“You guys shouldn’t have married,” Danielle said, clicking her tongue. “It’s too much.”
Valerie Gray Fenton rolled her eyes. “Pizza’s in the oven, emergency contacts are on the fridge. James has two bottles in the fridge full of chocolate milk if he gets thirsty. Ivy can have whatever as long as it’s not too sugary. You know how she is. Oh, and your nose ring,” Valerie pointed at it and her nose crinkled, as if smelling something foul. “Trust me, you might want to take that out. James likes to pull on jewelry now.”
As if to accentuate her point, Valerie’s child reached up from Danielle’s lap, grasping at nothing with tiny fingers. She grabbed his arms and pulled them down before blowing her bangs back with an annoyed breath. “Great. Anything else?”
“Um …” Valerie paused, tapping her index finger to her chin. “Bedtime by eight o’ clock, we’ll be back around nine.”
Daniel Gray Fenton poked his head from around the corner, where he’d been cutting up watermelon for Ivy to eat. “Play set is in the basement.”
“Play set,” Danielle deadpanned.
Danny shrugged, popped a piece of watermelon in his mouth, and said, “Baby shower gift from Vlad. Keeps Ivy from getting distracted and flying off.”
“It does not!” Ivy yelled from the kitchen table.
Danny walked up to Danielle and winked. “She’s not too difficult to handle, promise. Just keep her busy and she’ll be fine.”
“Oh! James’ diapers are in his room … Danny, am I forgetting anything?”
“Dani is almost thirty, she can figure it out.”
“Right,” Valerie said, nodding her head in satisfaction. “Right. We’ll pay you when we get back.”
“Oh, you don’t need to pay—”
“We’ll pay you,” Danny said quickly, cutting her off. “For the trouble.”
“ … Okay?” Danielle said, once again grabbing James’ hands to keep him from pulling at her nose ring.
“Ivy!” Valerie yelled. “Come give Mommy a hug!”
Ivy, newly six, bounded from the kitchen and into her mother’s arms, curls bouncing all the way. Valerie set her down and crouched to become level with her. “And help Aunt Dani with James, okay?”
“Okay!” Ivy shouted, saluting. “You can count on me!”
“We’ll see you in the morning,” Danny said while he put his coat on. Afterwards, he reached down, placed a kiss on her forehead, and ruffled her hair. “Be good, okay?”
“I’m always good!” Ivy pouted.
“Then be even better than good, hm?” Danny turned to open the door. “Let’s go, Val.”
“Okay. Bye, Dani!”
“See you soon,” Danielle said, though it lacked the energy that Valerie’s salutation had.
The door closed behind them.
“Watermelon?” Ivy offered, holding up a single piece of watermelon that she had had crushed in her hand the entire time. Her palm glistened with the juice.
“Um, no thanks,” Danielle said.
“I like when you come see me. I like your nose.” Ivy pointed at Danielle’s nose ring and smiled. “It’s pretty. I like playing with you. Can we go see Aunt Dora? She has horsies and they let me ride them sometimes. Have you ever ridden a horsie?”
“Can’t say I have.”
“Oh, it’s fun. Aunt Dora lets me ride them sometimes. None of the kids in kindergarten have rode a horsie, either. Not even Alice, and she’s my bestest friend.”
“I thought I was your best friend,” Danielle said, fake-hurt.
“Oh! You are. You’re my bestest old friend, promise. Alice is my bestest kid friend. Have you ever met Alice’s mommy? She’s really nice. She has lots of plants and she tells me how to water them.”
Danielle snorted, thinking about Sam and her plant-covered studio apartment. “Yeah, I know her. We both come to your parents’ Thanksgiving, remember?”
“Oh, yeah!” Ivy clapped. “And Mommy makes pumpkin pie and Alice’s mommy brings banana pudding and you bring lots and lots of soda!”
“Yes, I do,” Danielle affirmed. “Did you finish your watermelon?”
Ivy gasped. “No!” she yelled, and she turned around and ran into the kitchen.
“Baba!” James yelled, climbing clumsily out of Danielle’s lap. “Baba!”
“Ivy!” Danielle yelled, struggling to balance James before he fell. “Can you get James’ bottle!”
“Mhm!” Ivy shouted back.
James, now standing on two chubby legs, staggered towards the kitchen, tripped over a forgotten toy, and promptly fell through the floor.
Through.
A crashing noise came from the kitchen, followed by Ivy yelling a quick, “Sorry! I fix it!”
Danielle’s train of thought halted in panic. Basement, kitchen. Basement, kitchen. Okay, she decided. Basement first. She took a deep breath and dove headfirst through the floor. A quick glance at the floor below her revealed that he had not fallen to his death. The air around her, however, was empty as well. She shook her head and blinked, wondering if he’d fallen all the way to the Earth’s core and burnt up on the way there.
“Baba?”
Danielle looked up and heaved a sigh of relief. There he was, upside down, sitting on the ceiling. His dark hair stuck up around him.
“There you are,” she murmured, flying back up to grab him. “Don’t do that. You can’t die five minutes after your parents leave.”
James, in contrast, was beginning to look upset. “Mmmm!” he shouted wordlessly, pointing at his mouth.
“Yes, yes, your ‘baba.’ Let’s go get it, okay? Hm?”
James stared at her, his blue-green eyes swirling with emotion, before he nodded slowly. Danielle flew them both back through the ceiling and into the kitchen, where Danielle witnessed the second mishap of the night. She’d almost forgotten. And it wasn’t even 5:30 yet.
The contents of the fridge were everywhere, and Ivy was slowly putting everything back in. She looked at Danielle guiltily as she touched down and set James on the floor.
She almost yelled. Taking a deep breath and reminding herself that it had been an accident, she asked, “What happened?”
“The bottle was too high. I had to float up to get it,” Ivy supplied, as though that explained everything.
Danielle looked at the spilled chocolate milk and then to one of the full bottles beside it. She picked one up and handed it to James, who tottered into the living room with the bottle to his mouth. “And?”
“Sorry, Aunt Dani,” Ivy said, tears welling in her eyes.
If there was one thing Danielle could not handle, it was crying. “No, no! It’s okay, it was an accident! Here; help me clean it up and it’ll be like nothing ever happened, hm? And then we can go downstairs and play, okay?”
Across the sea of fallen food items, the oven beeped urgently. Oh, yeah. The pizza.
Despite Danielle’s reassurances, Ivy started to cry.
