Indiana mumbles something unintelligible beneath his breath before asking, “Jesus fucking Christ! Icer, man, what the fuck are you doing?”
Now he’s being dense. I’m ready to get my cookie fix on and I’m not going to let his sour mood affect me. He better be prepared to keep up with me because I’m feeling exuberant. “Did you know they have a cookie store in there?”
“Yeah, man, I did. Would you like to stop and get one?” His tone is a little snippety, but I pay him no mind. I know what I want and I’m on a mission to get it.
“Yes, I would,” I state, bobbing my head so he knows that I’m going no matter what he has to say about it.
“Alright, Icer. We’ll grab you a damn cookie before we hit the Harley shop. Do me a favor though?—”
When he stops midsentence I turn on my feet and face him. “What’s that?” I ask.
“Walk, man. And could you, I don’t know, talk normal?” I’m not sure what he means by asking me to talk normally, to me, I sound the exact same as I do any other ordinary day.
“I am normal, Indiana. It’s you who needs to embrace life and smell the roses.”
“Oh, Jesus fuck. Somebody gave you too much Midol or something,” he grumbles.
“I don’t take that shit, Indiana,” I deadpan because I’m not one to pop pills known to help women with their menstrual cycles. It’s pussies like Indiana who need that shit. “Come on, I need a cookie and some coffee.”
As we hit the line, a little girl and her mother are in front of us. A tune she’s singing catches my attention, I recognize it from my childhood and suddenly, I want to give her a melody to sing it to.
“A whole new world,” the girl starts singing to my whistling.
Out of my peripheral vision, I notice how Indiana’s eyes bug out when he puts together what tune I’m whistling. Again, I notice his phone fly out of his pocket as he goes to one of his text threads.
Tattle tale.
“Elodie,” the mother snaps out her name. “It’s not polite to touch strangers.” That has my brows crinkling, I don’t like that she doesn’t want her kid touching me.
To nullify her, I use my friendliest voice and state, “It’s okay, ma’am. We have a common interest, don’t we, Miss Elodie?” The girl nods her head and I feel my heart thaw. She’s so damn cute I want to package her up and take her home with me.
“Did you know there’s a Disney store here?” Elodie asks me. “We’re going there next, do you wanna come?”
“Elodie!” her mother exclaims. “They probably have things to do themselves and they’re not going to want to traipse through what’s pretty much a store designed for kids!”
My protective instincts over this girl have skyrocketed and I don’t want her out of my sight. There are too many dangers in the mall that could swallow her up. She’s a tiny little thing. Her excitement is contagious so I shout out, “I’d love to go!”
“Yay! We’re going to Disney, Mama,” the girl announces, her hand now nestled in mine as we begin to swing them between us.
“I’m so sorry, she’s never met a stranger,” the mom says, before turning around. Once she does and Indiana’s eyes meet hers, they both freeze.
“Zoey? Is that you?” Indiana asks, his mouth flapping like a fish out of water.
“Harrison? Oh my, it’s been a long time,” she replies, her voice quivering as tears gather in her eyes. Now that makes me uneasy and I have to remind myself that Indiana’s a good guy, I don’t need to step between them and keep them apart.
“What’s wrong?” he asks Elodie’s mom, stepping forward and placing the palms of his hands on her shoulders. “What can I do?”
“It’s nothing,” she says, waving him off like he’s an annoying gnat buzzing around her. “It’s just a shock to see you after all this time.”
I ignore the two from there, not sensing any threats coming from either of them and bend down to the cutie beside me and point out the display case. With our noses pressed to the glass, she shows me which ones she wants and I point out my favorites.
“We’re getting our cookies, Mama,” Elodie says, breaking into the conversation between her mom and my brother.
“Yeah, then we’re heading to the Disney store,” I add, deja vu smacking me in the face when I pay closer attention to their stiff body language. Whatever their history is, it’s notallsunshine and rainbows. Zoey has demons in her eyes and Indiana has a look of rejection. Both of them are defensive, which given my past, it makes me itch. “You two stop looking so damn serious. Sorry, Elodie, for swearing. There’s fun to be had today!”
The need to get Elodie away from the storm brewing between them, I grab our cookies and wrap my large hand around her tiny one, skipping her away from the duo so she doesn’t see what I do. She’s innocent and I aim to keep her that way.
I have a great day shopping with Elodie, my princess as I’ve dubbed her in my mind since she’s a classy little thing. Diva-ish, I’ve never met a kid so carefree and unsullied before. She still sees the good in everyone around her. I’m gonna have to work on stranger-danger with her because not everyone out there will have her best interest in mind. Not like me.
