“I did. I guess I wasn’t really the imaginative play kind of kid. I did craft kits here and there. But my patience was short with them, so I always gave up before I finished anything.”
“What did you do instead of play then?”
“Well, at home, I did a lot of housework. Or practicing with makeup. When I was with my grandmother, we did a lot of walking and gardening.”
“Flowers or vegetables?”
“Both. But I preferred flowers. There’s pretty much no problem that won’t feel a little bit better after pulling weeds for an hour.”
“Hard to weed in a condo.”
“Yeah. I’ve been tempted to weed some other people’s gardens on occasion when I’m taking my walk. But it’s a real toss-up if they’ll thank me or call the cops on me.”
“So your future house is going to have garden beds.”
“Lots of them.”
“Do you see having a dog?”
“Maybe. If it’s a small one.”
“With matching pajamas on Christmas?”
“It’s almost like you’ve been creeping on my Pinterest board.”
“I haven’t been lucky enough to find that yet. What about a man? Kids?”
“Hopefully.”
“How many?”
“Men?” she asked, eyes twinkling.
“If you need more than one to keep you happy, I think you might be dating the wrong kind of men,” I shot back.
“I don’t know. Two sounds like a manageable number.”
“It’s never a good thing to be outnumbered.”
“That’s my thinking too. Plus, you can devote more time to each of them.”
“You have a lot of experience with babies?”
“God, no. Nope. I’ve never even held a baby. You?”
“Tons. The club is teeming with them. You take a nap in the living room, and you wake up to a handful of them using you like a trampoline.”
Her smile went soft at that.
“Babies too?”
“Babies are the shit. Those belly laughs you get outta ‘em. Best sound in the world. Well, top two.” That moan I heard Lula make had to be at the top of my list.
“I can see you with kids,” Lula said.
“Because I’m like a big one myself?”
“That’s probably part of it, yeah. But you’re, I don’t know, patient. And observant. Which I imagine are good qualities for a father to have.”
