Page 37 of Bae

Ivy laughed. “No. You look great! I just like to give him hell.”

Murphy sauntered in the kitchen, stopped in the doorway and stared at the three dogs, and flicked his tail. I went to the sliding doors and shooed all the pups outside.

“Want to help me feed the kitty?” I asked Nova, carrying her along with me.

She pointed at Murphy and nodded. I moved around, getting out his plate and a fresh can of food. I sat Nova on the counter, making sure I stood directly in front of her so she wouldn’t fall, and popped open the top of the can.

Nova lifted the spoon and was swinging it around, about to put it in her mouth.

“Here,” I told her and showed her the food. “Put some of this on the plate.”

Nova looked between me and the food, then dipped in the spoon. Of course she didn’t really scoop up the food, just got the spoon messy, then touched it onto the plate.

“Good job!” I praised her. “Murphy’s gonna love this.” As I spoke, I wrapped my hand around hers and the spoon and scooped out the food onto the plate. Every so often, she would glance up at me as we worked, and the weight of her innocent blue eyes seemed a little heavier than usual.

“All done,” I said and set aside the can and spoon.

Nova made some sounds and held out her arms. I lifted her, and we put the plate on the floor for Murphy, who was already at my feet and purring as loud as a lawn mower.

Nova clapped when he started eating. “He likes it!” I told her and patted her belly. Nova wiggled to get down, so I stood her on her feet but held her hands to steady her.

She wasn’t quite walking yet. She was close, but we’d yet to see her first independent steps.

“Rimmel,” Ivy said, and my heart sank. I just knew from the sound of her voice and the way she watched me with Nova this was coming.

I wished I could deny it or fake it. I’d already been trying to hide it. Clearly, I failed.

“Yeah?” I said a little brighter than I felt.

“Today is hard for you, isn’t it?” She went right for it. I admired that. At least this way the conversation would be faster.

“Is it that obvious?” I asked, soft.

She smiled sadly. “Not really. It just seemed like last night you were a little lost in thought, and with the party today…”

“Some days are just a little harder than others, you know?”

Ivy nodded, a remorseful look crossing her features. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t celebrate her daughter just because I’d lost mine.

“Today is Nova’s day,” I told her confidently. “A happy day. We shouldn’t let anything put a dark cloud over it.”

“You know I’m always here if you want to talk, right? No matter what,” she told me, and I nodded, unable to speak.

Ivy nodded once, then straightened away from the counter and held her arms out to Nova. “Why don’t we go see if Daddy and Uncle Romeo got the bounce house up without killing each other?”

Nova stepped toward her mother, and I helped steady her as she walked over.

A buzzing sound cut through the kitchen, and Ivy glanced up. “Someone’s at the gate.” I was about to offer to buzz them through, but she was already moving to the corner of the kitchen where the house “control panel” was.

The panel consisted of a large monitor that allowed us to view various positions around the property thanks to cameras. There was also a tablet where everything from music to locks were controlled by a few taps on the screen. One of those taps had the ability to open the gate and allow in visitors.

“Oh, it’s my mom,” Ivy chirped and pressed the button to open the gate. It was on a timer and would swing closed after a few seconds passed to allow the car to drive in.

“Grandma’s here!” Ivy told Nova.

Nova grinned and started to sink toward the floor. Guess her little legs were tired of standing. I lifted her back into my arms.

“We’ll go check on the guys. Give you a second with your mom when she gets up here.”

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