Page 28 of Reclaimed Dreams
Chapter9
2 years ago
Jo pulled up outside the elementary school and waited for Daisy to come out. She still had on the makeup Natalie had done for her spot on the show this morning, and was riding the high of feeling beautiful, even if her husband had barely noticed.
The little girl came out of her classroom, and Jo got out of the car and waved. Daisy raced over, all smiles, clearly recovered from her tummy bug.
“Are you ready to bake some cookies?” Jo asked, grinning at the little girl who was nearly bouncing out of her shoes.
“Yes! I told Maddie that I was going to bake cookies today, and she said she wants one, so I said I would pack extra in my lunch for her tomorrow, so we gotta make enough, okay?” Daisy’s enthusiasm turned her thoughts into one long sentence.
Jo grinned, buoyed by the giddy excitement Daisy couldn’t quite contain. “We can definitely do that. Hop in! Is Maddie a friend?”
“I think so. She sits with me at lunch and asks me to play with her at recess.”
“That sounds like a friend to me. How was your day?”
As the young girl regaled her with stories from the front lines of second grade, Jo was transported back in time to when her own children were full of this joy and energy. She missed this time with little people. She was excited about the prospect of grandchildren, and saw no reason not to indulge her Nana impulses with Daisy. She’d even pulled the magic bookcase out of storage and stocked it with her kids’ old favorites in anticipation of having little readers in her house.
She’d been spending less time with the senior social activities, because they made her miss Dom too much. She had continued with the after-school tutoring, because it brought her such joy, but she could only do so much there.
This afternoon in the kitchen with Daisy was a gift. Jo got to share something she loved with a delightful little girl, and the little girl got to spend time with an adult who wasn’t her mama and eat treats. Win-win!
She wrapped Daisy up in a too-large apron and snapped a picture to send to Nat. If her son had half the brains she thought he did, perhaps this little one would be hers to spoil long into the future, but until then she’d just stand in as a surrogate. Reaching for a brown banana, Jo offered it to Daisy, who shook her head in disgust.
“You know, I used to think the same thing. I hated bananas in my lunch because they always got squished. But then I learned the magic.”
“What magic?”
“I’ll show you.”
While Jo pulled frozen bananas from the freezer, Daisy eyed her skeptically. Jo put the frozen bananas into the blender and let Daisy hold the button down until they magically turned the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. She scooped some into a bowl for Daisy and topped it with chocolate chips.
“See? Magic.”
And the little-girl giggles that filled her kitchen were a special kind of magic indeed.
“What do you call this?” Daisy asked.
“I don’t know what it’s called,” Jo replied.
“Banana Jo, Jo Banana, Jo Nana…JoNana! That’s it! JoNana’s magic ice cream.”
“JoNana is perfect. I love it. In fact, I insist on being called JoNana henceforth.”
“Fence, what?”
“It means from now on. Deal?” Jo held out her hand, and Daisy’s sticky fingers clasped hers firmly and shook.
“Deal.”
At the end of the afternoon, peanut butter cookies in tow, Jo brought Daisy back to what used to be Sofia’s apartment.
“Really, I can’t thank you enough for picking her up from school,” Natalie said, rising from her perch at the table.
“It was my pleasure!” Jo ran a hand over Daisy’s mop of dark hair. “I’ve always wanted to be an active grandma, but my children are proving to be remarkably slow in that department. If they don’t get a move on, I’ll miss my window.”
“You strike me as a woman with a lot of life and love ahead of her,” teased Natalie.
