“Is David the Daddy you played with a couple of times before?”
“Yes Daddy, Mitchell. You met him once. He has a boy now named Jordan, but he’s not a Little. They play on the big people side.”
Chase and David. The names rolled around in my head as if somehow familiar. Maybe I’d met them before.
“Are you ready to go home, Jamie?”
He took my hand and laid his head on my chest. “Yes, Daddy. I seepy.”
“Okay, sweet boy. Say goodbye to your friends.”
Much to my surprise, he ran over to Chase. They exchanged a few words, then hugged. Casey waved but stayed with Chase. The five of us walked out together and the boys tightly embraced each other like it was their last goodbye. I’ll reach out to Casey later and ask if he and Chase wanted to come to the party next weekend. I had a good feeling about their meeting. Kismet and all that, but in a littles kind of way.
Chapter Nine
Jamie
“Happy birthday to me.”
“Happy birthday to me.”
Year after year I sang the familiar tune to myself. Usually, it was accompanied by a cupcake with a single candle, when I could afford it. “Sloffers, I thought this year would be different.” I woke up beforeDaddy and tiptoed out to watch cartoons and color. Sometimes Daddy worked late, and I needed to be a big boy and let him sleep in.
“How can it not be when you have a Daddy who loves you?”
“Daddy!” I jumped and scrambled up the back of the couch. “You scared me.”
“Sorry, sweetheart. Happy birthday.” Daddy wrapped me in a warm hug and all the sads went away. “How about some birthday pancakes?”
“Yay!” I stood on the couch and gripped Daddy’s shoulders and hopped up and down.
“A broken bone on your birthday would make the birthday boy and his Daddy sad.”
“Sorry, Daddy.”
“Finish your picture and I’ll make birthday boy breakfast.” Daddy was making me nummy pancakes and that deserved a new picture for his fridge. I got to work, humming the happy birthday tune as I colored, but this time in a much happier version. Daddy had a way of making all the sadness go away.
“Birthday boy, your breakfast is ready,” Daddy called from the kitchen. He was sneaky, I never even heard him in there.
“Okay, Daddy.” I hopped up and skipped into the kitchen and stopped dead when I saw the table. “Daddy.”There was a plate of pancakes piled high with whipped cream and colorful sprinkles along with a pile of prezzies for me. I couldn’t stop the tears, and Daddy held me while I cried.
“Please tell me those are happy tears.”
“Very happy, Daddy. Very happy. Thank you for remembering.”
“I’ll never forget. Now blow out the candle and let’s eat so you can open your prezzies.”
As soon as I blew it out Daddy removed it and I dove right in. The sugary goodness was so yummy I had to sing about it. “Nummy, nummy, nummy. It’s my birthday. Yummy, yummy, yummy.” And Daddy soon had his head bopping along to the catchy tune.
“Dear boy, I will never understand how you wear more than you eat. You have whipped cream from your chin to the top of your head.” Daddy shook his head at me then smiled. “Okay, stay put while I get the washcloth.”
When I was all clean, I couldn’t wait any longer. “Now Daddy?” I asked to be polite, but my fingers itched to dig into the pretty paper.
“Yes, dear boy, now.”
“Daddy, it’s a tea set! I’ve always wanted one.” I pictured Sloffers, Kiki, and Patty having afternoon tea with me.
“Yes, you can have a tea party with your stuffies.” Daddy knew, he always did, and the coffee table would work perfectly for this.
