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She looks surprised. “Is there not? I had no idea.”
“It’s true.”
“Huh. Learn something every day, don’t we?”
“For sure.”
Rae takes this opportunity to tell me she started learning to subtract‘bigger numbers’today (two-digit numbers, Liv clarifies). She also learned about the different kinds of rocks, and she even got to hold them because they were passed around in her class. The metamorphic ones were her favorites.
“Because they’re awesome,” I say.
“Yes,” she agrees with a hilariously solemn nod. “They arereally awesome.”
Thinking about metamorphic rocks makes her think of volcanoes, which makes her think of Scar’s song onThe Lion King,which is what she decides she wants to watch as her after-dinner movie.
She asks if I’m going to stay and watch it with her and Liv, and it sounds fun despite all the sad Mufasa shit, but I catch Liv peeking at the clock with a distinct,‘It’s getting late,’look on her face. And it is; I don’t know what time Rae goes to sleep every night, but it’s probably soon.
“I’m not sure I can stay this time,” I tell her. “It’s getting close to your bedtime, yeah? I don’t want to be in the way of whatever y’all have to do for that.”
Liv is clearly relieved by my answer.
“Yeah, sorry, baby,” she says to Rae, “but you and I have to wind down during the movie this time. We didn’t start it early enough since we went to the park.”
Rae looks disappointed for a second, but then she perks up and asks me, “How about next time when you come eat the chicken alfredo?”
I snigger at the reminder. Liv looks like she’d like to roll her eyes, but she can’t hide a smile.
“Yes, I’ll watch a movie with you guys next time,” I promise Rae.
“Next time,” Liv agrees.
“Yay!” Rae squeaks.
Now that wrapping the day up is on our minds, we all finish eating pretty quickly. While Liv deals with the little bit of leftovers, I load the dishwasher, ignoring her insistence that she can do it herself. Then we all go into the living room so Rae and I can show off our pictures.
When we present Liv with her surprise picture, she gasps. Her eyes light up as they take in the colorful paper. “Oh my goodness! I love it!”
Rae is delighted. “Look what I wrote!” She reaches up and taps at the words she scrawled along the top in a variety of colors.
“‘Annie, you are my very most favorite person ever. I love you times a thousand million billion trillion.’” Liv’s eyes soften, and she looks at her niece with pure adoration on her face. “Oh, this is so special. You’re my very most favorite person ever and I love you exactly that much, too! Actually, I love you even more.”
Rae’s little face straight-up glows.
Damn it,Ilove knowing these girls.
Liv reaches out and tugs Rae into a one-armed hug, then looks at the picture again. I can tell she’s silently reading the text bubble I drew by her crayon face.
After a second, she lets out a laugh and reads aloud, “‘Yum! This peanut-butter-and-chocolate ice cream is the best!’” She raises her eyebrows at me.
“Well, look at that,” I say teasingly. “Picture-Liv has the right idea!”
She laughs again. “You arenevergoing to change my mind about that, Landon Wintermute.”
“Never say‘never,’Liv McKellar!”
Rae tries to giggle about how that rhymes, but she starts yawning. Reminded that it’s nearing bedtime, Liv tells her to say goodnight to me and go put on her pajamas. I find myself in another big hug, and I thank Rae for coloring with me. She thanks me, too, then yawns again and walks away.
For a second, I look at Liv and wonder if I’ll finally get a hug from her, too.
