“I’ll say,” I heard Ivy mutter under her breath.
“’Kay, Just Jake. Where’s the puppy?”
I shook my head again; this kid was killing me. “Chief’s gated in the kitchen, but you can let him out. He won’t bite, but he might lick you. Just be gentle.”
“Got it.” Addie looked up. “Want to see me run? I’m so fast I’m invisible.”
I looked over her determined face. Her blond waves were tumbling over her shoulders and down her back. She was a miniature Ivy but sweet. She had on striped leggings and some dress on top that had a mind-numbing pattern with planets and stars. While she only came up to my waist, she seemed to have a huge personality in such a tiny package.
“How will I see you if you’re invisible?”
Ivy laughed as she moved out of the foyer and to the living room couch to the side. She dropped onto the leather sectional, then curled up in the corner, watching us. As she met my eyes, she raised a brow in a pseudo challenge. I noted that there were shadows under her eyes, like she hadn’t had enough sleep.
Got this,I tried to telegraph to her. She smirked, so who knows what message came through. My eyes ran over her fitted jeans, white shirt that clung just right, and that flowy thing that she called a kimono. While I knew she and Addie shared similar hairstyles of long wavy blond hair, today hers was up in some type of knot on her head, with a scarf wrapped around the base of the knot. She could be in an old photo from Woodstock and wouldn’t look a bit out of place.
Addie began to run in a circle around me, her arms pumping furiously. “See, Just Jake? I’m so fast I’m a blur.”
Laughing, I leaned down and grabbed her around the waist as she attempted to take another lap around. She giggled as she swung on my arm by her belly. “Enough running, peanut. How about some hot chocolate and mellows while we go meet Chief?”
“Yes!” Addie put her arms out like she was flying. “Does Chief like to dance?”
I propped her waist against my hip as I held her out so she could fly. My nieces used to beg me to do this for hours. Damn if I didn’t miss them. Chicago wasn’t far, but just far enough. Pausing our journey to the kitchen, I looked down. “Why would a dog dance?”
Addie let out a sigh that seemed to be old beyond her years. Apparently, that was a ridiculous question. “Just Jake, wehaveto have a dance party when we make the hot chocolate and mellows.”
“A dance party?”
“Yes, we need to dance.” She squirmed a bit in my grasp. “Fly please.”
I shook my head as I headed for the kitchen. How had this pint-sized dynamo taken charge of my whole house already? As we moved to the back of the house, I heard a bit of laughter coming from Ivy.
“I heard that!” I called.
“Bet you did, Just Jake,” she called back.
Good Lord. My relaxing Friday afternoon seemed to have taken a turn.
* * *
Addie and Chief were immediate best friends. Chief was a chocolate Lab just a bit older than she was. He’d be six next summer. And while my nieces weren’t over daily, or even weekly, he’d grown up with kids around. When we came into the kitchen, Addie immediately requested to be put down. Once I complied, she marched over to Chief with all the assuredness of someone much older and, it must be said, bigger.
“Chief, sit.”
The darn dog sat. I mean, he was trained and all, but this was not a trick he performed for my nieces. Come to think of it, who knows if they’d ever asked him?
Addie had put her hand out. Looking him in the eyes, she said, “Shake.”
Chief raised his paw and put it in her tiny hand.
She shook with him. “My name is Adaline Marie James, but you can call me Addie. It’s nice to meet you.”
And with that, she dropped his paw and wrapped her arms around his neck. Two seconds later, she popped up and shrieked, “Dance party.” I briefly wondered if one could spike one’s hot chocolate when drinking with a four-year-old or if that’d be frowned upon.
My phone was on the kitchen counter. I grabbed it so I could do Addie’s bidding. I mean, I could tell her no, but what fun would that be? “Do you know any bands, Addie?”
She began to bounce on her toes. “Yessssss. My favorite band is Fleeing Max. Do you have their music?”
Fleeing Max? I ran the name around my mind for a minute before hitting upon a possibility. “Do you mean Fleetwood Mac?”
