“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “Ash surprised me with that a couple weeks ago. You should’ve seen my mom’s reaction. She said, and I quote, ‘Your baby looks like a gypsy.’?”
Ash rolled her eyes. “I don’t think we’re going to start taking fashion advice from your mother, Jimmy.” Then to me, she said, “Doesn’t she look sweet?” I just smiled and nodded, afraid that if I spoke, my voice would reveal how much I hated earrings on babies. Viv still didn’t have much hair, but she was nevertheless an incredibly cute (if almost bald) baby. She smiled at me, like she knew what I was thinking.
“To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled with them either,” Jimmy said. “Which is probably why Ash didn’t tell me until after there were two holes in our baby’s head.”
“We just wanted to surprise Daddy, didn’t we?” Ash said, leaning down to adjust the bow on Viv’s head. “And we also wanted people to stop thinking you were a boy.”
“How on earth could anyone think this child was a boy?” Jimmy asked. “She wears pink every day and always has a bow on her head.”
We were all still standing in the doorway, but it was like the two of them were so busy bickering they didn’t notice. I figured they were nervous about the fund-raiser and tired from traveling with Viv, so I said, “We’re so happy you guys are here. Come in, it’s getting cold out there.”
Matt had run out to pick up posters for the fund-raiser and to swing by the bar to check on the space one last time. I told Jimmy that Matt had been obsessing about the event all week. “He hasn’t talked about anything else,” I said.
“That makes two of us,” Jimmy said.
Viv was quiet in my arms, looking around the apartment with a serious face, like she was trying to figure out where she was. “Do you remember it here?” I asked her. “Do you miss DC?”
“Nah, she’s a Texas girl. Isn’t that right?” Jimmy leaned in and made a face at the baby, shook his hair back and forth like a wet dog. Viv laughed and smacked her hands on top of his head.
“Jimmy, don’t get her all riled up,” Ash said.
“Do you guys want lunch or do you just want to rest? What time is Linda coming?” I asked. Linda was the Dillons’ old sitter who was coming to watch Viv that night.
“She’ll be here around five. I’m going to feed Viv now,” Ash said. “And then I can feed her again before Linda comes.” She was on her knees, unzipping the bags and rifling through them, taking things out and placing them on the floor around her. “Where did I put that bib?” she asked, looking around the room. They’d been there for less than twenty minutes and already their stuff was everywhere. The apartment had been clean when they walked in and now looked like a disaster.
“I’m going to jump in the shower and change if that’s all right with you,” Jimmy said. He was already carrying his bags upstairs.
Ash was still sitting on the floor with stuff all around her, and she just watched Jimmy walk up the stairs, then turned to me and said, “He thought we should leave Viv with his parents for the night, but I didn’t want to. And now I think he’s trying to prove his point by not helping with her at all. Not that he ever does all that much, anyway.”
“Well, I’m happy she’s here,” I said, kissing her cheek. Above us, we heard the shower turn on, and Ash reached into a bag and pulled out a bib. “Found it!” she said, holding her arm up in triumph.
—
The fund-raiser was in the upstairs of Darlington House, a small bar right off Dupont Circle, just a few blocks from our place. The four of us were there an hour before it started, to make sure everything was set up. “We should get a good turnout,” Matt kept saying. We hung signs out front that told people where to go, and a poster with Jimmy’s picture on it at the top of the stairs. That took about five minutes, and then there was nothing to do but wait. We all got a drink and sat at a high table and tried to make small talk. Matt was fidgety and it was rubbing off on the rest of us. Ash chewed her straw and kept looking around the room like she was making sure no one had slipped in while we weren’t paying attention. Jimmy kept clapping his hands together, like he was going to make an announcement, but then not saying anything. I had butterflies in my stomach even though this night had nothing to do with me. I could only imagine how Jimmy felt.