Out On a Limb(102)
“So, your trip?” he asks over his shoulder, dropping the bag onto the counter but snuggling Charlie closer. We don’t have favourites, of course. But Charlie is Bo’s twin in every way. While they share the same golden hair, hazel eyes, and freckles as August—Charlie’s temperament is all Bo. August has strong firstborn energy. Since birth, that girl has been ruling our house. Hell, she was ruling our lives before birth.
But Charlie is our peaceful, helpful, curious girl. She asks a million questions every single day, especially before bed. It’s a tactic to delay bedtime, of course, but they’re all such interesting questions, so we can’t help but give in. Bo especially. He lies next to her, his long body crammed into her small twin bed, and they ponder existence together.
Why does the Earth have so many people? Will there ever be too many people? Are there people on other planets? Galaxies? Do they have chocolate too?
She also has his sweet tooth.
But they all have that.
“Honey?” Bo asks, smiling softly. “Your trip?”
I shake myself from my wandering thoughts. “Sorry, yes. It was great. Camp Piyette was stunning. I took pictures of a few things I think we should try to fit into the budget next summer. Also, they’ve just upgraded to be all-season, and I do think we should seriously consider—”
“Mom?” August says, pulling her headphones off, halfway from the bathroom back to her bedroom. “When did you get home?” She takes off running toward me.
“Hi!” I say as she crashes into my side, the opposite hip from her baby sister. August circles her arms around my waist and squeezes. Because, suddenly, she’s big enough to reach all the way around her mama and do such a thing.
I blinked, maybe three times too many, and now she’s this big, strong girl with so many clever thoughts and strong opinions.
“I missed you too, kid,” I say, my chin resting on the top of her head. “It was four days too many.”
“Wait! Me too!” Charlie says, tugging Bo by the collar. He walks over to us, laughing as he drops Charlie onto my shoulders.
“Happy Halloween, my little gremlins!” I say, giggling as I juggle all three of them. “Were you good for Dad? Do we still get to go to Auntie Sarah’s party tonight?” I look to Bo for an answer.
He smiles proudly, a tilt of his chin as he admires all of his girls. “It was touch and go for a minute there. There was a biting incident,” he points to Joey, wearing an insincere scowl, “and someone else failed to tell me about her math homework until the night before it was due.”
“August Sarah Durand, you know it hurts your father when we keep math from him.”
August rolls her eyes. “I just forgot. I got an A on it, though.”
“Course you did, smartie pants. And what about Miss Charlie?” I say, shrugging my shoulders so she bounces. “What did she get up to?”
“Charlie was Charlie,” Bo says, grinning from ear to ear. “She kept everyone in line.”
“I also found a bird’s nest in the backyard. It’s empty… for now,” Charlie tells me over top of my head.
“A bird’s nest? That’s amazing!”
“Can I get down now?” she asks Bo, who nods and walks over, lifting her off and placing her onto the floor. She takes off skipping toward her bedroom. I shuffle Joey up my hip, but she reaches for Bo, who’s got a washcloth ready and waiting to clean her up.
“So…” I say, turning my full attention to August. “What’s this I hear about you not wanting to be a pirate this year?” I ask, brushing her hair away from her face. I trace the line of the teeny, faded scar on her forehead with my thumb. She ran head-first into our coffee table a little after her first birthday. Bo broke it down into firewood the very next day. We were so new to parenting, then. So sensitive to every cut, bump, and bruise. That one, though, was awful. “Have we finally outgrown our little tradition?”
“Will you be upset?” August asks, looking cautiously between Bo and me.
“No, of course not, sweetie. Just, what will you dress as? It’s a bit late to go shopping.”
“I was thinking a ghost. If you’re cool with me cutting up a sheet…”
I immediately sense her hesitancy. The do it first, then ask for forgiveness afterward attitude I swear she somehow inherited from her Aunt Sarah. Bo and I make eye contact from his crouched position on the floor as he wipes Joey clean. He grimaces, and I immediately spot the missing scissors from the knife block on the counter.
“Well, that depends, sweetie. Did you already cut the sheet?”
“Maybe.” She smiles mischievously, twisting from side to side. It’s so similar to her dad’s guilty face that it’s very hard to be as annoyed as I probably should be. But I just got home. I can’t be the bad cop right away. And I would have said yes if she’d asked first.
I close my eyes, nodding as I take a deep inhale.
“Sorry,” she says softly. “It was an old one, from the closet.”
“Ask first next time, kid. Go get ready. We’re supposed to be out of here in ten minutes.” I kiss her forehead, then bend down to pick up a now naked and clean Joey off the floor. “And let’s get you ready, parsnip.”
Bo pulls the delicious smelling cake out of the oven as I carry Joey down the hall toward the bedroom that she and Charlie share. Inside their orange and floral explosion of a room, I find Charlie already half-changed into her black and white striped leggings and pulling her pirate dress over her head.