Page 4 of Finding Home
“Daddy,” Lila’s voice carries down the stairs of our new rental in Willow Valley.
“Yeah,” I call back.
I listen to the sound of her thudding footsteps until she appears at the top of the stairs.
“Can we paint my room purple with pink polka dots?”
This girl has become obsessed with polka dots since one of her favourite characters wore them and said it was so she could wear both her favourite colours at the same time. Ever since, Lila has tried to get me to get everything polka dotted.
I shake my head. “Liles, you gotta pick one colour.”
She juts her bottom lip out in a pout, and it almost gets me, but I stand firm. I don’t have the time to be doing some ridiculous pattern on the walls of her bedroom. I barely have the time to paint it. I start work in three days and need to set up the house and get Lila registered in school before then.
“But, Daddy.”
I shake my head. “Liles, we can paint your room, but it’s gotta be one colour.”
She huffs and turns around and marches back to her new room where the only set up furniture, her bed, is. I shake my head and make my way back out to the truck to continue unloading the stuffinto the house. I hired two people to make the journey with us from Calgary. They drove in the moving truck while Lila and I drove in mine. They’re currently putting together the couch while I move the boxes into the appropriate rooms before we move my bed.
I’m dead on my feet already. It was an all-day drive yesterday. We stayed at the motel in town last night after arriving late and got an early start today.
After I’ve brought in the last box, Lila comes and finds me in the kitchen.
“I’m hungry, Daddy.”
I check the time and notice it’s way past when I’d usually feed her lunch.
“What do you want?”
“Waffles!” she cheers.
“We don’t have any, Peanut. Daddy has to run to the store. Why don’t we order something? How about pizza?”
She grins up at me and nods.
“Pepperoni?” I ask, and she nods again.
I pull out my phone and do a quick search and find there’s one place that has pizza and delivers in town. I shake my head as I pull up the number. The lack of options is one thing I’m going to have to get used to.
The phone rings, and a cheery teen girl picks up. I place an order for delivery, which she says will take fifteen minutes, and hang up. I brace myself on the counter, dipping my head between my shoulders as I take a deep breath. I remind myself this move was what was best for both Lila and my grandmother. As much as I love the city, that’s not where I’m needed anymore.
One more deep breath, and I get to work on a box in the kitchen, hoping to find the stuff to make us dinner at least.
Our food is delivered, and I hand a pizza to the moving guys and join Lila on the floor. She picks the pepperoni off the pizza, her tongue sticking out as she concentrates on stacking them before shoving them in her mouth.
When we finish, Lila leaves her crust on her plate and runs upstairs to find herbox of toys.
I remain quiet when I hear Lila push my bedroom door open the next morning, quietly making her way to the other side of the bed before climbing on and snuggling into my side. She only manages to stay still for two minutes before she’s rolling and squirming, and I wrap my arm around her pulling her into me as she giggles.
“Daddy,” she whines through her laughter.
“Lila,” I mock back, which only causes her to giggle more.
I kiss the top of her head and loosen my grip on her, and she settles against me again.
“What’s for breakfast?” she asks, the ever-hungry child.
This is just another thing I fucking hate about moving, not having easy access to everything or enough food in the house to feed my daughter. This is the first big move we’ve made together. Before, I’d make the move while she was with her mother and I could get my shit together and be ready for when she came back to me, but now that Renee’s gone, I’ve got Lila all the time.
