“I didn’t …”
I press my lips to his. “You did,” I mumble over them, “and I love you for it.”
He smiles against my mouth. “I missed you today.”
“I missed you too.”
Someone clears their throat beside us. “Um, first off, ew. Secondly, I was told you needed this thing,” our son says.
We both turn to see him holding his bug catcher. Raffe laughs. “Did you know Lily helped him make that when she first arrived?”
“Wow and it’s still holding up,” I say, pulling away from him to admire the little bug fingerprints covering it.
“That’s because my sister is a good carpenter, like me,” Jackson says proudly.
It warms my heart to hear him talk about Lily with such love. I take it from him. “Let’s go empower Charlotte, shall we?”
The two men follow me outside and she runs up to me, stopping several feet away when she sees what I have.
The club is quiet, interested in whether or not this will be successful. I know I can do this for her. My daddy helped me in the same way when I was just a little tot.
I wave Aspen over to join us, opening the door to the catcher. She instantly knows what to do and places her hand by the door, waiting to see if “Fred” will come out. Fred was the name of my childhood dog. A beagle. Mama said he lived a long time. He’s buried out at the farm.
“Come here puppy,” Aspen encourages.
When he jumps on her hand, Charlotte takes several more steps away.
My granddaughter sits on the ground beside me, and I wave for Charlotte. “Come sit on my lap, sweetheart.”
She does but hesitantly.
Aspen is happily letting Fred crawl all over her, not paying him much attention. She’s already distracted by the rock she just picked up.
Charlotte watches the spider. “He doesn’t bite her?”
“No. He could, but people don’t really taste very good to him. As long as you’re nice to him, he’ll be nice to you.”
“But what if he did bite?”
“It might smart for a second, but he’s not venomous,” I tell her honestly.
When the spider jumps over to my arm, she jerks, leaning away.
“It’s okay,” I tell her quietly. “I promise he won’t hurt you. Take a couple of deep breaths.” She does, and I slowly hold my arm out. “Can you look at him?”
She eventually turns her head. Charlotte is brave. Most adults wouldn’t get this far this fast.
“He’s looking at you because he’s curious. Jumping spiders are curious little creatures. He wants to check you out.”
He walks down my arm to the top of my hand, and then he starts waving at her with his front legs.
“What’s he doing now? Is he mad?” she asks, pushing herself back against me to keep some distance between the two of them.
I laugh. “No, he wants you to hold him. That’s his way of saying “up please.”
She giggles, and I know the bully at her school is about to be defeated.
“Would you like to try? All you have to do is hold still. If it’s too much, I’ll remove him immediately,” I tell her.
