Page 50 of Like A Daydream
“Lucky he was a fan and let you go after signing an autograph.”
He takes Danielle home after she starts falls asleep on his shoulder at around eleven, and he thinks that it’s just the beginning.
“Level with me, Andy,” Harper says the three days later, staring at him over her bowl of blue-goo ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. Blue-goo ice cream was not a thing in Raleigh, he hadn’t even known what it was when she ordered it. He chalked it up to being a northern thing, and watched her shovel the vanilla ice cream with blue-raspberry flavoring into her mouth.
If her lips weren’t blue and she wasn’t six, Andy’s pretty sure he’d be shitting himself with how seriously she’s staring at him. Roscoe is at his feet, eating a bowl of custard. Andrew is crunching on a waffle cone filled with chocolate peanut butter.
They’re sitting at a table outside the ice cream shop, Harper’s legs swinging back and forth as he reaches for a napkin to wipe her mouth a little bit so she doesn’t get too sticky.
“Alright, I’ll level with you,” he says, grinning as he reaches across the distance to get the corners of her mouth with his own napkin. “What is it you want to know?”
He takes a bite of his ice cream, watching her think through the question she’s asking.
“You like my Aunt D, don’t you?” she says, finally. “Youlike her, like her.”
Andrew nearly chokes on his ice cream, coughing as he swallows. He glances over at Harper, only to see what the six-year-old version of a smirk looks like.
“What do you mean Ilike her, like her?” he asks, after he’s recovered.
“I don’t know,” Harper says with a shrug, “like, you want to hold hands with her and kiss her and stuff.One of the boys in my class told me that’s what grown-ups do when they like each other. That’s what my mom and dad used to do.”
Her lower lip wobbles when she mentions her parents, and Andrew holds his arms out for her. She climbs into his lap easily, and tucks her face into his shirt. He doesn’t even care that she’s getting it all blue from her mouth.
She’s probably the bravest person he’s met, besides Danielle.
Navigating six-year-old life after losing both of her parents, being stronger than she has to be for her age. He wishes he could dive into her brain and figure out how she’s staying afloat. She can’tnotunderstand that her parents are gone, not with the way she’s talking to him like she’s a tiny adult, but she also can’t know how to grieve when she’s this little.
He feels her sniffle against his neck and he hugs her a little tighter.
“You’re alright, bug,” he says softly. “I’ve got you.”
It only lasts a minute before she’s pulling back from him and turning back to her ice cream. She doesn’t leave his lap, just takes another bite.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she says, looking over at him, her eyes still a little red and watery. He wipes under her eyes as another tear tries to escape.
“I need you to smile, first,” he says, “you can’t be sad eating ice cream, it’s against the rules.”
“What rules?”
“The rules of life and America,” he says, raising a brow. “The President just called me and said that it’s not allowed anymore.”
“The President didn’tcallyou,” Harper says, but a smile is starting to crack through the surface, “your phone didn’t ring.”
“How do you know I didn’t get the call on my way to pick you up?” he asks, “The President has secret ways of communicating.”
“Why would he call you?” she asks, “You’re not famous.”
“Want to know a secret about me that only five people know?” he asks. Harper’s eyes widen and she nods. He gestures for her to lean in, and he drops his voice to a whisper. “Iamfamous.”
“No way!” she says, shaking her head, a full giggle escaping her. “You’re just Andy.”
His heart has never felt as light as when he hears that, even though he knows she doesn’t know who he is. Even though, someday, this will become a conversation they have to have. He feels tension seep out of his shoulders as she laughs at him, not a care in the world other than he’s Andy and he’s in the secretDukes of Hazardclub with her and they’re eating ice cream on a sticky July afternoon.
She smiles, a big blue-toothed smile, and he grins.
“Would you be okay if Ilike like, your Aunt D?” he asks her.
Harper just shrugs. “I’m okay with it. She needs some fun in her life.”
