Page 55 of Promised Summer
“I missed you, Daddy!” Karla said and hugged my neck so tight she almost choked me.
I laughed and gently loosened her grip. For being so tiny, she had quite the power on her.
“I missed you too, baby, but I promised we’ll be together all day today,” I told her. That seemed to mollify her. She nodded and wiggled in my arms to be let down.
“Are you hungry? Do you want to help me make breakfast?” I asked her. She nodded and held out her hand for me to take. I smiled and led us into the kitchen to start up some pancakes for the family.
Mom came out of her room just as we finished the first batch. She smiled wickedly when she saw me and sauntered over. “Looks like someone had a good night yesterday.”
“Mom, can we not?” I whined and added another batch of pancakes to the pan.
Mom chuckled and bent over to Karla’s height. “Why don’t we leave the cooking to Daddy, and Nana will do your hair? I was thinking mermaid braids today. What do you think?”
“Yeah!” Karla yelled and abandoned me to follow her nana to the living room.
I let out a sigh of relief, having once again successfully avoided talking about relationships with my mom. She already knew Jones and I were together without even having to ask. Hell, with how up-to-date she was with the local gossip, I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn she knew about us dating before even I did. All that to say, she just liked teasing me.
My grandma came out for breakfast just as I finished cooking. Karla went to greet her gigi and showed off the beautiful braid Mom did for her. Mom adorned the single braid with white pearls that popped out against Karla’s black hair.
My grandma complimented her, which made Karla giggle happily. She ran toward me and gestured for me to bend over. When I did, she clipped a tiny pearl in my hair. It’d grown out just long enough to keep the tiny hair ornament in place.
“Now we match!” Karla said with another giggle.
“That we do, baby,” I agreed and glanced at my mom, who was fixing her gray-blonde hair to be identical to Karla’s. Mom’s fingers expertly weaved through her hair without even looking. She smiled our way with pure joy and love on her face. Maybe her meddling and gossiping weren’t so bad, after all.
Since I didn’t have any meetings today, I left the pearl in my hair. Karla was endlessly happy about this and would interrupt her playtime every so often to come tell me I looked pretty.
Just as I closed my laptop and finished work forthe day, Karla ran over to me again. “Daddy, I have something to tell you,” she said seriously.
“That I look pretty?” I teased her, and she nodded and giggled. I would never get tired of hearing that sound.
She plopped herself over my leg and hung there. “Can we go see Papa and Lily?”
I was still hesitating about whether to let her keep calling Jones that, but I wanted to talk to Jones before making a decision. At this point, Karla definitely knew what the word meant and kept choosing to call him that. Though, I guess it didn’t help that Jones kept responding to it.
“You miss them?”
She nodded. “I miss them, so I want to see them. I miss Mommy, but I can’t see her.”
“Oh, baby,” I said, tears prickling my eyes. I pulled her onto my lap and hugged her. “I miss your mommy, too. So, so much, but she belongs to the sky now. But I know she’s looking down, watching us.”
I’d had the talk with her, gently telling her that her mom had died, but I still wasn’t sure she understood what death meant beyond her mommy being gone, and she wasn’t coming back.
She nodded into my chest. I stroked her back in comfort. “Why don’t we see if we can find Mommy in the stars tonight? Her light shines brightest at night.”
“Okay!” Karla piped up, sounding excited. She thentilted her head and asked, “Can we go see Papa and Lily now?”
“Let me ask if it’s okay first,” I replied with a laugh. She sat on my lap, legs swinging on either side of mine as she urged me to call him.
Jones was quick to pick up and told me to get our asses over there. Karla hopped off my lap and ran to our room to pack. I laughed when she returned a few minutes later with her bag filled with nothing but her toys and Puppy stuffed at the very top.
Shaking my head, I packed another bag with our clothes and necessities. Karla ran to her nana and gigi, happily telling them she was going to find her mommy in the stars tonight.
“Oh, baby. She’s going to sparkle so bright for you,” my mom said and pulled Karla into a hug before letting my grandma have a turn.
We said one last goodbye, and then we were on our way. Karla sang ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ the entire car ride there. She totally butchered the words, but surprisingly, she stayed perfectly in tune. Perhaps I had a little singer in the making on my hands.
Jones was in the rocking chair when I pulled up to his cabin. The sight was becoming very familiar and comforting. The only difference was that Lily wasn’t waiting with him this time.
