Ronin clenches his jaw and relays the message to Ashley, then grabs an envelope and scribbles her address on it. “Try not to kill my nieces, if you can help it.”
I nod and grab the paper, texting the information to Jules. As always, she's game to help out family. Less than half an hour later, we both show up at Ashley’s house, which is on a big corner lot about a ten-minute walk from my house, and her backyard is a kid’s wonderland.
When she opens the door, recognition crosses her face, but thankfully she is nicer about it than Ronan was.
"Hey, Ashley, long time no see.”
“Hey, Roly. Jules.”
I say a small prayer of thanks that she didn’t dead-name Jules as three young women crowd around her at the door.
“Is Daddy okay?"
“Is Daddy going to die?”
“No, he's not going to die. He’s at the hospital, and the doctors will make him better.” That’s the oldest one, caring for her two younger siblings. It’s really kind of sweet.
Ashley raises her eyebrows at me, then responds to her children. “Lily’s right. Daddy is going to be okay. It’s a little scary what happened, but I’m going to go to check on him, and Roly and Jules here are going to watch you. They’re… friends… of Mommy and Daddy’s from high school, and Roly is the one who gave Daddy the medicine he needed.”
She was kind enough to leave off the part where I was the reason he needed the medicine in the first place.
The kids look at us distrustfully. Jules, who is a little taller than me, is dressed in Audrey Hepburn casual, with a striped boatneck shirt, cigarette pants, and black ballerina slippers. I look like I’ve been helping their dad move all day long. I’m sure we make quite the pair.
Jules sees their trepidation and smiles broadly at them. Pulling some activity books from her Mary Poppins bag, she says, “I came prepared with stuff to do, but I see you've got a trampoline in your backyard. Did you know that Roly here can do all kinds of flips on a trampoline?”
The oldest one, Lily, steps forward and speaks again. “We just got it, but I haven’t figured out how to do a flip yet.”
Ashley looks doubtful, so I say, “You’ve got a great enclosure around your trampoline, so it would be pretty easy for me to show them how to flip and it’ll be perfectly safe.”
The middle one’s eyes light up. “Can you show me, too?”
I throw Ashley a quick look, and she shrugs, I guess giving me permission. “I can show all of you, if you’d like.”
The girls jump around and whoop like I've given them the best news ever, and not at all like I’d nearly killed their father earlier in the day. The youngest one, so sweet and adorable, tugs on Jules’s hand.
“You’re tho pretty. Can you jump with uth?”
Jules and I look at each other, half-melted already. She’s missing her two front teeth, and that lisp… oh my god. Jules kneels down to the little girl’s level, taking her hand. “Of course! These are my trampoline clothes.”
The little girl wrinkles her nose adorably. “My name ith Luna. Why does your voith thound funny?”
Jules laughs and says, “My name is Jules, and my voice sounds funny because I’m transgender. I’m a woman, but I was born with boy parts, so I have a deeper voice.”
The middle one speaks up. “I’m Molly. My friend Benji is trans, but they’re not sure about their gender yet.”
Jules raises a shoulder. “They may not have a gender.”
Molly thinks on this and nods. “Weird.”
“Orcool,” Jules says, smiling even more broadly.
Lily, the oldest, tilts her head. “Definitely cool.”
Ashley claps her hands together, a funny look on her face as she looks between me and Jules. “Okay, babies. Mama needs to go check on Daddy, and I’ll be home a bit later. Are y’all okay to hang out with Roly and Jules?”
“Yay!”
“Yes!”
