Doorstep Baby

Dinner

I did eventually call Gretchen, after a few false starts and nose blows, and she invited us all to dinner, including Lauren and Cole. My nerves were all over the place about it, and I was unsure what to wear, what to cook, if I should cook, what to pick up...I was a mess.

At some point Jason sat me down on the bed and handed me a pair of jeans and a nice T-shirt, told me to wear my "nice" flip-flops, and then said, "I'm putting our swimsuits in a bag, because I talked to Gretchen earlier today. She wants it to be completely casual, and they have a pool."

Like an obedient puppy (so, yeah, totally unlike myself), I put on the clothes he'd picked out, then went into Carter's room and helped her get dressed. She put on a pink dress with her white sneakers. She'd just recently learned to tie her shoes, so the lace-up ones were the only ones she wanted to wear lately. She also scooped up her stuffed bunny.

"I'm ready, Mommy," she said as she came up to me, and I picked her up.

"You are? Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes, Mommy," she said. I bear-hugged her, not wanting to put her down.

"Uh, Mommy, I gots to breave." I laughed and set her down. "You love me too much, huh, Mommy?"

"Yes I do, I guess. I'll try and watch that."

"Good," she said, shaking her little finger at me. I walked to the living room with Carter close behind. Jason was standing there with the keys in his hand.

"Well, there are my favorite girls, and Bunny, too. Carter, did you get Bunny's swimsuit, too?" he joked.

"Daddy, don't be silly. Bunnies don't like to swim. They like to watch and stay dry." We laughed and scrambled out the door.

Thirty minutes later, we pulled up to their house and piled out of the car. The beautiful curved sidewalk was lined with butterfly weed, bee balm, and rosemary, and as we approached the lanai, dozens of tiny geckos and other little lizards ran across the sidewalk in front of us. Carter squealed with delight and chased them.

"Wow, it's like a tiny Jurassic Park!" said Jason.

We opened the door to the lanai, stepped inside, and rang the doorbell. I heard loud squeals from inside, and the door swung open to reveal the twins, who grabbed Carter in a simultaneous hug. She didn't seem to mind the ambush at all, and the girls dragged her off toward their mom.

"Hello Sydney, I'm so happy you all came." she said.

"Thanks for inviting us. Lauren and Cole should be here any..." The doorbell rang, and Lauren came in, Cole dragging behind and looking pouty. 

"Hi, Gretchen, it's such a pleasure to meet you." Gretchen reached out to shake Lauren's hand, but my bestie was having none of that. She wrapped her arms around a shocked Gretchen, who just smiled and hugged her back. "Thank you so much for including us."

"Well," said Gretchen, "from what Sydney tells me, you guys have built your own family, and I won't be trying to get in the way of that. I just hope we can have a place in it, too."

I liked her a lot, but I didn't quite know how to answer that. After all, I really didn't know them yet.

Jason approached Cole. "What's the matter, little man?"

"Girls," he replied, and Jason nodded knowingly.

"Yeah, dude, I know, there's more of them, so what can we do?" Cole made a stink face, and we all stifled our giggles.

Gretchen offered, "But hey, my husband Jack should be back in a bit. He just ran down to the store for more ice. There's never enough ice this time of year. Our house water system can barely keep up with demand, but the poor ice maker just can't even."