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She dissolves into laughter, too, and crosses her arms. “Aw, man!”
“You goofball.” I pat a spot of empty couch next to me. “Come on. You gotta do what you gotta do.”
“It’s Reading homework and it’s soooo booooring.”
“Sorry, Charlie.”
She grabs her backpack off the floor and sits by me. As she pulls the zipper, she asks, “What doyougotta do that you don’t like?”
“Hmm….” I watch her extract her Reading folder. “Take out the trash.”
“Ewwww. Trash is gross.”
“I know.”
She opens her folder, and the paper she pulls out has a short story printed on it. Above it are a picture of a garbage truck and the titleThe Cheerful Garbage Man.
She gasps in surprise. “Annie, look!Wewere just talking about trash!”
“Oh, what a coincidence!”
“It’s so funny!” She starts laughing again. “What a funny—um—ca—ca-wind-and-dance.”
Tickled, I help her learn the word. Then we get started on the boring homework about taking out the gross trash, having fun complaining as we do.
When we’re done with that and her other subjects, it’s time for me to start on dinner. Rae plays in her room while I cook, and then we eat together and decide what movie we want to watch in a little bit. We always watch a movie while we have some sort of light dessert.
After dinner, she helps me load the dishwasher and then offers to help me clean some more, so I happily accept.
We have just finished wiping down the counters and table when someone knocks on the door.
Although we aren’t expecting company, I have a feeling I know who’s out there in the hall.
Rae hasnoidea. “Ooh, ooh!” she says excitedly. “Who is it?”
I pretend it’s a total mystery to me. “I don’t know! I haven’t looked out the peephole yet.”
“Well, look out the peekhole and see!”
I snort as I head for the door. “Yes, ma’am.”
She gives a shocked little squeak. “Annie, I’m not ama’am!I’m a kid!”
“Well, that word isn’t just for old people!” I look through the peephole and, indeed, see Landon. “It’s for any girl or lady you—”
“The door, the door, the door!” she interrupts, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Who’s at the door?”
“Okay, yes, calm down. I’m opening the door. And it’s rude to interrupt people when they’re talking, little miss.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
I open the door and am momentarily frozen by how nice Landon’s green t-shirt looks on him; there’s simply no ignoring how it matches his eyes and how it’s just tight enough on his chest.
Then I’m blinking that away and greeting him with, “Hello.”
He both smiles and waves at me. “Hey! I’m sorry to just—”
