Finding Andrew

Chapter 5

          Out in the kitchen Grandma is baking. “What cooking?” I ask, sitting on a tall bar stool. “Just some cookies for later,” she smiles, bringing me a cup of sweet tea. “Oh, thank you,” I take a sip. “So, why are you all fancied up? Is it because James is coming over?” she dances away. “Grandma! I do not like James,” I smile. “Okay, okay. Whatever you say, do you want anything?” she asks. “Got any extra cookie dough?” she brings over a large bowl and a spoon. “I sure do, eat however much you want but don’t get sick, and don’t worry about the girls, that’s just chocolate- chip. I’m also making sugar cookies,” she nods, walking towards the pantry. Emma pads in, her head wrapped in a towel, “I’m ready!” “Okay, come on,” I grab her hand and we make our way to my bedroom. I have her sit on the bed and I turn on cartoons. It takes a second to heat up the straightener, so I spilt her already dried hair into two parts and braid one side. I straighten the un- braided side, which only haves about 10 minutes. “Wow Emma, your hair is so much easier to do than mine. I braid that side and un- braid the other. I straighten the curly side and bring her to the mirror. “Wow,” she says, “It’s so long.” It reaches the middle of her upper back. “You look so much older,” I say, “You should go show Mom and Dad.” She runs off, and I walk back into the kitchen. “When are Laura and Bill supposed to be coming over?” I ask. “You can just ask about James, you don’t have to ask about Laura and Bill. He’s coming over in ten minutes maybe, want to go get Ethan?”

          I walk into Ethan and Emma’s room, and he’s happily chewing on some blocks. “Hey, want some cookies?” I sit down in front of him. He looks up at me and continues chewing on a block. I take it out of his hand and stand up. I grab for his hand and we walk, unsteadily, to the kitchen, where I put him in his highchair. “Hey Grandma, got a cookie for Ethan?” I ask. She hands me a chocolate chip cookie, and the doorbell rings. “I got it!” I drop the cookie off by Ethan and open the door, “Hi!” They all shuffle in, and James is still outside of the door. “Are you are going come in?” I ask, stepping even further out of his way. He shakes his head, “June needs more sugar. Would you care to accompany me to Wal- Mart?” I put my hands on hips, “Now why would you come all the way here to just go back out?” “To check if June needed sugar,” he smiles, and nods to something behind. I turn to where Grandma is holding Ethan, she smiles. “Want to take Ethan?” Grandma asks. I look at James, who nods, “June’s in the car, we can both of the babies. We’ll go to Sam’s Club instead, they have big carts and we can fit both of them in one cart. Plus Aunt June uses a lot of sugar.” “Oh, don’t get a ginormous one,” Grandma winks at me as I grab Ethan. I smile and shake my head. “Want to go shopping?” I ask Ethan as I grab his car seat. “Want me to take that?” James asks, as I struggle to carry both Ethan and his seat. “Oh, yeah, take his car seat please?” I hold it out to him. He takes it and set’s it up in the back of a black minivan. “What, no truck?” I smile, trying not laugh. “It’s my Mom’s,” James blushes. I laugh a little. “If you don’t shut up, you’re sitting in the back,” James smiles. I shut the door and climb into the front seat. “I said to sit in the back,” James says. I stare at him, “Just drive.”

          “How far away is it?” I ask impatiently. “A minute or two, calm down,” James says. I fold my arms, “Why couldn’t you just go to Wal- Mart without me?” “I was just trying to be friendly,” James smiles as we pull into a busy- looking store. “Ready? It’s pretty hectic sometimes,” James asks, getting out of the store before I can answer. He grabs June and I get Ethan from the back seat and we snatch the first cart we see. James was right; there are two baby spots. I wipe the handle and the seats down before putting the babies in. I strap them in and ask, “Can I push it? It would make me more comfortable.” “Go for it, all we need is sugar, right? You don’t need anything?” he asks, taking my purse and putting it in between June and Ethan. “No, I don’t think so, it doesn’t hurt to look though,” I push the car quickly into the store, James trailing close behind. As soon as I walked in I turned to James. “Why is there so much stuff? It’s so big,” I said. “I’ll push you around in the cart,” James has to lean down because it’s really loud, and he smiles. “No, I think I can manage,” I can’t help but smile. We make our way to where sugar would be and James throws a pretty big one into the cart. “What’s today?” James asks. “The date? June 24th. Today’s Saturday,” I answer curiously. “Want some free samples? They always hand out free samples on Saturdays,” James says. We make our way to the produce. “Like honeydew?” James asks. “Not really, we could see id Ethan does?” we each grab a small paper plates that contain three cubes, one honeydew, one cantaloupe, and one watermelon. “Want your cantaloupe?” James asks. “No. Want your watermelon?” I hand him my cantaloupe. Ethan almost inhales the honeydew, and June takes small little bites of hers. “This watermelon is really good,” I say between bites. “Want to go see if they have something less healthy?” James smiles. “Want to push the cart now?” I ask. He takes over the cart, even though it’s big enough for both of us to push. We find ourselves in the frozen food aisle, trying an assortment of personal pizzas. “My favorite is the pepperoni,” I say, after trying around seven or eight. “Mine too. Think we should get it?” James says, opening the cooler and grabbing two pepperoni pizzas. “Are there instructions on how to cook them on a fire?” I joke. James groans, “We’re camping tonight?” I nod, putting the pizzas in the cart. “Well I guess we should get going,” James says. We push the cart to the shortest check-out lane, and wait. Ethan and June are getting restless.

          Eventually, we get to the front of the line and James pays. We walk out to the van and I load up the babies, and James puts the cart away. I climb into the front seat and wait for James to come back. He opens the door, gets in. He starts the car and we pull away. “Did you get my purse?” I ask, panicky. He lifts it up from his side, and smiles. I snatch it from him, “Don’t do that!” “Sorry, sorry,” he smiles, and then turns to look at me as we stop at the stop light, “You know, people probably thought we were dating, and June and Ethan were our kids.” I blush and look away, “No they didn’t.” “How would you know?” he asks, turning back to look at the road as the light changes to green. “Because,” I say, not even attempting to finish my sentence. “So maybe they did,” James shrugs. “So maybe they didn’t,” I throw a balled up piece of paper at him that I found on the floor. “Hey!” he laughs, which cause me to laugh, “Don’t distract the driver.” “Oh shut up and drive,” I say, sitting back in my chair. Suddenly, Ethan starts crying hysterically. I turn around to find he threw up all over his clothes. “Oh gross,” I say, turning to the front, “It was probably the honeydew.” “June didn’t throw up,” James points out. “Oh my God,” I say, turning around to examine him, “What if he’s allergic?” I unbuckle to lean over further. “Hey baby,” I say soothingly, “Are you okay?” He throws up again, and his face is blotchy. “James, I think he is,” I say, freaking out. “Call your Mom,” James says, “The closest hospital is half an hour away; tell her to put June on the phone. She can drive them here.” I pull out my phone and dial my mom. It rings, and rings. “Mom!” I say as she picks up. “Where are you guys?” she asks. “Ethan’s having an allergic reaction to the honeydew we got, we’re bringing him to the hospital, and can I talk to Grandma?” I say quickly. “Oh my God, oh, okay. Yeah, here she is,” Mom says. “Can I talk to June?” James asks. I hand him my phone. “Hi, June? It’s James. We’re going to the hospital. Yeah. He threw up twice. Tell Mom and Dad to stay there, you, Nick, Phil, and Heather come. Okay, we’ll see you there. Yeah, June’s fine. Okay, bye,” all I hear is James’s side of the conversation. Ethan’s still crying in the back seat, and I feel on the verge of tears myself. James pats my leg awkwardly, “Hey, it’s okay. We didn’t know right? We’d be in the same place right now if it were June, or me, or you. You didn’t do anything wrong.” I wipe a stray tear off my face, “I’m going to be a really bad mom.” “You didn’t know, Elizabeth. You can’t blame yourself,” James says. “How could I not? I fed it to him. I should have just thrown it away,” I say, tears rolling down my face with no rhyme or reason. We ride the rest of the way in silence.