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I hold in my smirk at the horror on her face. “I don’t know.” I scrunch up my nose. “Do you think he should?”
“Maybe,” she answers honestly. “But I won’t tell him that.”
“Probably smart. Can I braid your hair?” I don’t know why the urge comes over me. Maybe because her long brown hair is a bit of a tangled mess. Or maybe because Amelia used to do this to me when I was little and having a bad day and something about it always made me feel better.
Excitement flitters over her face. “Okay.” She turns her back to me and I yank the elastic from my hair since it’s the only one I have.
I shake out my head and then start combing through her hair with my fingers, making sure I don’t snag on any knots. Then I separate the strands into three sections and start plaiting it until it’s a long, thick rope down her back. I tie it off with the elastic and then pull out my phone and take a picture of it.
“Here. Look.” I twist her little body back to me and show her the pic.
She smiles and nods approvingly. “Can we take a selfie?”
I’d ask how she knows what a selfie is at her age, but that’s ridiculous. I think toddlers likely know what they are. “Sure!” We press our heads together and I snap the picture. “Oh, that’s so cute. Here, I’ll send that to your Uncle Cal so you have it.”
Just as I hit send on the picture the doors of the ambulance bay open and he comes out. He hears the ping on his phone, pulls it out of his pocket, checks the image, and then throws me a questioning glance.
“What’s this?”
“I braided her hair,” I tell him.
“Cool.” He smiles. “I love it, Ladybug. Maybe I should watch a YouTube video and learn how to do that for you.”
My heart does a little somersault in my chest at him wanting to learn how to do that for her, but I push it away.
“YouTube saves lives.” I stand. “Speaking of, I should get back though I don’t know why. It’s Q-U-I-E-T in there.”
“Shhh,” Callan hisses at me. “Never say that word here.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s why I spelled it. Duh.”
“Thanks for watching her.” He gives me a lingering look and then tucks some of my wayward hair behind my ear. “Better.” He shifts his attention to Katy. “Are you ready for the park? I likely shouldn’t reward you with that, but it’s too nice of a day to stay inside.”
“Can Layla come too!”
Both Callan and I freeze. “Erm.” My lips pull sideways, and I give himan I don’t know what to saylook.
“Please, please, please, please,” the kid tacks on, jumping up and down and yanking on my arm now.
Yeesh. How do I say no? Especially when I sort of want to say yes. I mean, how many times in our non-parenting adult lives do we get to go to the park on a summer day? Like never, right?
“Uh, I’m sure Layla has to—”
“But I want her to come. Please, Uncle Cal.” She presses her palms together and holds up them to him, her face pleading.
“I’m okay with it if you are,” I murmur so only he can hear.
“Are you sure? I feel like that’s also a reward and while I’m insanely proud of her for what she did this morning, I don’t think any parenting handbooks would applaud my being so. You’re a reward. I think we all know that.”
I laugh because it’s a good line and I like it. “Up to you. I’m good either way.”
He sighs. “Fine. She can come. But Ladybug—”
“I know, I know. Next time I’ll ignore him.” She groans and then huffs.
I try to hold in my snicker, but it escapes all the same. “You’re a spitfire, kid. I like you.”
“Now you know my dilemma.” Callan takes her hand. “Come on. Let’s go to the park.”
