Page 110 of Nave
“Have a fun new idea?” I asked, always careful not to make it sound like it was silly how she was often changing her mind. She’d gone so many years without having any choices. It was natural that she would struggle making decisions now.
“I was thinking maybe of doing a half-wall of beadboard or board-and-batten and then doing a sweet wallpaper on the upper half.”
“Sounds like a great idea.”
“I know I said I wanted solid…”
“It’s important to get it just right,” I cut her off. “Besides, it’s not like either of us are doing the work.”
“Have I mentioned how much I like having prospects to do the hard work?” she asked.
“Even if you feel guilty about it and have to cook for them?”
“I still can’t believe they ate that stew. It was so bad.”
“It was… edible.”
“Sure, if you held your nose and swallowed, like with medicine when you’re a kid.”
“It was, you know, a learning lesson.”
“I can’t believe no one got food poisoning.”
“It wasn’t undercooked.”
She just forgot, you know, broth. So it was water and veggies and spices. Not the worst thing I’d ever eaten, but she’d definitely made better meals. Her specialties were meals that were the grown-up version of cheap childhood meals. LikeHamburger Helperand beef-a-roni.
As a whole, though, she asked me to cook.
And I finally understood why my father seemed to like cooking so much. It wasn’t necessarily the act itself (though I did enjoy that too), but because it was making something for someone you loved.
Yeah, loved.
Honestly, it had been that for weeks, but it was just a few days ago when we’d both said it. We had bellies full of pizza and garlic knots and had both fallen into bed to try to sleep off our food comas. She’d snuggled into me and said the words. It was like a final puzzle piece in my life had clicked into place.
“I definitely think it’s the middle one,” Lolly decided. “For the lower half.”
“Sounds perfect.”
These days, damn near everything did.
Lolly - 3 months
“Matilda,” Luna suggested as she passed the doorway of the library conference room.
So far, all of her baby name suggestions had been based on books. Because, well, it was Luna. Books were her life.
The last one, when I’d first walked in to take my class, had been March. Not like the month, but like the March sisters fromLittle Women.
“That might go on the list,” I decided.
Ever since we learned the sex, Nave and I had been looking for the perfect name. We really wanted a name that was longer and more adult-sounding but had cute ways to cut it down into a nickname.
Matilda fit the bill. She could be a doctor, a lawyer, a CEO with a corner office.
But also, Matty or Tilly were the perfect little kid nicknames.
“How did your class go?” Luna asked as she rearranged the books on her cart.
