits on. We have to be quiet, though. Your dad is on the phone, remember?” Forest came back this morning with Piper propped on his shoulders, her little hands holding on to his hair, smiling and giggling. I’d be a fool to say that it didn’t do anything to my ovaries. It did, from the very beginning with him at the bar to the moment I saw how amazing he is with his daughters. Seriously, a woman could get pregnant from looking alone.
“Oh man, that takes forever,” Cammy pouts. I hold my ground. Tomorrow, I’m doing the rounds with both girls. Forest will be out the door early, which will have me here to do the full morning routine. I guess the good thing so far is that we’ve maintained our distance from one another. No easy task, if you ask me. Especially after hearing what I heard last night and taking care of myself afterwards. I guess it’s a good thing I’ve got a good poker face and don’t blush easily either.
“It’ll take you two minutes, max. Plus, it’s not a race. Piper and I have to put her stuff away, too. I promise once you get in the habit of putting something back when you’re through with it, it’ll make your life much easier.” I grab the plates from Piper and Cammy’s snack, figuring if we’re going to have our first stand-off that isn’t a big deal yet is, I may as well clean up the kitchen. Sure, the backpack scenario isn’t a huge issue, but from my past experience, if you allow a child to railroad you too much in the beginning, they’ll do it over and over again.
“Okay, I’ll put it away. I still think it takes too much time.” Catherine was not kidding when she said Cammy is a lot like her father, protective and stubborn to the core.
“Thank you. I’ll meet you in the living room once you have your bathing suit on so we can apply sunscreen,” I tell her as soon as I see she’s making her way to the mudroom. Piper has her pencils and crayons held close to her chest to carry them all. I swing back around and grab her papers. I’m definitely hitting up the store tomorrow, coming back, organizing, and going through toys they may have grown out of or that are broken. The ones they’ve grown out of I’ll have to ask Forest if he’d like to put them away or donate. There’s no way I’d make that decision without his input.