Page 71 of Her Pretty Words

She lifts her chin. “Okay, then if we do have strawberries, you have to eat themforever.” She emphasizes the last word. Forever sounds like a long time.

“And if we don’t have strawberries, then you can’t eat one ever again,” I say.

She puts her hand out for me to shake, and then we race to the kitchen to find two bowls of cereal. “Ha!” I point a finger at her, but she doesn’t look like she lost. She smiles proudly. I follow her gaze to the bowl and realize we’re having cereal…with sliced strawberries mixed in.

I slump my shoulders and frown. I’m really not going to like the outcome of this loss.

Delilah sticks her tongue at me right as dad comes up from behind us and kisses both of our heads. He ruffles my hair and then takes a seat across from us at our dining table. “Let me guess, you two already made a bet for today.”

“Yup! And guess what, Daddy?” Delilah beams.

“What, pumpkin?”

“Daniel has to eat strawberries forever.”

“Whatever,” I mumble. “I’ll win tomorrow’s bet.” I take a bite of cereal, milk dripping from my chin.

My mom’s perfume fills the room and suddenly my chair is being pushed closer to the table with a loud squeak against the wood floor. “How many times do I need to remind you to push yourself in? Look at your lap,” she says. I glance at the milk staining my pajamas with a shrug.

She kisses my head just like dad did, then sits beside him with a mug of steaming coffee. Her smile is wide and contagious when my dad presses his lips into her cheek and whispers something in her ear. “Hurry up and finish breakfast so you two can get dressed,” mom says. She takes a long sip of coffee and shuts her eyes like it’s the most delicious thing she’s tasted.

“Mom,” Delilah says.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Can wepleaselisten to Taylor Swift on the way to the festival?”

“We’ve heard every single song in her album a million times,” I mumble my complaint.

“So? You don’t even want to go.”

“You don’t?” dad asks with a frown.

I shake my head.

“But you love the festival. It won’t be open again until the fall, you know?” Mom says.

“Does this have something to do with a certain brunette girl leaving this afternoon?” Dad eyes me.

“I want to play with her one last time,” I say. I take a sip of my apple juice and glance at her grandparent’s house through the window.

My mom sighs. “There’s no one to watch you, sweetie pie. I’m sorry.”

I look at the floor.

“What if we asked the Brookes’s to watch him? We can make it home before they leave for their flight,” Dad says. I pipe up.

My mom looks considerate for a second, then says, “I’ll call and ask.” I want to hop up and down. She talks on the phone for a little while, and when she puts it down, she says, “Finish eating so you can get ready.”

I smile widely, but when I look at my sister, she’s frowning.

I scoop cereal into my mouth until there’s only red fruit and milk in the bowl. I stand to take the dish to the sink when Delilah yells, “Stop!” She peeks inside my bowl. “You have to eat all of them.”

I groan and eat one. She laughs at the way my nose scrunches in disgust. I put them all in my mouth, nearly choking as I chew. Once I finish, I run to the bathroom we all share and brush my teeth as fast as I can. I put on my clothes and when I run back into the main living area, my dad laughs. “Daniel, come here.” He pulls my shirt off and turns it around. “You put it on backward, goof.” Oops. I sit on his lap for a minute while he fills out his daily cross word puzzle. My mom and sister are both getting ready, so it’s just the two of us. I grab the pencil out of his hand and write my name in one of the rows since I just learned how.

“Very good, buddy.”

I touch the face of his watch. The glass is cold against my finger.

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