“Paw!” Livie said excitedly, seconds after they positioned the iPad to allow those in the living room to be viewed by the screen. I did the same with mine, leveling the tablet on the edge of the rolling table, sitting in the chair still next to Dash’s bed, within his earshot. I hope that my efforts in letting everyone see me, and chatting about nothing, helped in the matter of Amelia’s and the girls’ anxiety. Also in reminding Dash why he needed to wake his butt up.
“Paw!” Mia’s face appeared on the screen, blocking the others.
“Mia, sit down. We can’t see Paw,” Ava scolded from where she sat crisscross with Livie. They’d learned the new sitting position in school. Amelia and West sat beside them.
“We miss you and Daddy,” Mia said, taking a step back, her gaze still on me. She shared my uncertain emotions. My gaze went back to my little loves, missing them a ridiculous amount. My grin was probably the first genuine one I’d had since I left on my trip. “I miss all of you so much.”
Kailey relocated the tablet, the screen going every which way until it took in my mom and Kailey’s position on the sofa.
“Hi, Beau,” Kailey said. She lifted a hand in a wave as she settled next to our mom. She appeared forlorn, which meant she had to know what was going on more than my girls did.
“You’re telecommutin’ classes?” I asked Kailey. All three girls’ heads bent toward my younger sister. The three were fascinated with her. If she lifted an eyebrow, they did too.
“Yup,” she said, sounding like me. “It might be just as good as being in class, but it’s hard to ask questions.”
I nodded my understanding, West caught my attention, sitting on Amelia’s thigh. I wanted to believe his happy clapping was for me. I held all of his attention, and he held mine. He’d grown double in height and weight, I was sure of it. “Hey, little man.”
“Abuela says Daddy’s getting better,” Livie said. All three sets of blue eyes stared a hole through me, waiting for my answer.
“She’s right. He’s asleep right now. I’m stayin’ with him to help him get better. I helped him do his exercises this afternoon, like you all need to be doin’ by yourself until I get home. Are y’all doin’ good? Did you enjoy Halloween?”
“So much,” Ava said, the others echoed her feelings. “We have lots of candy, and Abuela’s giving us a piece a day.”
“Daddy needs to stop being sick,” Livie said. “We wanted him to dress up as Peter Pan.”
Oh man, he’d have hated that, but done it in a second.
Mia’s hands abruptly fisted, her body gave an excited full-length shake. “Gigi said that Kailey’s going to have lunch with us at school. Everyone will see our big sister.”
Kailey grinned, and I didn’t correct Mia. No one else did either, even Livie.
“She’s coming to our Thanksgiving parade lunch too,” Ava explained. “Gigi’s making her costume to look like ours.”
“Do you know about Thanksgiving, Paw?” Livie asked. Of course, no one waited for my answer.
“Everyone in school is dressing up like something from Thanksgiving. I wanna be a cornico,” Mia said, abruptly stopping the explanation, casting a quick glance at Livie.
“Cornucopia,” Livie corrected.
“The Native Americans and pilgrims became best friends and ate turkey together on Thanksgiving,” Mia finished her explanation. Ava nodded along with Mia.
“We’re all dressing as cornucopias with different insides because Mia liked the colors better,” Ava explained. “She’s the one that knows best about it. Abuela’s making the costumes. Kailey’s gonna sit by me and Livie, and Mia is sitting with Gigi and Abuela if she comes, but maybe I want to sit with Abuela and Gigi. Mia doesn’t make the rules.”
Ava shot a mean glare to Mia, causing me to jump in before a fight broke out. Ava wasn’t above tackling Mia over a perceived slight.
“No fighting. I need you guys to make Daddy some get-well cards. Can you do that for him?”
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“I made Daddy a vase in pottery class. It leans but it’s still pretty,” Mia said, proudly. “Next time, I’m making him a cup, but I don’t think he can drink from it.” She shrugged sweetly.
“Good and make him a card. Gigi or Abuela can help you write a message. Give your best effort,” I said, hoping it would occupy them a little longer than the five minutes every project took. “I’ll hang them around his room. Make him one every day. I’ll read him the messages. He also likes your book reports. Listen to your books then record yourselves summarizing them. He misses when y’all read together.”
“Gigi said we could make you a lunch and she’ll take it to you,” Livie said, her knees lifting as her hands hung on to the tips of her open-toed sandals.
“I’d like that.” I had only slept a couple of hours this afternoon, but enough for right now. I was hungry, the lunch sounded great. “Make me two sandwiches and send me some of those little cakes your dad hides.” The girls laughed. So did Abuela and my mom. My sophisticated husband thought he was sneaky enough to hide the Little Debbie white cakes without anyone else knowing. Yeah right.
“Abuela bought some yesterday. We’ll get them ready.” Livie jumped up and ran toward the kitchen.
