Lilly was alreadythere, standing on a chair and grabbing herself a bowl from the highest shelfin the cabinet. Her legs wobbled, the chair teetered, and I ran to assistbefore she could send herself flying.
“You know, God gave youa tall dad,” I reminded her, scooping her up and putting her feet on the floor.I grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and passed it to her waiting hands. “Takeadvantage of it.”
“You weresnoring,” she retorted, as though thatexplained everything.
With a grumbled sigh, Iwent to the sink and splashed cool water on my face. If I looked like hell, thegirls weren’t commenting on it, and I wondered if I always looked that way.
“Did you want cereal?”I asked Lilly, glancing over my shoulder.
She nodded. “I wantLucky Charms.”
I shook my head. “Wedon’t have Lucky Charms, sweetheart. I think all we have is Cheerios.” Or atleast the store brand.Happy-O’s.Glad-O’s. Giddy-O’s. I chuckled to myself as I walked to the cabinet wherewe kept the cereal, and opened it to find that, lo and behold, we did in facthave Lucky Charms. All I could do was shake my head and grumble one singleword. “Tess.”
“I told you,” Lillysaid triumphantly, snatching the box from my hands.
Shelly skipped into thekitchen in a unicorn t-shirt and underwear, and I raised an eyebrow. “Hey,missy, where did your pants go?”
“Annabel,” she repliedsimply, climbing onto a chair at the table.
I narrowed my gazesuspiciously. “Why does your sister have your pants?”
Shelly spread her armswide with a shrug. “Idunno.”
Grabbing another bowlfrom the cabinet, I put it on the table and instructed Lilly to also pour hersister somecereal, andleft the kitchen to find myyoungest daughter with her older sister’s pants on her head. She sat in theirroom, in front of the dollhouse, in her own little world, as she mumbled theday-to-day happenings of her dolls.
I knelt beside her,pulling her attention from the dance party in the dolly kitchen. She looked upat me, a smile stretched across her sweet face, and she said, “Hi Daddy.”
“Good morning,Annabel.” I grinned, laying a hand against the pants on her head. “You wantsome breakfast?”
Annabel looked at thedolls in her hands, then back to me as she dropped them unceremoniously. “LuckyCharms?”
“Apparently,” I mumbledwith a shake of my head. “Can we get rid of these?” I tugged at a leg of thepants, and she nodded. Pulling them off, I gestured over my shoulder. “Okay.Hop on.”
Without hesitation, shejumped onto my back, and I stood up. Annabel’s arms wrapped around my neck, andtogether we walked back to the kitchen, where Lilly and Shelly were alreadydigging through their cereal for the marshmallows. I rolled my eyes and putAnnabel on a chair.
“I hope you girlsthanked Tess for bringing these.” I took another bowl from the cabinet andpoured some cereal for Annabel. “That was very nice of her, you know.”
“She said you’d bemad,” Lilly tattled, rolling her eyes up to meet mine, as my hand dug into thebox.
“Oh, she said that, huh?”I asked, sitting at the last empty chair and stuffing a handful of cereal intomy mouth.
“Uh-huh.” Shellynodded.
“I’m not mad,” I toldthem honestly as I chewed. “I mean, I’m getting to eat sugar for breakfast. Howcan I be mad about that?”
***
“Tess,” I grabbed her attention, beforeshe could run into the girls’ room.
Turning around, shedidn’t even attempt to stifle her gasp. “Wow. You shaved?”
“Yeah,” I laughed,suddenly embarrassed as I smoothed a hand over my chin. “Thought it was timefor a change.”
She smiled warmly andsaid, “Well, it looks good.”
“Feels good, too,actually. My face feels lighter.” I chuckled, and dropped my gaze to the floor,remembering there was a reason why I wanted to talk to her.
I had rehearsed thismoment for thirty minutes, while I had taken a shower and buzzed the RedwoodForest from my face. I thought I’d gotten it down to a point where I couldspeak without feeling awkward. But it takes a lot, way more than I’d expected,for a man to express genuine gratitude, especially when it came to receivinghelp.
