It started to downpour shortly after Nick & Aislyn got inside. Aislyn started emptying her pockets,
“Do we have anymore jars in the garage?” she asked.
“Uh, what?” Nick wasn’t paying attention.
She held up her shells,
“Jars.”
“Sure,” he went out to the garage and retrieved one, “Already filled the last one?”
“Yep,” she gently placed each shell she’d found inside the jar. She brought it up to her room.
While she was doing that, Nick went over to the answering machine. He peered at the screen. 10 new messages. He checked his cell. 17 new messages.
Nick & Aislyn had been outside for a half hour.
In Aislyn’s room…
Aislyn set the new jar of shells next to another one on top of her dresser.
Lauren looked around the room and smiled. She and Nick had had a blast decorating her room.
The walls were painted to look like the ocean, except for the bottom foot all the way around, which was painted to look like sand.
The ceiling was painted a sky-blue, with a few puffy white clouds. The light bulb cover looked like a smiling sun. The carpet was seafoam green. The curtains and bed comforter were both lavender.
The jars of seashells that sat everywhere were Aislyn’s own personal touch. Sitting on the pillow of her bed were her sea life stuffed animals. Whaley was the latest in the collection.
She went into her closet and unearthed an old shoebox. She emptied it’s tissue paper contents and set it on the floor.
Lauren watched Aislyn run over to the door, obviously checking to see if the coast was clear. She ran back in and opened her bottom dresser drawer, to pull an old wilted flower out.
The flower and lavender shell that Aislyn hadn’t shown Nick were placed ever so delicately inside the box.
Aislyn shut the box, found a crayon, and marked the box, “MOM”. She quickly slid the box under her bed and ran back downstairs.
Nick had just finished deleting the messages from both his voicemails.
“Find a spot for ‘em, Shortcake?” he asked.
“Yep. Who left all those messages?”
“The suit guys,” Nick replied. ‘The suit guys’ was an overall phrase he used with Aislyn to describe the people working under Jive Records or their management. It was much easier to call them the suit guys instead of “heartless money-sucking bastards.”
“Do they wear suits like the one you have on?” Aislyn asked absentmindedly.
“I dunno Ais, they might.”
“And do you never change out of your’s because they never change out of their’s?”
Nick kneeled down to her level,
“They don’t change out of their’s because they’re robots. Do I look like a robot?”
Aislyn put her little hands on his face,
“A little bit.”
“Wanna help me look more like a person?” Nick smiled.
Lauren shook her head. She knew where this was going.
“Sure!” they went upstairs.
Aislyn grabbed the doorknob to his room and opened the door. She started to go in, then looked back at Nick,
“Coming Daddy?”
“Um…” Nick shifted awkwardly, his eyes glued to the carpet of the hallway, “Why don’t you surprise me?”
Aislyn frowned,
“I don’t know what you wear.”
“Just guess! I’m sure you’ll do fine!” he quickly turned his back to the door and hurriedly wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead.
“Ok…” she said uncertainly. She went in.
She went directly to the walk-in closet and stepped in. She immediately looked overwhelmed. Who could blame her? This closet was about three times the size of her own closet—and it was bursting with clothes.
“Here honey, I’ll help you,” Lauren smiled. She guided Aislyn over to Nick’s shirts.
Aislyn pulled one down.
Lauren brought her over to where Nick’s pants were and she took a pair of those down as well.
“Tell him that anything else he needs is in the laundry room,” Lauren whispered to her.
Aislyn brought the clothes out and set them on the bed. She looked around the bedroom and her lower lip began to tremble. There were pictures of their little family everywhere—big and small.
She picked up a small one that was sitting on the bedside table. It had been taken during their last trip to the Florida Keys. They had just gotten out of the water and were all snuggled together under a big beach blanket.
Aislyn gently touched the picture. That was the last vacation they had taken before Lauren had gotten too sick to travel.
“Mama…” she whimpered.
She started to cry.
Although it looked like she had sat down on the bed, it was actually Lauren pulling her into her lap. She hugged her tightly and kissed her hair,
“It’s ok, baby,” she whispered.
Nick knocked on the door,
“Aislyn? What’s going on in there?”
She cried louder.
Lauren imagined Nick cussing himself out under his breath. He sounded frantic,
“Honey, if it’s making you sad, then come out here! Forget about the clothes!”
Aislyn ignored him.
“It’s ok, you can do it,” Lauren said gently. She helped Aislyn stand up. Holding both her hands, she led her over to the door.
Aislyn ran into Nick’s arms. He scooped her up and hugged her tightly. He kept murmuring, “I’m sorry” over and over again.
“So, what did you think of this?” Rhapsody asked.
Lauren turned around. Rhapsody was sitting on top of the tv in Nick’s room.
Lauren shrugged,
“I wish my baby wouldn’t have had to go through that, but I guess given the present situation, it was inevitable.”
Rhapsody shook her head,
“Nothing is inevitable when it comes to angels. Except death, and neither of them died. What do you think you could’ve done differently? That wouldn’t have disrupted their world?”
“Well, I had no way of knowing when Nick would come back in our room, so I couldn’t have taken all the pictures down…” Lauren answered slowly.
“Think back earlier.”
“C’mon Rhapsody, what is this? Jedi training? Should I be using the force?”
“Whatever helps you out,” Rhapsody giggled. “The point of this year is to make your loved ones’ lives better, not to just blot up the leftovers.”
“Well, I’m still a newbie, so cut me some slack,” Lauren smiled. She thought for a moment,
“I should’ve thought of a way to keep Aislyn out of that room…maybe have her suggest that they go shopping for new clothes instead?”
“Would Nick agree to going out in public?”
“Eh…probably not. Being in public under normal circumstances is hard enough for him…how ‘bout her taking him back outside and I sneak clothes onto the stairs?”
Rhapsody giggled,
“First of all, it’s raining right now. Secondly, is Aislyn the only person you can communicate through?”
“She gives in a lot easier than he does.”
“He’s stubborn, but that won’t last for much longer. He can’t be a tough guy forever.”
“What are you saying? I should’ve coaxed him into our room myself?”
“Think logically, Lauren. He was practically keeling over at just the thought of going into that room. Was it really necessary for Nick to change his clothes at that second?”
Lauren smiled wryly,
“I suppose I could’ve had him distract Aislyn into doing something else. She’s young enough for that trick to still work.”
Rhapsody nodded,
“The only way he’ll be able to avoid this room is if he packs Aislyn up and takes off.”
“Which he won’t do,” Lauren replied. “He knows the relatives would all frown on that.”
“Remember this, though,” Rhapsody cautioned her, “Don’t let this year go by on autopilot. There’s no second chances.”
She disappeared.
“Always such dramatic exits,” Lauren said to herself.
Later that night…
“Which pajamas do you want, Shortcake?” Nick asked, “Purple footies or blue stars?”
“Mmm…footies,” Aislyn pointed.
Nick helped her change into them.
“Tomorrow, your uncles are coming over for a meeting with a couple of the suit guys, so can you be a good girl for Daddy while they’re here?”
“Yeah. Is Baylee coming too?” she asked. Baylee was a couple years older than Aislyn, but they were still good friends.
“No, probably not,” Nick zipped up the footies. “Not unless Aunt Leigh-Leigh’s planning on coming too.”
Aislyn looked disappointed. She started taking the stuffed animals off her bed. Whaley was the only animal to not get tossed on the floor.
Nick helped her climb into bed and get settled. As he was tucking her in, he asked,
“Which song should we sing tonight?”
“ ‘Pretty Baby’,” Aislyn grinned.
Nick cringed,
“Honey, I don’t know that one. That’s Mommy’s song. Can you pick something else?”
“Nooo, I want ‘Pretty Baby’!” she whined.
Lauren began whispering the lyrics into Nick’s ears. He ignored her,
“How ‘bout the ‘skinnamarinky’ song?” he started singing, “Skinnamarinky dinky dink, skinnamarinky doo. I…love…you! I love you in the morning…”
“DADDY!” Aislyn pounded her fists against the mattress. “ ‘Pretty Baby’!”
“I told you, I don’t know it!” Nick tried not to shout. Truthfully, he did know most of the song—but singing a song that was traditional for Lauren to sing was too painful.
He thought quickly,
“How about I sing you the ‘Lights’ song? You’ve always loved that one!”
Aislyn pouted, “Ok…”
He started singing softly to her,
“When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
Ooh, I wanna be there in my city, ohh
Ohhh, ohh, oh-whoa…
So you think you’re lonely
Well, my friend, I’m lonely too
I wanna get back to my city by the bay
Whoa, ohhh, oh-ohh…”
Once the song was done, Aislyn was about 2 seconds away from conking out.
“I’ll be in the guest room if you need me,” Nick told her.
“Ok,” Aislyn murmured.
“Good night, precious. I love you,” Nick kissed her forehead.
“Love you too,” she whispered, then drifted off.
Nick turned on her nightlight, then cracked the door open as he left.
The guest room looked just the same as he remembered it. Green walls, mauve furniture—what someone might call a compromise of Nick’s and Lauren’s individual tastes.
Nick folded down the blankets and wrinkled his nose. The sheets smelled musty from not being slept in for such a long time.
He shrugged and climbed in. It was better than the alternatives.
***
When Aislyn had first transitioned from a crib to her “big girl” bed, she would always sneak into Nick and Lauren’s room and sleep between them instead. It had been a couple years since the last time she had done that.
Aislyn hugged Whaley against her chest and tiptoed into the guest room. She crept over to the other side of the bed and quietly slipped under the covers.
Nick heard her, but didn’t say anything. He was having a hard enough time sleeping as it was. So was she.
Lauren put her arms around both of them and began singing the song that had been requested— her own version of ‘Pretty Baby’:
“You light me up and it’s bed for you
I’ll lay you down and then I’ll sing for you
Stumbling on reasons that are far and few
I’d let it all come down and them some for you
Pretty baby, please believe me
Those sunny smiles must go to sleep
Pretty baby, I know you see
You’re the one I love so much
I’ll be the embrace that keeps you warm
For you’re the sun that breaks the storm
You’ll be alright and you’ll sleep sound
And I will always come around…”
*lyrics from “Skinnamarinky”
Children’s folk song-author unknown
**lyrics from “Lights”
written by S. Perry & N. Schon of Journey
Album: Infinity
***lyrics adapted from “Pretty Baby”
written by Vanessa Carlton
Album: Be Not Nobody
