Page 12 of Size Game

“Do you have any days open so I can meet with the birthday girl?”

“How does tomorrow sound?”

Phil stands behind the chair in front of my desk, grabs either side of the back, and starts thrusting at it. Then he playfully smacks the top of it. “Oh, yes Claire,” he whispers.

“Sorry, I’m doing a party for another client tomorrow. It’s her grandma’s eightieth birthday, and I’ve been doing parties for them since I started here. She was my first client, so I really can’t ditch it.”

I grab for something heavier than a pad of sticky notes. A wire cup of pens—that should work. I throw it across the room at Phil and it hits him in the chest, scattering pens all over the floor.

I know he’s doing all of this just to get a rise out of me. We used to do this all the time to each other in college, especially when parents would call. It was a game of ours. Try to embarrass the hell out of the person on the phone until they slipped up. He’s doing a good job. If I slip up, he wins.

“No worries, Claire. How about Sunday?”

“Sure!”

“Cool, I’ll text you later about it. See you then.”

I finally get the chance to hang up the phone. Phil is laughing his ass off while picking up pens from the floor and placing them back in the cup.

“Fucking, really?”

“Love you, dude.”

“Asshole.”

We laugh together and I get up to help him grab the pens and find my sticky notes. We talk a little more on the way down to our cars. He knows that there’s something there between Claire and me, but I won’t admit to it, not yet.

When I get home, Sadie greets me with a big hug. I get myself into some comfortable pajamas, and Imelda dresses Sadie in her princess nightgown, unicorn slippers, and tiara. I order her favorite pizza and go into the living room.

Sadie is sitting on the floor with a few movies in a row in front of her.

“What do you want to watch?”

“Uh…” She looks from one movie to another, then back again.

I point to one. “How about this one?”

“No.”

“This one?”

“No.”

I point to each one in turn, and each time I am met with a small no. A few minutes later, she chooses the first movie I pointed to and hands it to me. I put it on just as the pizza arrives. She gets up on the couch and waits patiently as I plate it up.

I grab her fluffy unicorn blanket and return with pizza in hand. She wraps herself up in the blanket and takes her pizza. The movie starts, and we sit huddled together, watching and eating. This is the first time we’ve watched this movie, but it feels like I’ve watched it a hundred times.

They’re all the same really. A princess who happens to also be a pony has a social problem and she has to do some weird, meaningless task. There’s a song. There’s always a song. Then the bad guy does something dastardly. Another song happens and friendship was the answer all along.

Sadie loves them, so I watch them with her. Finally the torture is over, and we head into the kitchen to put away the dishes and the rest of the pizza. I get out all the fixings for ice cream sundaes and watch her face light up.

“Remember when I asked you what you wanted for your birthday?”

“Yeah.”

“Would you like to meet someone that plans parties?”

“Yeah!”