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When I ran it by Fee, she screeched so loud, my ears were buzzing for minutes. We brought a lot of her toys to the living room, and I arranged the space like a spa.
“Now lie back, Ms. Delgado,” April instructed. “I’ll rub the lotion on your face. You’ll look like a two-year-old again.”
“I don’t even remember what it was like,” Fee said, with a sigh.
I giggled at her dramatics. “Now, try not to move your feet too much, otherwise I’ll ruin your toenails.”
We were taking turns, taking care of each other and “gossiping,” which was extra interesting with a four-year-old. We learned all the dirt on Maribel and her family, how Hanz was the bad guy trying to con Anna and Elza, and that Gabe was her best friend in the whole wide world.
She recitedMoanaline by line, listed all her favorite candies, professed her love for herPapi’spancakes, and admitted she was afraid of Andrea. It was an information bombardment, going from sweet to entertaining in 2541 words per subject.
“I also want pink hair like April.” My friend gazed at me, looking for instruction.
“I think we can arrange that. There’s a cool way to do that, and it won’t last forever. By the time you get tired of the color, it’ll already be gone.”
She’s been hinting at it every time we went to By Any Beans and met April, so I knew it was coming, and I was prepared. I bought a few different colors of crepe paper so we could paint the tips of our hair and indulge her, without crossing any lines with her dad.
After rubbing the green thing on Fee’s face, April finished her job with slices of cucumber. “All done here. I’ll time it so we’ll know when to remove the product, then we’ll deal with your hair. Until then, I’ll work on Lisa’s fingernails.”
“What if we get hungry?”
“Don’t you worry about that, Ms. Delgado. I brought tons of goodies from Beans, and Lisa assured me we have what it takes to bake cookies.”
Fee stood up, the slices of cucumber falling onto her lap. “Really? We can do that, Lissie?”
“We sure can. As soon as we finish our beauty part of the day, we’ll get to the cooking.”
She jumped into my arms, smearing green goo on my face. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m so happy.”
I laughed and helped her lie down again without dirtying the sofa. “I’m happy, too.”
She crossed her little hands over her lap as April placed the slices on her eyes once again. “I never had a day like this.”
“I’m sure your dad makes tons of funny stuff with you.”
“He does. We play with everything, we paint nails, we camp in the living room, we watch movies. But he needs to learn about beauty things. I’m better than him. Can you teach him, Lissie?”
I wished April’s eyes were covered by cucumbers, so she wouldn’t see me blushing. Not only did she see it, though, but she was also extra aware of my reactions all day whenever we mentioned Danny.
“Sure.”
“My mom never did this,” Fee admitted quietly. Thankfully, it wasn’t often she brought her mother up because I never knew how to react, so I just let her speak.
“What do you mean, Fee?” April asked.
Sofia started fidgeting with her fingers. “She gets mad when I play or say something too loud. She doesn’t like to play or when I sing. Says I bother her, and that my voice isn’t good.”
I was never one to call another woman a “bitch.” But oh, how I wanted to.
“What about your father?” The always-colorful April even started to speak softly and play with Fee’s hair, as the situation required.
“He was mad at her when she said that. He loves it when I sing.” Her voice turned brighter. “He sings with me and dances, and he says I’m great. Can we get the lotion off?”
April walked with Sofia to the bathroom to cleanse, and I thought the subject was over. Somehow it was, but it turned into even more dangerous waters.
After they got out of the bathroom, Fee asked to leave the hair dye for later because she was hungry. We went into the kitchen, and I turned some music on so we could bake and eat unhealthy things.
Between instructions on what we should do about the cookies, April started asking Sofia questions. They were becoming fast friends. “So, what else do you like to do? What do you and your father do when he’s not working?”
