Ain't This Life So Sweet | Joanne

Chapter Eight

Joe awoke the next morning to find himself trapped in his hotel bed.

His side felt uncomfortable and, as he looked down, he realised that he was pinned to the mattress by the leg of a small six-year-old girl. Emelia must have climbed into their bed in the night without him realizing. She had slept through the whole drive, and had probably woken up confused about where they were.

Slowly turning his head, he spotted Dianne's red hair draped across the pillow next to him. She had one arm above her head, and the other was cradling Emelia, who appeared to have made herself comfortable by using Dianne's chest as a pillow. Her tiny fist had grabbed a handful of her mother's t-shirt and she was snoring lightly.

Joe grabbed his camera from the bedside table, taking a few quick pictures of the pair of them. It was such an adorable sight to see, and he knew that Dianne would appreciate having as many pictures to look back on as possible.

Joe had packed his camera for their trip, despite their agreement that he wouldn't vlog whilst Emelia was with them. Instead, he had decided to film as much of their time as possible and then edit it down. He planned to upload a copy to Emelia's iPad, and send another copy to Dianne's phone for them to watch when they missed each other.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Dianne asked just as Joe put his camera back down. "What time is it? And what... Oh."

Dianne had noticed where her daughter had decided to sleep.

"Well, that explains the weird dream about getting stuck under a giant shopping bag".

Joe chucked as Dianne tried to move. "Jesus. She's heavy! You don't realise until they put their whole dead weight on top of you. She used to weigh, like, seven pounds. And now she's an absolute lump!"

Dianne tried to roll Emelia off her. She stirred, before turning her head and falling back asleep. Both Joe and Dianne let out a relieved breath. Emelia reached out and grabbed another fistful of Dianne's top.

"Well, it would appear I'm not moving."

Joe smiled. "Do you know when she climbed in?"

Dianne shrugged. "She got me up at about three to take her to the toilet. I don't think she knew where she was- she was half-asleep. And we both went back to bed. It must have been after that."

"What time is it now?"

Dianne reached out to grab her phone. "Half seven."

"And what time did you get to sleep?" Joe knew Dianne had been struggling with the jet lag, but he had been so tired from the drive that he had no recollection of whether she had stayed awake or not.

Dianne shrugged. "I wasn't fully asleep when she woke me up. So just after three? But I'm awake now. There's no way I could get back to sleep comfortably with this one attached to me."

Joe crawled carefully out of bed, wrapping the complimentary robe around himself.

"Well, would you like a coffee?" he asked. Dianne nodded.

"Definitely. I need a coffee. Caffeine, yes- please and thank you." Dianne tried to wriggle as Joe moved towards the coffee machine.

"Hey Joe?" Joe stopped, mug in hand, to listen to her. "What time are we meeting everyone?"

"I said to mum we'd be at grandad's for about ten."

"Right. Let's leave her for a bit longer, then. Since she seems to be completely immune to jet lag." Dianne pulled one arm out of her top. Joe looked at her with a confused expression on his face.