Page 26 of Life After Levi

“What are you two conspiring about?” I ask, my voice raspy with sleep.

“Mama! Since it’s raining, Mr. Damien said we could have a movie day today!”

I blush when I realize that I fell asleep before we could fully watch the movie last night. Not only that, but I’m in the bed I’m sharing with Vinnie, which is probably for the best seeing as we’re in one room together. I already did things a bit backwards before with Levi and don’t relish adding more fodder for the townspeople to gossip over.

“We were looking at the menu, Em,” Damien replies, answering my initial question. “Since you and I didn’t eat any of our snacks last night, I figured we could order breakfast and wake up, then go check out the arcade and maybe get some lunch, before I order more popcorn and we come back up to watch movies. What do you think?”

“Is it going to rain all day?” I question.

“According to my weather app, it is. Should the thunderstorms turn to just rain, they’ll open up the indoor water park, but for the time being, everything is shut down.”

“Probably safer that way,” I muse. “Okay, order me some pancakes, an orange juice, and some sausage links. I’m going to take a shower and get dressed.”

“Mama! Guess what? When we come back to watch movies, we can wear our pajamas!” Vinnie screeches. She’s so excited right now about being on a ‘bacation’ that her indoor and outdoor voices are practically interchangeable at this point.

Still, we’re all having a good time, which was the point of the trip, since I know once we return and I start working, she and I will have to get used to another hectic schedule. My shifts will be forty-eight hours on, seventy-two hours off. I’ll share a bunk room with one of the other females who work at the fire department, but I’m not sure if we’ll be on the same shifts or not.

“That sounds like fun,” I reply as I roll out of bed and stretch. I see Damien’s eyes heat when my pajama top rises above the waist of my bottoms and my midsection is exposed. As my cheeks flush from the fire looking back at me from him, I turn away from his knowing eyes and head to my suitcase to pull out an outfit and some fresh underwear. “I won’t be but a few minutes,” I tell the two of them.

I take one of the quickest showers known to man, grateful that after our day spent in the lazy rivers, as well as going down multiple slides, I showered the chemicals from my hair last night. To keep it from getting wet, it’s piled up on my head with a clip while I lather up then rinse. In less than twenty minutes, I’m back in the room gazing at the variety of food that’s spread out on the table that’s on the other side of the suite.

“Were you both hungry or something?” I ask in a teasing manner as I take a seat in front of a plate piled high with pancakes. “There’s no way I can eat five of these, they’re as big as my head!”

Vinnie giggles as she scoops some scrambled eggs into her mouth. “We wanted… um, what was that word, Mr. Damien?” she asks.

“Variety,” he replies, grinning down at her. “I figure we have a mini fridge, and we also have a microwave, so whatever we don’t eat that’ll keep, we’ll just put it up to nuke and snack on later, Em.”

Since I’m all about frugalness, stretching every penny and turning it into a dollar, even though I really don’t have to be, I like the way he thinks. “I can’t promise I won’t want to take another nap today,” I admit. Rainstorms seem to relax me, and nine times out of ten, put me to sleep. “There’s something about being done with everything that has me realizing just how on the go I’ve been for so long now.”

“Then you can do that,” Damien promises. “We’re on no set schedule at all, and there’s something to be said for just chilling.”

“Don’t worry, Vinnie, once all the storms let up, we’ll go back out to the slides,” I tell her.

“This is fun too, Mama,” she says. “What matters is we are together, like Memaw says.”

“Memaw is a wise woman,” I reply.

“Granny is too,” Vinnie adds, speaking about my mother. I’m full of joy that she looks up to both sets of grandparents and that they’re both active in her life. “I hope they come home soon.” She sounds wistful, and I make a mental note to FaceTime my parents in the next day or so.

We actually end up putting quite a dent in the food so there’s little for us to put back, but I know while we’re exploring the arcade, we can always stop into one of the many shops and grab sandwiches for later. I’m so used to catching meals on the fly because of my former schedule of school, work, and Levinia, that I’m honestly not sure I’ll be hungry for more than that.

With Vinnie finally dressed and anxious to explore areas we haven’t had the chance to yet, we leave our room at the resort, her between the two of us clinging to our hands as she sings one of those silly kid songs she loves so much. It’s helping her speech, although she still struggles with some words, prepositions are often optional, and she confuses v’s and b’s frequently. Still, she’s the light of my life, so I enjoy her talking to me, no matter what it sounds like.

“Well dang it,” Damien mutters when we walk into the arcade. Most of the games are geared toward older children, not those of Vinnie's age. “Let’s see if they have anything here at all.”

The shrill chiming of the games coupled with the shrieks from excited kids soon has my head pounding and my eyes twitching but seeing as Damien has found some skeeball machines and he’s currently helping Vinnie roll the ball so she can hit the targets, I reach into my purse and dry swallow a few over-the-counter painkillers. I’m currently holding a huge stack of tickets because Vinnie saw a stuffed chicken that she ‘just has to have’. Personally, I think it’d be far cheaper just to order one online, but where’s the fun in that?

Finally,finallythey think they have enough in hand to grab her toy prize and I watch as my daughter grabs his hand in hers and practically drags him over to the counter where they can exchange the tickets for trinkets.

“Mama! We did it!” Levinia exclaims as the girl behind the counter hands her a stuffed chicken that’s almost as big and wide as she is.

“I see that, pretty girl,” I reply, my voice full of pride. My head’s down to a dull roar, but I really need the good meds and those are in my traveling bag. “How about we get some sandwiches and head back to our room? Mama’s getting one of her headaches.”

Vinnie’s used to me having them. I don’t get them very often, but sometimes, when the weather changes like it did today, and barometric pressure in the air is thick, they hit me hard and fast. “Okay, Mama. Mr. Damien, we have to take care of my mama, okay?”

“Absolutely,” he decrees, taking my hand in his. Leaning in close, he murmurs, “Why didn’t you say something, Em? I’m sure the boisterous noise level in the arcade isn’t helping.”

This man has to be one of the most caring I’ve ever been around. He’s always putting others before himself and I know he was having just as much fun as my girl was. But still, his concern is centered around me and in my books that’s noble. “Because she’s having a good time. I can suck it up a little bit longer, I promise.”

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