Page 88 of Only and Forever
Romeo’s ears go back. Juliet whines as she burrows her snout beneath her brother’s head. The dogs were all about Linnea’s enthusiastic pets when she first got here. They are not, however, big fans of her volume level.
“What did I do wrong?” Tallulah asks. Her eyes are comically wide. A deep smile brightens her face, making those gorgeous dimples appear.
Making my heart ache.
I’m in deep shit.
Linnea sighs dramatically, crawling into Tallulah’s space, where they sit on the floor, leaning against the other end of the sofa. She grabs Tallulah’s hand and guides it through the steps. “Likethat.”
“Ohhh,” Tallulah says dramatically. “Man, this is complicated.”
“Just keep practicing,” Linnie tells her. “Some things take lots of practice to get better. Like... riding a bike without training wheels. But good news—once you get it, you’re all set, your muscles remember and you can always hop on a bike and do it after that, isn’t that cool? It really is hard to learn, though, and I get mad when I keep trying and I still can’t do it. But Mommy says I can do hard things. She says what’s hard about hard things isn’t often the things themselves but believing in ourselves when we try.”
Tallulah’s expression falters a little bit. “Your mom is very wise, Linnie.”
“Thanks!” Plopping beside Tallulah, she smiles up at her. “I like you, Lula Blue.”
“I like you, too, Linnie Loo.”
“Linnie Loo!” Linnea laughs. “That’s a funny name.”
“Well, you gave me a funny name. I owed you one.”
My niece crawls up to her knees and sinks her hands into Tallulah’s hair.
“Linnie,” I say gently. “You have to ask before you touch someone, remember? ‘May I please...?’ ”
Linnea cranes her head until she’s right in Tallulah’s face. “Lula Blue. May Ipleasetouch your hair?”
Tallulah throws me a quick smile, then meets Linnie’s eyes. “You may.”
“Thank you,” my niece says primly, raking her fingers through Tallulah’s hair. “So. How’d you get it blue? Markers? Paint?”
“I dyed it,” Tallulah tells her. “With chemicals. Well, I paid someone to dye it, with chemicals.”
“I want blue-hair-dye chemicals,” Linnea says. “That’s what I’m gonna ask for, for my birthday.”
Tallulah clears her throat nervously. “Well, that’s something your parents might want you to wait to do until you’re older. You have to bleach dark hair like ours first,thenadd the color. It’s hard on your hair, dries it out, and damages it. You have such pretty dark waves.”
Linnea frowns, her eyes on Tallulah’s hair. “We’ll see,” she says, in that way that makes her sound even older than she is, that makes me remember how much she’s growing—a smart, highly verbal, clever kindergartener. “You know what?” Linnie lifts a chunk of Tallulah’s hair. “Your hair is the same color as my eyes.”
Linnie picks up my phone, unlocks it, because that tech-savvy little mischief-maker learned my passcode eons ago, and opens the camera. With a tap of her finger, she reverses the camera’s direction and snaps a selfie, then hands my phone to Tallulah. “See?”
Tallulah peers at the photo, blinking rapidly. She clears her throat. “Wow. Go figure.”
“It’s the same color as Uncle Viggo’s eyes, too!” Linnie yells.
“You want a snack?” Tallulah asks her, popping up from the floor. “You passed on a snack earlier, and Uncle Viggo said Mommy’s and Daddy’s rules are bedtime snack by eight o’clock. It’s almost eight.”
Linnea glances between us. “Did you get hair to look like Uncle Viggo’s eyes, Lula Blue?”
Tallulah blushes. Spectacularly. I have never seen her blush like this. She clears her throat, smoothing down her dress. “I... had blue hair before I met your uncle Viggo.”
I tip my head, smiling. “Not true, Lula.”
Her eyes dart to mine, blinking rapidly. “College doesn’t count.”
“Doesn’t it?” I hold her gaze, reminding her with my slow, knowing smile what I said just a few hours ago, when she wasfalling apart beneath my touch.I’ve wanted you like this since the moment I saw you.