Page 36 of Lies and Lullabies
“Sorry, what?”
“You add water to the pot. The dolly grows out of it.”
“That sounds…”Terrifying. “Fascinating. I’ve never heard of that.”
Kira snorted.
“Well, what do you play with?” Vivi asked.
“My guitar, mostly.”
“Guitars are neat. My daddy played a guitar,” Vivi said. Then she dropped my hand and scampered to the side of the road to pluck a dandelion that grew there.
I turned a raised eyebrow in Kira’s direction.
She looked away.
* * *
When we reached the house,I followed Kira and Vivi through the screen door and onto the porch, where Adam was reading theNew York Timeswith a beer in his hand. I wasn’t leaving until Kira threw me out. I pulled my T-shirt over my mostly dry torso and wondered what would happen next.
“You know, Vivi, it’s nap time,” Kira said.
“No! I’m not tired.”
“Come on, sweetie.”
Kira picked her up, but there was some thrashing. “Uncle Adam didn’t kiss me yet.”
With a sigh, Kira let Vivi slide down her body. She climbed up onto Adam, crunching his newspaper. He held his beer out of the way and let her scale him. “If you have a good nap, I’ll take you out in the rowboat before dinner,” he promised, planting a kiss on her forehead.
“Can I row?” she asked.
“Certainly. Now scoot.” He gave her a mock spanking, and then Kira scooped her up again, heading for the dark interior of the house.
I watched every second of it. In their own way, Adam, Kira, and Vivi were the perfect little family. A much warmer one than I’d grown up in.
“Dude, I think you need one of these.” Adam offered me a bottle of Dos Equis and a church key.
“I think you’re right. Thanks.” I threw Vivi’s towel onto the seat of the rocker beside Kira’s brother, and lowered myself onto it. I popped the top off the beer and took a swig, hoping Adam wouldn’t think I was a lush. But the beer was cold and bracing, and I was happy to have it. “She takes naps?” I asked. I didn’t know a thing about little kids. There was no point in pretending otherwise.
“Most days,” he said, abandoning his newspaper. “She’s a good sleeper, actually. The first year, Kira and I thought we woulddieof exhaustion.” He chuckled into his bottle. “But now she’s a champ.”
“They’ve lived with you the whole time?” I had a million questions. At least.
But Adam looked suddenly guarded. “Yeah,” he said quietly.
I watched his face carefully. “That makes me feel a little better, knowing she had somebody helping her.”
Adam’s expression did something confusing then, morphing from surprise, to warmth, and then back to cautious again. “Maybe it’s weird, but it works for us.”
“I can see that.” The conversation lapsed into a minute or two of silence. Glancing through the screen, I spotted a familiar figure walking down the road, swinging a picnic basket. I stood up and went to the door, swinging it open. “Ethan! Are you looking for me?”
The big man turned his big head. “Jojo! What’s the deal with you today? You didn’t eat your lunch.” He strode up and entered the porch, taking in me and Adam and our bottles of Mexican beer.
I plopped myself back into the chair. “Yeah. About that… Adam, this is Ethan. He’s my tour manager. But he thinks he’s my mother.”
Ethan put down the basket. “And you’re an ingrate.”
