Page 8 of Size Game
Just a fling, a one-night stand—that’s all that was supposed to happen. But how could I leave it at that when she left her wallet behind? I couldn’t just hand it over to someone else. I did the right thing in returning it to her personally.
There was something there, though; when I looked into her eyes, I could see it. She wanted me to stay, but that couldn’t happen. Even her friend noticed right before she excused herself. I’d like to get to know this woman more, but maybe I’m just acting a fool. This is the first date I’ve been on in years. Something couldn’t possibly come out of something as simple and meaningless as a fling with a woman off the internet.
“Daddy!” I hear my little girl running down the stairs into the kitchen where I have her waffles and juice all ready for her.
“Sadie! How are you, Princess?”
I scoop her up and give her a big hug and a kiss before sitting her down to eat breakfast. Imelda comes wandering in, holding her first cup of coffee. She smiles at me, and I smile back.
“So, I heard someone’s birthday is coming up. Do you know who that might be?”
Sadie gets the biggest smile across her face. “My birthday!”
“What do you want for your birthday?”
She starts going on and on about toys she wants and the theme. Imelda snickers on the other side of the island. Our eyes meet and we have a silent conversation.
“Really? All of this?”
“You asked her.”
Sadie tells me that she wants a big princess party with pink and glitter and balloons. She says she wants a pony; that, however, is where I draw the line. A pony does not make for an indoor pet. Then she proceeds to tell me what kind of dress she wants to wear, with bows, frills, and sparkles.
Imelda finally stops her. “You’re going to be late for school,reinita.”
With that, Sadie stuffs the last bit of her waffle into her mouth, hops off the stool, and runs back upstairs to find her backpack.
“You’re gonna do all that?”
I’m at a loss for words, trying to organize all the ideas she had.
“Invitations, princess cake, decorations, the dress. You can’t forget about the dress,” Imelda jokingly scolds.
“And the pony?”
She scoffs and waves her hands at me. “You’ll find a way to makereinita’s birthdayfantastico. You always do.”
Sadie runs back down, and Imelda gets her together, coat and all. They head to the door. Imelda wags her finger at my girl, who runs back to give me a big hug and kiss.
“Love you, Daddy!”
I wave them out. “Love you too, sweetheart. Imelda, you’re a goddess.”
“Lo se pues,” she laughs.
After getting myself ready, I head out to work. It’s not a bad commute, but I still hate the Manhattan traffic. Granted, I’m not the one driving, so it makes the trip better. The driver parks, and I head up to my office.
Once there I take a moment to review the tasks for the day, then decide to put it off until later. I pull up the internet on my computer and start searching for party planners that can do a fifth-birthday party. It seems like a lot of planners choose to either specialize in only kids or absolutely no kids.
Then I remember that our company hosted a party somewhere, and we had a really good planner for that event. I grab my cell and call up Phil, even though he’s just down the hall.
“Dude!”
“Hey, Phil. Do you happen to remember the company we went through to do that big party for the Z-moto?”
“Uh… Premiere Party Planning? Perfect Party Planning? Precious? Something with aP. I do remember the tripleP, though. Lots of good laughs about that one.”
“That’s what the internet is for.”