Page 4 of Habibi: Always and Forever
And just like that, our baby was off to her first day of school.
* * *
KAI
The eight of us stood there in a haze of exhaust, watching until the school bus turned the corner.
And then we stood there a bit longer.
The donut sat like a rock in my stomach.
No more slow, easy mornings of cereal and bananas for Elsie while Colby and I sipped our coffee and checked work emails.
Gone were the days of an impromptu rainy afternoon nap on the couch for the three of us.
I already missed the silly giggles we shared while playing with Playdoh and painting pictures at the kitchen table.
Magic whined.
Zechariah’s mom wiped at her eyes as she and her husband said goodbye. They’d head off to work knowing their little one would get off the bus with Elsie and spend a couple hours with us on most afternoons.
Ivy cleared his throat. “Well, this is a bunch of bullshit,” he muttered. “Maybe you should look into homeschooling.”
We’d all miss having Elsie around throughout the day, but I had a feeling Ivy might be the one to miss his little auto shop helper the most.
“She’ll do great in school,” Emory said with a sniffle. “It will just take a while for everyone to get used to not having her here during the day.”
“Plus, she’ll have breaks and summer,” Trevor offered.
Ivy shrugged. “I guess it at least frees you two up for nooners now.”
And with that, a tiny bit of the sadness floated away with the scent of bus exhaust as we all shook our heads at Ivy’s crass sense of humor.
“Let’s go get some breakfast,” Ivy said, hooking his arm around Emory’s neck.
Colby took my hand. “You think she’ll be okay?”
I nodded, my chest tight, but my answer sure. “Absolutely. She’s one hundred percent ready to learn and grow at school. It’s just her daddies who aren’t ready.”
We made our way to the Peppermint Café for eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee before the six of us went our separate ways for the day. While Elsie was off living her best life in Kindergarten, the rest of us still had jobs to do.
At least staying busy would hopefully help the hours fly by until she climbed off the bus in seven hours.
* * *
COLBY
“Didn’t expect you guys here,” I said when Ivy, Emory, Trevor, and Blake joined us at the corner that afternoon.
Blake wrapped an arm around Trevor. “We might have purposely taken late lunches today to make it work.”
Ivy shrugged. “I don’t see anything wrong with a daily three-thirty break.” He tapped the name tag embroidered into his Ivy’s Auto uniform shirt. “One of the perks of being the boss.”
Emory smacked a kiss to Ivy’s cheek. “And a perk of sleeping with the boss is that I can make this time work every day.” He rested his back against Ivy’s front and snuggled into the embrace. “If you guys ever need someone to get the kids off the bus, we’re always available.”
Ivy snorted. “Only for true emergencies. If your nooner runs long, I’m not babysitting just so you can—” He laughed when Emory elbowed him.
Just as Ivy started to go on, the big yellow bus rounded the corner.
Once the beast had pulled to a stop with red lights flashing, stop sign out, and the stop arm in place, the doors squeaked open.
Zechariah made his way down the steps and turned to wait for Elsie.
And there she was maneuvering down the steps and hopping onto the sidewalk.
Like the little poster child for morning of the first day of school versus afternoon of the first day of school, Elsie’s lopsided smile was sunshine personified despite her sandals being filthy, a blob of something on her overalls, and her yellow bow mysteriously missing.
Dropping to my knees, I hugged her close. She’d been gone seven hours, but it felt like years. Was she taller? She definitely didn’t smell like my sweet little baby. “How was school?” I asked as she patted my back before moving to hug Magic.
“It was great!” Elsie squealed. “Our teacher says you have homework.”
She and Zechariah thought that was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.
“Oh, really?” Kai teased. “Well, let’s get a snack, and you two wahoos can tell us about school while we do our homework .” He groaned as if it was the worst thing ever, and the wahoos in question nearly collapsed in giggles.
We made plans to grill out later that night before everyone headed back to work. Then Kai got the kids washed up, changed into play clothes, and seated at the table with apple juice, carrots and ranch, and apple slices.
While the kids talked a mile a minute about everything they did at school, I rummaged through Elsie’s backpack and found a folder. Inside was a simple sheet of paper. “This doesn’t look too bad,” I said.
Kai peered over my shoulder. “What’s that QR code?”
I scanned it and groaned. “Like five pages to fill out.”
“She said you don’t have to finish until Monday, but I get a smelly sticker when it’s done,” Elsie said. “She has smelly stickers that smell just like bubble gum, grape, and popcorn.”
“We’ll do our homework,” I promised my daughter.
Kai wrapped an arm around me and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Good thing we got that nooner in today,” he whispered, his teasing grin tickling against my ear.
“What? Why?” Don’t get me wrong, the midday sex had been hot and was definitely a perk of Elsie being off at school for two work-from-home daddies. But I got the feeling Kai was telling me we wouldn’t be exploring the hot and sweaty type of bedroom fun that evening once Elsie was asleep.
“You’ve got homework.” He smacked a kiss to my lips and joined the kids in laughing over my plight.
“Maybe I can get my best friend to help me with it like he used to back in high school,” I said with a wink.
Kai glanced at me over the table as he helped the kids gather up their trash and dishes. “Maybe. He was pretty much willing to do anything for you back then if I remember correctly.”
My eyes held his as I recalled the years Kai had stood by my side. “And now?”
“Now? Well, now he loves you even more than he ever thought possible.”
“So, he’ll help?”
Kai smiled and shrugged. “Guess we’ll see how good your skills of persuasion are these days.”
* * *
KAI
We had the meat and veggies ready for the grill by the time Emory, Ivy, Trevor, and Blake showed up. The six of us stood around chatting as we sipped from bottles of beer and water. When Magic came trotting over and nudged Ivy’s hand, we all paused and listened.
“It’s too quiet,” Emory said.
“I refuse to play Timmy and Lassie,” Ivy grumbled, but he followed Magic just as quickly as the rest of us.
We found the kids in the playhouse part of Elsie’s swing set.
Sound asleep.
And then the six of us stood there and just watched them.
There was dinner to cook.
Paperwork to fill out.
A bedtime routine to stick to.
But for that one moment in time, everything stopped.
“I can’t believe they’re in school,” Trevor said.
“She was just a baby yesterday,” Blake added.
Emory sniffled. “I’m going to lose it when she goes to her first dance.”
“Gets her license,” Ivy added, his words gruffer than usual.
“Graduates,” I whispered, wrapping an arm around Colby’s waist.
“Goes off to college,” he choked out, a tremor traveling through his whole body.
Magic sat in front of us and whined, picking up on the emotionally wrecked energy of six grown men.
Trevor reached down to give Magic some loving.
Blake drained the rest of his water in one long swallow.
Emory sniffled again and wiped his eyes. “Well, this sucks.”
Colby cleared his throat. “How can it be so exciting to see your kid reach each new milestone while being like a dagger to the heart at the same time?”
“At least we can all be here to go through it together,” I offered.
“This is a bunch of shit.” Ivy made a noise halfway between a snort and a sob. Emory snuggled closer to his side.
“Misery loves company, I guess,” Colby said.
I wasn’t looking forward to the heartache that came with watching your child grow up, but I also knew Elsie Mae was going to do amazing things.
I glanced at our friends.
Our family.
We’d one hundred percent travel the bittersweet journey together.