Page 67 of Baby Blue
He stroked his smooth jawline. “Yeah, I decided maybe it was time. I was getting tired of taking care of it anyway.” It was the first time in years he hadn’t had facial hair, and it felt kind of weird, but also kind of nice. There’d been a moment earlier when he’d looked into the mirror and wondered if he really had a “dad” look, so he’d decided it was time for a change. It was the new BlueWallace, clean-shaven and hair pulled back in a low ponytail. It hadn’t occurred to him that they’d make such a fuss. “Do I look okay?”
“Okay? Babe… I wish I was going out with you instead of staying here! You stay away from the single teachers, you hear me?” Anne chided.
Blue grinned and rested his forearms on her shoulders. “You’re my only girl.”
“Good. Remember that.”
“Do I look okay?”
“You look very handsome,” Polly said with a smile. “Is it time to go yet?”
“We can. Call Crystal and see if she’s ready. If she is, we’ll head that direction.” Blue straightened his tie a little. “I don’t know if I tied this thing right. Is it okay?” Why was he so nervous just because Anne wouldn’t be beside him?
“It looks great. Polly, get off the phone and come over here.” Anne was holding her phone in her hand, and Blue knew what that meant. “Get up there beside him and let me get a couple of pictures.”
“Mom! Come on!” Polly whined.
“We want pictures for later on. Smile, both of you.” Blue drew his arm around and behind Polly and rested his hand on her shoulder. “Ready? Three, two, one…” The camera on the phone flashed. “Okay, one more the other direction.” Tipping her phone sideways, she took another pic. “There we go. You two have fun. Oh, wait?the corsages! Here you go,” she said and pulled the boxes out of the refrigerator.
“Do I get mine now?” Polly asked, bouncing on her toes.
“No. After dinner. I’ll give them to you and Crystal both. Let’s go. Bye, babe,” Blue said and kissed Anne on the cheek. “And you too, pumpkin,” he told Indie as he passed her play yard and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Bye, Toady!”
“Bye! Bye, Polly!”
The girl just rolled her eyes. “Tell your brother goodbye,” Blue directed.
“Bye, Toady.” She glared at Blue. “Happy now?”
Blue hiked up an eyebrow. “He’s the only brother you’ve got. Be nice to him.”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay. Let’s go. Crystal’s waiting for us.”
Thirty minutes later, they were seated in the café and enjoying soft drinks. Blue had made both girls stand until he could help them into their seats. Wasn’t that what a gentleman did? He’d given it some thought on the way, and he’d decided he wanted Polly to be treated like a lady so she’d expect that from any boy she dated. If he treated her like a lady, and treated her mother that way in her presence, her expectations would be high. Maybe she’d pick someone better than Blue to marry. In his way of thinking, that was pretty much anyone.
As soon as they got to the car, he gave them their corsages?wrist corsages, to be exact. Apparently that was what all the girls wanted those days, and he’d never seen one before, but it was cool. They didn’t have to carry them, and he didn’t have to pin them on. It was a win/win.
“Aren’t you going to escort us in?” Crystal asked as they headed toward the gymnasium at the high school.
“Uh, okay.” He glanced from girl to girl. “How do I…”
Crystal pointed to his stomach. “Put your hands on your belly. Now, make soft fists but leave your arms bent like that.” Before he realized what was happening, one girl had taken his left arm and the other his right. “Like at a wedding.”
Blue shook his head. “I’ve never been to a wedding.”
Crystal’s eyes popped open wide. “Never been to a wedding?”
Polly rolled her eyes. “He was a foster kid. He didn’t get to do a lot of things we’ve done, Crystal.” She patted his arm with her free hand, and for some reason, the matter-of-fact way she said it didn’t embarrass him. “It’s okay, Blue. You’re doing good. That door right there,” she said and pointed.
The music was already pouring out of the big speakers on the stage, and there was a DJ working the sound system and lights. There were streamers and balloons everywhere, red and yellow ones. “What’s with the red and yellow?”
“That’s our school colors,” Crystal explained. “Our mascot is a bull. The Jonas Ackerman High School Bulls.”
“Oh! Nice.” Blue didn’t know what else to say. That was better than turtles or garden slugs, he supposed.
“Look! There’s Katie and Jillian! Come on!” Polly almost screamed to Crystal. “Bye, Blue! Gotta go!”
“So what do I…” They left him standing there, and Blue wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do. Sit down? Mill around? Then he noticed a group of men sitting on the bleachers across the gym. Dads, he supposed, all cast off when their little girls saw their friends and abandoned them. He didn’t know quite how to approach any of them, so he just found a seat and sat down.
