“No, I can explain!” Harlow yells, wanting to be the center of attention. “So, silly Uncle Cam told us that if Daddy didn’t use it, it was going to fall off.”
“He was talking about his heart,” Ava interrupts.
“Basically, my nosy brother paid the girls twenty dollar each to make sure that I hung out with you while they were here.”
Vanessa laughs, thank god. And for the first time all day, I feel myself relax.
“I think I need to meet your Uncle Cam,” she says to the girls.
“He’s very silly,” Harlow says. “Every time he sees me, he lifts me up in the air, turns me upside down, and shakes me to try and get the dimes to fall out of my pockets.”
“Why do you have dimes in your pockets?”
“We plan spoons for dimes when we’re all together. Harlow wins a lot,” Ava says.
“Your dad did invite me to meet your family for Thanksgiving. Should I bring dimes?” Vanessa asks.
“You probably better bring a lot, unless you are lucky like me,” Harlow says, pointing to her chest.
“Okay, girls, why don’t you take your plates into the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher, then we’ll get ready for bed.”
“We don’t have pajamas,” Ava points out. “We only brought our swimsuits.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that. Maybe you could borrow one of Vanessa’s t-shirts.” I turn toward Vanessa. Hell, she probably doesn’t even own a t-shirt.
“I’m sure I can find something. Let me go look.”
Once she is safely out of earshot, I say, “Girls, I know we’re having a slumber party, but that doesn’t mean you can stay up all night. It means you get to sleep here.”
“So it’s a sleepover, not a slumber party,” Ava states. “There’s a big difference.”
“Yes, exactly. It’s getting late and we’ve had a busy day. When I say it’s time for bed, Harlow, that means you have to go to sleep, or we’ll go home.”
“Okay, Daddy,” Harlow says. She gets up, washes her plate off and puts it in the dishwasher, showing me she means it.
“I found some T-shirts,” Vanessa says, handing the girls shirts with movie posters for one of the Trinity movies on the front of them.
While they run into the bathroom to change, I take Vanessa into my arms.
“Thanks for today.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been acting so crazy, Dawson. I don’t have any excuse other than this is new to me. The way I feel about you. The way I already feel about them. The other day, when I left your office so suddenly, it was because . . .”
Harlow runs out of the bathroom. Make that, zooms out, pretending to be the airplane on the front of her shirt. She zooms down the hall and then zooms through the living room, her arms spread out wide.
“Harlow, don’t run through the house, please,” I say, interrupting Vanessa. Then I turn my attention back toward her. “You were saying you left my office the other day . . .”
CRASH!
I look up to see Harlow crashing into a small table and sending a very expensive looking vase flying through the air.
I let go of Vanessa and run, trying to catch it.
But I’m too late. It falls to the ground and shatters.
“I told you not to run in the house!” I yell.
“Harlow, you klutz!” Ava screams. “You’re going to ruin everything! Vanessa will make us leave and Dad’s heart will dry up and he’ll die too! And then we’ll be orphans!”
I stop in my tracks.
My children are afraid I'm going to die?
I take a deep breath and speak softly, wrapping both girls in a hug. “Ava, lower your voice. I'm not going to die. I'm not a dolphin.” I turn toward Vanessa. “I'm sorry, we should probably go. We'll figure out a way to pay you for the vase.”
Vanessa hasn’t moved and I’m worried she’s going to blow. Her body is still but her eyes are moving wildly across the room.
Harlow walks over to her with tears in her eyes. Her bottom lip is puffed out. “I’m very sorry.”
Vanessa looks at Harlow like she just realized we’re still here.
Then she bends down to Harlow’s level and touches her hand. “It's okay, honey. There's a lot of breakable stuff here.”
“I shouldn’t have run in the house. I know better than that.”
Vanessa smiles at her. “You know what. I think sometimes you need to run in the house. In fact, I feel like running in the house.” She takes off running. “Come on!”
The girls react first, quickly following her around the kitchen islands. As they run by me, Vanessa grabs my shirt and says, “You too.”
I have no idea what Vanessa is doing, but I follow.
We run through her house and I realize we haven't even seen half of it.
It's huge.
We run down hallways filled with rooms for entertainment then around two bars, down a hall, around a pool table.
Through a smoking lounge, den, and poker room.
A movie theater.
A dance floor.
Another lounge.
Then we run up a flight of stairs to a long hallway covered in deep plush carpet.
Down another long hall. Through bedrooms of different colors.
Then Vanessa stops in front of a door at the end of a hall.
She's breathing hard.