Page 93 of Love in the Lab
“Can we do that again?”
I look at Tamara, who shakes her head. “Remember, we already put the trampoline away for the winter? It’s too cold for the trampoline right now.”
“Oh, yeah.” Her little face deflates, brown eyes drooping.
“We can play something else, though,” I suggest. “Maybe Aunt Molly will even play. How about Legos?” A calm and gentle activity.
“I have a better idea!” Charlotte squeals. “Let’s play octopus, like inBluey.”
Hannah and Mia light up. “Yeah!” they both scream.
“I don’t know how to play octopus,” I tell them. “What about you, Aunt Molly? Do you know how to play octopus?”
“I don’t,” she says, her eyes twinkling. “But I’m sure if you girls explain to Uncle Jonny how to play, he’ll be a great octopus.”
“What about you?” Mia asks in her tiny voice.
“I actually need Aunt Molly to help me with something,” Tamara says, flashing a grin in Molly’s direction. “But she’s right—Uncle Jonny will be a perfect octopus. Show him the episode so he knows the game.”
“Really?” I say dryly. “Ganging up on me already?”
Tamara steps past me, squeezing my shoulder. “The girls missed you. Plus, I really do need Molly’s help with something.”
“Yeah, right.”
I let the girls pull me into the living room where they queue up a show. I spend the next ten minutes watching cartoon dogs, who are apparently Australian, make up an increasingly complicated game where an octopus—which I presume will be me—tries to capture the little fishes who want to steal his treasure.
The episode ends, and three very serious little faces stare up at me. “Got it?” Hannah asks.
I nod solemnly. “I think so.”
Charlotte jumps up. “We need treasure.” She pulls a plastic bin of Hot Wheels cars over to the couch. “Now, Uncle Jonny, you hang on the couch, like Bluey’s dad did, and try to stop us from getting the treasure.”
“But you can’t talk!” Mia yells.
“Right,” Hannah agrees. “You can only make octopus sounds.”
The octopus game keeps us occupied for almost twenty minutes before they decide to switch to “keepy uppy” instead. This involves keeping an inflated balloon from touching the ground. I leap over furniture and crash into walls in my attempts to bump the balloon back up toward the ceiling. The girls scream with laughter.
We move on to a game they call taxi driver. They each take turns being the driver, while the rest of us are passengers in the taxi, inventing characters with outlandish requests or destinations. Hannah says she’s a mom, and she needs a ride to the hospital to pick up a new baby brother for her daughters.
“Hannah!” Charlotte scolds. “We aren’t supposed to say anything, remember?”
“I didn’t say anything!” Hannah shouts back.
I’m about to play referee when Tamara steps in. I glance toward the entrance to the living room where Molly watches me with a smirk.
I disentangle myself from the blanket I’ve been using as a shawl and stand. “How much of that did you see?” I ask Molly sheepishly.
“I’ve been standing here a while,Rita,” Molly teases. That’s the name Mia insisted on giving me. I was supposed to be an old, apparently “cheeky” woman.
“Well,” Tamara says as she walks toward us. “I guess it was silly to think the girls could keep any kind of secret, never mind a big one.”
I look at Tamara in bewilderment. “What secret?”
“He has no idea,” Molly tells her. “Totally clueless.”
“About what?” I look between my sister and my wife, clearly missing something.
