Page 38 of This Time Around
“I can assure you Grandma won’t be that excited about my haircut.” Which probably wasn’t true. His mom lived for the tiny minutia of Paige’s life, routinely posting emoji-heavy comments with the screen name “PaigesGramma.” Allowing grandmother and granddaughter easy contact with one another was the main reason he’d gotten her the phone in the first place.
“You can show it to her later when I’m at the reunion,” he added. “You ladies can play with that new app that lets you turn people’s faces into butts.”
“That does sound fun.”
Paige shoved the phone into her backpack, which was pink plaid with kittens on it. She’d pleaded for it at start of the school year, but within three months had declared it “Babyish.” He’d insisted she keep it for a few months after that, but now that she’d be starting at a new school, he was willing to concede that something more mature would be fine. He’d let her choose it herself if they had time to hit the mall later.
“We’re going to do a little hot towel treatment now,” Bam told him.
“Sounds good.”
The couple in the waiting area laughed about something as Bam marched in heavy Doc Martens to a contraption in the back corner of the room. He returned with a hot, damp towel that smelled like limes and some spice he couldn’t identify. Coriander, maybe? Allie would know.
The thought of Allie drifted through his mind like a wispy ghost, and Jack closed his eyes as Bam tilted Jack’s chair back and began to wrap the towel around his face.
“Too hot?” he asked.
“Nope. It’s fine.”
“Daddy, you look like a mummy.”
He grinned beneath the towel and tried to think of a daddy/mummy joke that wouldn’t fall flat or remind her that she’d spent most of her life as a motherless child.
“That’ll save me the trouble of finding a Halloween costume in a few months,” was all he could come up with.
Bam finished wrapping the towel and rested his hand on the sides of Jack’s face. “I’m going to leave that on there for just a few minutes. Let the steam do its thing.”
Jack nodded, feeling a little silly with nothing but his nose sticking out of the warm, scented towel. It was quiet under here, with sounds muffled by the damp terrycloth. It bothered him just a little not being able to see Paige. What if someone snatched her or she wandered out the door or?—
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“What does shaving your boobs mean?”
He replayed the question in his mind, trying to make sense of it. “Um?—”
“Or poops. Maybe it’s shaving your poops.”
“I have no idea.”
Behind him, Bam chuckled. “Pubes. The word is pubes.” He cleared his throat and raised his voice. “Keep it down over there, ladies. We have children in the house.”
“Sorry!” The two voices came from the waiting area, which answered at least two questions pinging around in Jack’s mind.
Jack sighed. “Pubes is a short way of saying pubic region,” he said, feeling ridiculous delivering this information with his face wrapped in a towel. For all he knew, he had a full audience listening to this little father-daughter moment.
But he knew Paige was waiting for a response, and he’d promised her a long time ago that he’d always answer her questions promptly and honestly. Might as well get this over with. “Remember that book we read together a couple months ago?”
“The one with the monkeys?”
“No, the other one. The one about what’s happening to your body.”
“Oh. Yeah. That one.”
He pictured her sitting there with her cheeks turning faintly pink. He opened his mouth to suggest they continue this conversation later, but she surprised him by pressing on.
“I liked that book,” she said, a little quieter now. “I learned some stuff I didn’t know.”
