Roughly Six Feet Tall

“John…John? John, sweetheart.” I awoke to Avery lightly shaking me.

“Hi,” I said groggily. After band practice this morning, instead of having lunch with the guys, I came over to Avery’s to see Annie. The three of us had lunch together out on the patio in the back. It was so nice. Then it was time for Annie’s nap, but I guess I ended up falling asleep, too.

“Don’t move,” Avery instructed when I tried to get up. “You’ll wake Annie…” I blinked and looked down. Annie was curled up on my torso, her little head resting on my chest. That explained the sensation of a weight on me. It also explained the wet spot on my shirt. Annie had kind of drooled all over me. “Let me take her to her crib. I wanna show you something.”

“Alright…” Avery literally had to pry Annie off my body and lower her into the crib. Annie was half crying, but then Avery stuffed the giraffe we made together into Annie’s arms and the crying ceased. “Come on, come on,” Avery said excitedly, taking my hand and dragging me along downstairs.

“I wasn’t asleep for very long, was I? I’m sorry, babe,” I yawned, rubbing my eyes with my free hand.

Avery said nothing to me. She went straight to her Macbook on the kitchen counter and pulled up some media files. “Sit hither,” Avery ordered, pointing to the seat beside her.

I did as she asked, wrapping my arms around her waist and resting my head on her shoulder. I kind of wish she didn’t wake me up. I forgot how good naps are. “What’s…” I trailed off when she started playing a video – of Annie.

Baby Annie. Like, just popped out of Avery. I heard Avery talking in the video – saying Annie’s full name, weight, height, time and date of birth… The camera focused on Annie sleeping for a few more minutes. I was kind of overwhelmed. I had to lean back and breathe deeply. I wish I could’ve been there. I wish I was always there for my child.

“You wanna see another one? I’ve got plenty.” I nodded, and Avery scrolled through some more files.

“You said Lassiter instead of O’Callaghan,” I noted when the video ended.

Avery narrowed her eyes at the videos, seeming to search for one in particular. “Of course I did. Why would I say your last name?”

That shocked me. “Because she’s my kid and I’m the dad,” I said defensively. Avery opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it. “Is it because we’re not married?” From her blush, I could tell that I was right. I pulled her onto my lap and didn’t let her go. “You want to get married?”

“No,” Avery said instantly, making me frown. “Well, I just…It’s not… John, we’re so young.”

“Well, we’ve already got a kid,” I pointed out.

“Exactly. I don’t think the Church is going to let us get married anymore.”

“We can get married in a Church. I’m sure of it. We’ll just need to talk to the priest and stuff,” I argued. She obviously wanted a Church wedding. I kind of did, too. And I’m sure our parents would love a Church wedding. But…you know what they say. If you’re very sure of yourself, that means you have no idea what you’re doing.

“Can we talk about that some other time and just gush about how cute our daughter is?” Avery asked as she played another video without even waiting for my answer. She didn’t need one, though. This video was so cute. Annie looked about one year old. Her blonde hair was so thin and wispy and short on the top of her head. She was in a baby seat at the table and Avery was feeding her bits of spaghetti. Annie was such a messy eater, but she looked like she was enjoying her food. It made me smile.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at videos and pictures of Annie. I felt like I was kind of up to speed in Annie’s life when we were done. “So, Avery…”

“Hmm?” she asked, softly sighing when I started to kiss her neck.

“About the wedding…”

“John, we’re not talking about that today.”

I sighed in exasperation, but a sound upstairs caught my attention. I put Avery down on the floor so I could get to my feet, but then the both of us were practically racing upstairs to Avery’s room. Annie was standing in her crib, the giraffe clutched to her chest and tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she looked helplessly about the room. “Aw, hey, Annie, girl,” I cooed, rushing to the crib to pick her up. “Did you get scared?” I asked, kissing the top of her head.

“You left, daddy,” Annie sniffled, her little arms tightening around my neck. “You left me alone…”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” The three of us went downstairs. Avery made us a snack, which I had to decline. It was diced peaches and cottage cheese. That stuff weirded me out. I couldn’t eat it. I was amazed that Annie did.

While we ate, we colored a coloring book with Annie. She pressed down so hard with the crayons so the colors looked great. Her only problem was that she couldn’t control the crayon very well. She colored outside the lines a lot and broke the crayon every now and then.

I loved spending time with Annie. But I loved Avery, and I wanted to give her the world. I was thinking hard about this whole wedding thing, and I figured I wanted to do it right – propose all romantically and what have you. Maybe then she wouldn’t say no.

I was happily preoccupied with thoughts of our future marriage when my phone rang… It was Jared.

Ugh, what could he need now?