Her toothy smile brings one to my face as well. “Ladybug!” She launches herself into my arms and Lo joins in a few seconds later. “Hey Shortcake. How was school today?”
Lo doesn’t reply with words, but she digs through her backpack to show me a collage she’s made. I see cutouts of butterflies, dogs, horses, waterslide, sparkly shoes, cookies, baking equipment, a duck and a goat. “Shortcake, did you make this?”
She nods eagerly.
“It’s so cool. Dad, look at this.” I twist around and show him the thick paper with dozens of pictures glued to it.
He steps closer and leans in to look before he smiles. “That’s very good. Are these all the things you like?”
She nods again, a little less eager and a little more wary. That’s when I remember I should reintroduce them.
“Girls, do you remember my dad?”
“Yes,” Delta says, and Lo nods once.
“Dad, this is Delta and Lo.”
“It’s nice to see you again, ladies.”
All at once I notice Delta has clearly cut her bangs again. “Ladybug,” I gasp. “What happened to your hair?”
If she had a tail it’d be tucked between her legs right now. “I didn’t mean to.”
“What do you mean, you didn’t mean to? Did you pick up the scissors?”
She frowns. “Yeah, but I didn’t mean to cut this much.”
I sigh, wanting to gently tug at the short remaining curls. “They had almost grown back,” I say, more to myself than to her. I place my hands on my thighs as I kneel before her. “Hmm. Tell you what.” I untie my hair and let it fall down. My hair is thick and a little wavy and can cover my entire chest. “I’ll let you cut my hair whenever you want if you promise to never cut yours again.”
Her eyes widen. “Really?”
“Sure, why not? I don’t need all this hair.”
“Can I cut it all off?”
“Well,” I sigh. “If you do that, you’ll have to wait a long time for it to grow out before you can cut it again. So maybe just a bit at a time?”
“I can definitely do that.”
“Perfect! Whenever you feel the urge to cut your hair, you come find me. Deal?”
“Deal! Jonah... and Mr. Jonah’s dad, do you wanna come over for a snack? Aunt Amber always makes us a snack when we get home.”
“Oh man, I wish we could,” I say. One, because I love snacks, but two, even though Renée and I aresomethingnow (I hope), she still hasn’t invited me in her home yet. She’s not home from work, and I will not be crossing that line until she says so. “Sorry, girls. My dad and I need to finish working on this project,” I say with a thumb thrown over my shoulder. “And then I have a rugby meeting after this.”
“Okay,” Delta says. “But can we come over soon to play with your animals?”
“Of course! Just make sure your mom’s cool with it. Oh, and before you go...” I stop them before they runoff and pat my pockets. I find a receipt from earlier today and pluck a marker from Lo’s backpack before writing a note and folding it up. “When your mom gets home, give her this. But no peeking!”
Renée
Before I even reach my front door, it’s swinging open and the girls come barreling out. “Hi,” I laugh. “What a reception.”
“We have a message for you,” Delta hollers, waving around a small piece of white paper like she’s signaling for an emergency crew to save her. “It’s from Jonah. We didnotread it.” She says that last part as if she’s on trial.
Two notes in one day? The last one he had attached to the roses, read:Your hair is red, My eyes are blue. I’m not very good at poetry, but I will be for you.I may have read it several... dozen times today.Mayhave.
She hands me the note and I gape at her. “Did you cut your hair again?”
