Page 11 of Summer Heat
Her eyes widened, and I realized I should have tempered my response. "Really?"
I nodded, thinking I was already in it, so I might as well keep going with it. "Yep."
"Ugh. Fine." She lifted her brush and started brushing.
I started singing, "Brush-a-brush, brush-a-brush, brush, brush, brush."
When she paused, I stopped.
Her forehead wrinkled. "What are you doing?"
"Singing the toothbrush song."
Holding her brush suspended in midair, she narrowed her eyes on me. "There isn't a toothbrush song."
I scoffed. "There obviously is because I was just singing it."
She kept her gaze locked on me and slowly started to brush her teeth again.
"Brush-a-brush—" I began until she paused again.
She moved her brush to the side, and I sang, "Brush to the right. Brush to the left. Brush-a-brush-a-brush-a-brush-brush."
When she was done, she rinsed her toothbrush and sang along with me. It was a catchy song, one my mother had sung to me when we were kids and didn't want to brush our teeth. I started to dance along with the song, moving my hips and shaking my butt.
Maya erupted into giggles, and I stopped long enough to smile at her. "That was fun."
"It was," Maya said as we walked into the hallway where her mother was waiting, a crease between her brows.
"Were you dancing?" Kinsley asked.
"Oh, yeah. You can't help but dance to the toothbrush song." I broke into song again, dancing next to Maya in the hallway.
Kinsley shook her head, a smile on her face. "You two are ridiculous."
"That's the only way to be." I straightened and held my fist out to Maya, who knew to return the bump. I let my hand blow up, and then I asked, "Are we ready to shop until we drop?"
Maya smiled wide, and I wanted to make her smile as much as possible.
I grabbed my keys from the table by the front door and opened the door for Kinsley and Maya. "We'll take my truck. We can fit more in the back."
"How much stuff do you think we need?" Kinsley asked as she passed me.
Maya was already waiting by the passenger door of the truck, so I clicked the locks for her. She opened the door and attempted to climb in.
"Most of your things were ruined. You need toys, books, toiletries, and more clothes," I said before closing and locking the front door so that I could get to Maya. I easily lifted her, and she scrambled into her seat.
I liked seeing her car seat in the back of my truck. It fit somehow. All she needed was some toys to play with. I could see a stuffed animal dropped on the floor, an empty sippy cup, and a few stray goldfish that she loved so much.
I had to stop thinking of this situation as being permanent. Maya's seat wouldn't be in my truck for much longer, and there wouldn't be any abandoned stuffed animals or giggles.
I let Kinsley buckle her in. When Kinsley got into the passenger-side seat, I pulled up to the gate, waiting for it to open.
"It's so fancy to have a gate," Kinsley observed.
"It came with the house. And I've' never been accused of being fancy before. I work in construction and like to drink a beer on my back porch at the end of the day. I'm a simple man," I said as I pulled out of the driveway and headed in the direction of Sanibel.
"You're anything but simple."
