Page 59 of Written By a Woman

“Why?”

“You’re…twitchy.” Zaid’s brows furrowed as he slowly followed me to the couch to sit on the opposite side, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I grinned a little too wide but knew I couldn’t come back from it, “What are we going to watch?” I grabbed the remote and immediately hit the power button, but the TV screen remained black.

“That’s the sound system remote,” Zaid stepped forward and gently removed the controller from my hands, his warm fingers brushing over mine casually even though my heart jumped as if he tried to cop a feel.

“Oh,” I settled back onto the couch, tucking my legs underneath myself and leaning against the throw pillows on the armrest, “What’s your favorite movie?”

Zaid hesitated for half a second before he shrugged and asked me, “What’s yours?”

“I’m easy to please,”whoa, there, Signe, “I’ll watch almost anything.”

“Almost?” Zaid asked, his eyes glancing over at me as he continued to scroll through the options on the TV screen.

“I have to be in the right headspace for things likeGame of Thrones,” I admitted, “Violence and gore isn’t fun to watch when you aren’t ready for it.”

“That’s fair,” Zaid nodded, glancing over at me again, and raising his eyebrows as he asked, “What aboutBluey?”

“Sure, what’s that?” I asked, grabbing the throw blanket that was resting on the arm of the couch and throwing it over my legs. It wasn’t until I had adjusted my seat to fit the blanket over the entire lower half of my body that I realized Zaid didn’t answer my question, and I glanced up from my fidgeting to see him staring at me wide-eyed and open-mouthed, “What?”

“Did you just ask me whatBlueyis?” Zaid asked as a shocked chuckle escaped his lips, “Is this your first day on planet Earth?”

I cackled, before slapping my hand over my lips because I remembered that little Zeki was supposed to be sleeping.

“Geez,” I laughed behind my hand, “Zaid, that was so mean!”

He rolled his eyes as he lifted the remote and pressed play on the movie he was talking about. I settled in and was surprised to see a blue screen with cartoon dogs dancing.

As soon as each member of the cartoon dog family was introduced (Mom, Dad, Bingo, and Bluey) I slowly turned my head to look at Zaid.

He was watching the TV intently. One of his arms was stretched out on the back of the couch while the other rested on the armrest. He had one ankle resting on his knee, and I could see his lips twitch as he noticed my slow head turn in his peripheral vision.

“Zaid?”

“Hmm?”

“Is this a kids show?”

“I think it’s a show for all ages.” He countered, leveling me with an annoyed expression I didn’t buy for one second.

“So, it’s a kids show,” I laughed, “Why are we watching a kids show? The kid is in bed.”

“I think you need to watch a couple of episodes to understand, shush.” He nodded his head towards the TV, desperately trying to hold back his grin of amusement.

“Acoupleof episodes?” I asked, sitting up a little in mock outrage.

“They’re like eight minutes long, shush!” Zaid lifted his hand off the arm of the couch to point at the TV, raising his eyebrows at me like a parent waiting for their child to comply. I laughed as I snuggled up with my throw blanket and settled in.

The first episode was cute because it was, in fact, a children’s show, but there was a one-liner that the mom delivered that made me laugh out loud.

The second episode had some comedic moments from the youngest sibling that I also really enjoyed.

The third episode got me. It was insane to me that this was for kids, because the entire episode was a flashback of the mom when Bluey was a baby, and how easy it is to assume the worst of your abilities as a mother. I found myself getting emotional, and by the end of the episode when the mom realizes that she doesn’t need to compare herself to all the other mothers, I turned my head and gaped at Zaid.

He was watching me with a knowing smirk on his face, noting the tears I was desperately trying to keep contained in my eyeballs.

“How dare they do that to me,” I breathed, “This is akidsshow?” I asked.

---