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Up until now, I managed my time with children so as not to trigger myself too badly. Spending as much time as I did with Brayleigh, the trigger was bound to get flipped. Worry over her wellness and safety plagued me, and the OCD thoughts that battered me at the most inopportune moments, well, those were of the soul-destroying variety.
Hope balanced a tray of coffees and a box of donuts in one hand, a gift bag in the other. I hurried to open the door for her.
“Thanks!” She smiled and gave me a once-over as she passed me the bag. “Do you ever not look perfect?” She leaned over and smacked a kiss onto my cheek as she blew into the kitchen.
It wasn’t hard to see where Brayleigh got her energy. “You’re hardly one to talk,” I retorted with a laugh. “What did you bring me?”
I found myself weirdly relaxed around Hope. Even Lucky noticed, commenting that I was not as controlled or formal around her. It made sense. Straightforward and bursting with joyful energy like Junie, but emotional and affectionate like Ruby, with seemingly no hang-ups, she was easy to read and even easier to be with.
“Look in the bag,” she answered as she opened the donut box and assessed its contents to make her selection before dropping into a chair.
I peeked in and pulled out a beautiful silk scarf. Swirls of gilt-edged color reminiscent of a summer sunset ran through my hands.
“It’s beautiful.” I couldn’t look at her and I wasn’t sure what to say. When I asked her what she brought me, I was referring to the donuts. I hadn’t expected a gift. When she spoke, I lifted my chin.
“It’s for your hair,” Hope mumbled around a mouthful of donut before swallowing and touching an elegant finger to her lips. “Sorry. When I’m at Lucky’s, I forget I’m a lady.”
“It’s really beautiful,” I said again. “Thank you, but you shouldn’t have.” My voice sounded stilted and formal. I didn’t like it.
She waved my words away. “I didn’t. Not really. I’m a fashion buyer. I get freebies all the time. When I saw this, I thought of you.” She looked me over again. “What size are you?” She stood up and circled me, muttering, “You’re kind of pear-shaped. Plush booty. Hard to see your thighs in this outfit but probably relative to your butt. Yeah, for sure. Shapely calves. Hm. Tiny ribcage. Big boobs. Narrow shoulders.” She finally made it back to my face to find me staring at her, mouth gaping. She stepped back, a look of horror on her face.
“I’m sorry!” Her eyes jerked back and forth as she retreated into her head, then closed them and groaned. “I’m sorry,” she said again, looking at me. “That sounded horrible. I’m used to looking at models and assessing them for fit, and you’re so damn gorgeous and you’d be such a pleasure to dress and I was thinking about what I had in stock that might suit you and thinking out loud which obviously I should stop doing-”
I cut her off with a laugh. “It’s okay.” I sat down at the table, my shoulders shaking. The more I thought about it, the more I laughed.
Hope grinned at me as she sat back down and took another bite.
Lucky walked in with Brayleigh in his arms, a bemused expression on his face which only made me laugh harder.
He looked at Hope. “Did you put your foot in it again?”
Hope nodded with a smirk. “Both.”
I snorted, and Lucky’s mouth fell open.
“That didn’t sound like no bell,” Hope commented, her voice muffled by more donut.
Lucky laughed and punched her lightly on the shoulder. “Stop talking!”
“She circled me,” I snorted again, then covered my face. “Like a prize cow.”
Hope guffawed, and Lucky chuckled harder, though I doubted he could understand what I said.
Brayleigh wiggled out of his arms, and he lowered her to the floor.
“Said I was pear-shaped and had big boobs! Wondered about my thighs!” I bent nearly in half. “Guessed they were relative to my…” I laughed harder. “My ‘plush booty’!”
“Hope!” Lucky yelled, his laughter breaking through.
Hope spread her arms wide. “What? Did I lie?” She shrugged, owning her lunacy. “I want to dress her. She’s gorgeous.” She pointed at me with the half donut she had left and raised her eyebrows as she nodded. “You could swing me the other way.”
Done.
I crossed my arms on the table and buried my face, listening to Lucky laughingly reprimand Hope while she offered him a donut.
Brayleigh attempted to crawl up into my lap. I wiped the tears from beneath my eyes and lifted her. She straddled my lap and turned her cornflower blue eyes up to my face as she touched her chubby finger to my necklace.
“Mine sparky?”
