“Much better.” She twirls around the room in a tutu, something fluffy in her arms. I look more closely ...
“Is that a real live animal in your hands?”
“It is. This is Reese’s! Leona got me a cat. Look at how sweet she is.”
With my eyebrow raised, I turn and look at Andi, and she nods.
“It’s true. There was nothing I could do. One minute, I was barfing over the toilet, and the next, Leona had already shoved the thing in Gabby’s arms.”
“Well, let me see this furball.” I turn back to Gabby and reach for the orange kitten.
“I love her so much, so so so so so much.” Gabby rattles on.
“Looks like she’s taken to you too,” I say, thinking a full-grown cat isn’t going to love being spun around like a ballerina inSwan Lake. “I have a gift for you too, although now I’m thinking it’s a bit underrated next to a cat.”
“Oh, I want it!” After depositing Reese’s on the floor, Gabby leaps to the couch.
I peel off my boots and pad to the kitchen, hoisting the gift over to Gabby. Andi follows, no doubt rolling her eyes.
Gabby rips off the paper and is dancing again. “A machine like at FunZone. Yes!” There’s a lot of fist bumping and turning the enormous box around so she can read the details.
“Can we put it together?”
“Gabby ... thank you?” Andi prompts her.
“Reid, I love it!” Gabby hops into my arms and throws her arms around my neck.
While I wish it was her mom and we were alone and naked, I find myself liking her embrace. Not in a sicko way, but a proud moment or some shit like that.
“Come on,” I tell her. “We’ll set it up. Let me run down to the car. I brought some tools because I didn’t know what your mom had.”
“Did you not think of anything?” Andi jokes.
She pokes my side when Gabby runs after Reese’s, following her to the hallway.
“Thanks,” she whispers. “Obviously, you know her better than me. The knee socks and long underwear I got her were a tad underwhelming.”
“Oh, come on. Everyone loves knee socks.” I wink, but now I’m on to knee socks and Andi and certain fantasies that have no place in our G-rated situation.
Back up in Andi’s place with my tools, I tell her to sit. She’s the last to get the bubonic plague, and I’m sure she probably needs to put her feet up.
“Here, hold it like this,” I tell Gabby, her blond curls falling in her face. I place her hand on the corner so the two pieces fit flush, and I screw it together.
Immediately, she’s bouncing and clapping and jumping.
For a second, I think I’m going to be sick again, but I remember this is Gabby and smile. If I’m going to be around, there’ll be a lot of jumping.
When it’s finished, Gabby sets about playing nonstop.
This is my time with Andi, and I make her a cup of ginger tea and sit down next to her. “Excited for New Year’s?”
“You better hope I don’t wear my robe.”
“Fine with me.”
“Ha-ha.” She jests, but I mean it.
“I made a reservation at a small Italian place in Lawrenceville. It’s a BYOB place, and no special menu for New Year’s Eve.”
