Truth be told, I felt like hammered shit. The cold I’d been battling yesterday was still trying to kill me. To make matters worse, I also had the cuts in my hair and the one on my forehead that’d been glued shut, and I now knew how dog shit baking in the sun felt. Gross, but accurate!
I just didn’t want to give my brain the chance to think. I knew from experience that thinking was the Devil in situations like this, so if I could avoid having any quiet time where that might happen, I was going to do it.
Sure, Dave didn’t want me spreading my cold around the department, but he also understood the need to keep busy, so he’d been okay when I’d told him—verbally, not by text in case I sent him more inappropriate emojis—after I’d been seen in the ER last night.
Sighing dramatically, my little drama queen held out her empty cereal bowl with her good hand. “I’m done. Carter, can you help me down, please? I need to go potty and get my shoes.”
Taking the bowl from her, he asked suspiciously, “You’re not getting your shoes from the potty, are you?”
I felt this was a pertinent question, given her previous admissions.
“No. Well, they’re not in it, but I took them off yesterday when I was next to it. Does that count?”
When she spoke, I struggled to remember that she was only four. It seemed like yesterday she was having issues with words. Actually, no, it seemed like just yesterday she couldn’t talk at all. Now she sounded like a teenager who was aiming for a Golden Globe.
“So long as they didn’t go in it, that doesn’t count. Now, go and get them, and we’ll drive you to school.”
I looked up from my coffee. “We’re all going together?”
Waiting until she was out of the room, Carter whispered, “Please don’t ask me to go separately. I need to make sure you’re okay. Just for a while.”
Here was the thing about Carter—he wouldn’t ask this, wouldn’t even contemplate it, if it wasn’t important to him. So, given everything he’d given me, I could make this concession for him.
“Okay. For as long as you need.”
His face softened. “I just need to know my girls are okay.”
“I found them,” Shanti called, coming into the kitchen with the shoes on the wrong feet. “I think they got smaller.”
Carter burst out laughing and got down on his knee next to her. “Take them back off, and I’ll get you sorted out. Now, while you’re at school, what happens if someone comes up to you that you don’t know?”
“I yell stranger danger.”
“Right. What happens if they say they’ll give you candy to go with them?”
“Don’t take it ‘cause it’s bad candy, and yell stranger danger.”
“Good girl.” He moved over to the other foot. “What about if they grab you?”
Shanti stomped down the foot with the shoe on it correctly. “I fight ‘em. Elbow in the gut, kick ‘em as hard as I can, then I punch them right in the nuts.”
Carter’s head snapped up to stare at her while I stood there feeling a mixture of pride, confusion, and embarrassment.
“What? Did I get it wrong? Cole told me I had to hit them in the nuts. But what if they weren’t carrying any or the bag was in their hands?”
“Bet he had an answer for that,” Carter muttered, ducking his head down to finish her shoe.
“Sure did. Cole said all men carry nuts in their pants. That’s weird, isn’t it, Aunt Naomi?”
Looking down at her little angelic face, it was hard to pair it with what had just come out of her mouth.
“Uh, well…” Carter smirked at me over his shoulder. “Yes, it’s weird. That’s good advice, though.”
“He wanted us to practice on Tom, but he was out doing something, so we didn’t.”
Cheezus.
“Probably best you save that in case someone tries to grab you, then,” I advised, struggling not to laugh.
She nodded, her expression almost killing me with the “whatcha gonna do?” coming from it loud and clear.
“That’s you all done up, Miss Shanti. Is there anything else I can do for you?” Carter said, tapping her on the nose gently.
“Yeah.” His eyebrows lifted as he waited for her to say what it was. Instead, she reached over and hugged him, sticking her face into his neck. “Thank you for being here and for looking after me and Aunt No-mee. We love you, and you should know that.”
I’d just taken the final mouthful of coffee from my cup and was swallowing it when she spoke. Unfortunately, the shock and sweetness of the tender moment made me choke on it, meaning I ruined it by spraying coffee all over the place.
Still spluttering, I bent over and waved a hand at them, trying desperately to get what felt like half an ocean out of my chest.