2020-09-26 - A Strong Woman

The interior was well lit in the mid-morning light, reflecting from the floor's high polish. In the back, at the staff's table, once his table but now reappropriated now that his attention had been divided, broad shoulders slumped with the heft of a heavy sigh. He used the blunt end of his black pen to comb his long black hair behind his shoulder where it mostly disobeyed and kept his green eyes focused down at the table top and the newspaper open in front of him.

There were few customers in the ice cream parlor and candy store, so he felt justified, lifting just his gaze to the detached baby car seat sitting on the table next to the paper, opposite from his cup of coffee, the only thing keeping him awake some days, the new infusion of blood swimming in his caffeine.

"What's a five letter word for disappointment?" he asked the happy infant with dark hair like his peeking out from under her pink knitted beanie with kitten ears. She smiled wider, and flailed her arms before her tiny hands found her own feet, latched and pulled her legs up to her lap. She gurgled with deep amusement.

Everett couldn't help the smirk, looking at his happy child, wriggle and staring at him. Him, or anyone else that came in, like now. Attracted by the bell over the door, her mood lessens as she stares at someone that doesn't feed her, not much more that a blur from that distance until the throaty rumble of her father's voice resumes and draws her focus back. "I'm pretty sure that's actually six letters, and if you keep this up, we're going to have to enroll you in school."

Morganna released her sleeper-clad toes in favor of flailing her arms again. "I know what you what," Everett murmurs to the tiny human, still smirking. His bare hand lifts, a thick finger then two tickle baby belly, walk up her chest to boop her small nose, "and you aren't going to get it." What she got, instead, was a finger. Wrapping the first two fingers of her hand around his, not yet mastered grabbing. But her grip was strong.

It was their joke, just between the two of them. "Woof, that's a strong grip you've got. You challenging me to an arm wrestle, here? Now?" The thug takes a brief look around, perhaps to make sure no one yet thinks him mad. "I'm not going to easy on you, the world's first quarterback-lawyer-doctor-president has to be tough," he warns, wiggling the caught finger and her hand and arm with his casual movement. But she doesn't let go. "Ok, you asked for it."

The little hand is wiggled once more, baby makes a happy squeal that causes attention to be shifted in their direction for a second. Then he counts them off, twitching her hand with each number.
"One. Two. Last chance… three."

Moving only his finger, Everett moves the little hand close, then back, then forward. It's a struggle. "So strong… ughh…" he emits before his finger and wrist are bent back. Baby wins. "Good job. I'm so proud of you, you beat me everytime," he congratulates before leaving down, letting his hair curtain around the carrier to hide his theft of a kiss to the baby's nose with curled lips. And when he straightens up once more, the pen is once more used to brush his hair back as his gaze falls back down.
"Now. Stop distracting your pops and tell me what's a five letter word for disappointment."