Page 26 of Cherishing Little Charlee

“I don’t think Pierce, uh, my Daddy will let me get away with anything,” I lamented with a long sigh.

“I think Daddies have eyes and ears everywhere,” Haven said knowingly. “Even in places you think they don’t!”

We walked over to her table in the center of her room and sat down. She held up a few coloring books: flowers, unicorns, bunnies. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings but it didn’t seem like an activity I’d enjoy. Which was silly considering how much I loved painting.

“You can color with your opposite hand if I hold the book for you, right?” Haven asked softly.

“You don’t have to hold the book. I can manage.” Looking at the pages though, it didn’t seem like I could.

“Oh! Wait, I have an idea! Today Haven had a glorious idea!!” She giggled and ran over to a huge white cabinet. “This is my craft center. Hang on!”

Her enthusiasm was contagious. I found myself giggling as she rushed back to the table with brightly colored tape. “What are you going to do? I’ll stop talking if you want me to.”

“Silllly! No, Charlee. I can tape the book in place!” Haven doubled over laughing, quickly recovered and flipped through the pages. “Look at this one. Do you like this picture?”

I was stunned in the best way possible. In the middle of the bunny color book was one very cute bunny with a large butterfly sitting on its nose. There was also a huge daffodil bending over like an umbrella over the pair. If I was going to choose a picture at random to start my coloring adventure it would be that one.

“Oh, Haven. It’s perfect.” I was sure my eyes lit up.

“Yay! Okay, let me secure it to the table so you can color it without having to hold it.” She grinned at her own cleverness.

I found myself impressed with her on more than one level. Though we’d become friends, I didn’t realize how easily she’d embraced her Little. I remember talking with her about it, and how it hadn’t been all butterflies and rainbows for her and Colton to get on the same wavelength in the beginning. Her joy was unbridled and unencumbered by her size. She wasn’t a tiny person. No, she was curvy like me. In fact, we were built very similarly. Something I’d overlooked. That knowledge bothered my heart. I never judged anyone for their weight. How silly of my brain to believe the rhetoric that size mattered. It didn’t. Not in any way that counted. We colored in pleasant silence for a while, concentrating on our masterpieces.

“I’ve been dumb, Haven.”

“Shhh, don’t let your Daddy’s ears hear you.” Haven pointed at the door.

“He can’t hear me up here, but I was not very smart. Not at all. I told Pierce I couldn’t be Little because of my body. I think it was a cop-out for not letting myself experience what I’d been wanting.” Tears slipped down my cheeks. Darn it. I cried far toooften for someone who didn’t usually let my emotions get the best of me.

“Aw, Charlee.” Haven stood and offered me a box of tissues then looked at my hand. Thinking better of it and trying to be supportive she wiped away my tears. “Oh, was that weird? I didn’t want you to have to stop coloring.”

“You’ve been such a good friend to me. No, it wasn’t weird. You’re so sweet! You’re like my best friend. I know you probably have lots of friends here,” I said, crying harder.

“I didn’t always,” she said seriously. “In fact, right before my wedding I didn’t believe I had any friends. Then Sadie and Haleigh threw me a bachelorette party sleepover at the Big House. And they orchestrated Tasmin coming with some help from Colt. It was such an incredible amount of love that I overlooked because I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself. Oh! Not that I think you’re doing that.”

“I didn’t think you were saying that about me. You have such good friends and are very loved, Haven. I guess I am too.”

“You are! Think about how many people volunteered at the last minute to ensure the production wasn’t delayed. You already had a crew but it doubled! We love the plays, and nothing will get in the way. What do they say?” She handed me a few tissues.

“The show must go on!” I said dramatically blowing my nose.

“That’s right! The showwillgo on!” Haven giggled.

“I owe you an apology. I was sort of pretending to be Little tonight. That wasn’t fair to you. I wasn’t trying to be fake,” I quickly added. “I just didn’t think maybe I could be. But it’s so easy to embrace that side of me with you. You… you are so exuberant.”

“Exuberant, huh?” she asked, giggling. “I think you mean loud.”

“No, no. Sadie is loud,” I replied. “I mean that in a nice way. After she stole those costumes–”

“Borrowed,” Haven corrected.

“Fine, fine. Semantics. After Sadieborrowedthe entire costume department, Master Derek had her volunteer to help me with the winter production. We got along really well. I count her as a friend too. I sort of thought that maybe she’d be pure chaos at the theater.”

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong.”

We both laughed, as we thought of our friend. Sadie was the embodiment of chaos in the nicest way possible.

“No, but in a good way. I love her energy. I feel silly thinking I couldn’t embrace the part of me that all of you do so easily. Or at least you make it look easy.”

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