Around Our Heads

The next morning Avery and I were in the bathroom brushing our teeth when Chris rolled out of bed. Without a word, he got his toothbrush ready and joined us. We had our own routine now and everything. We rarely even dripped on Avery anymore, but she usually finished before us because one of us had to brush her teeth for her anyway. But she liked to try herself afterward. Mostly because she wanted to sit between us and copy us.

“What’s for breakfast?” she asked after she got bored with brushing.

“What do you want?” I asked her.

“Potatoes.”

“You want potatoes for breakfast?”

“Daddy’s potatoes.”

“I think she means like cottage potatoes?” Chris informed me.

“Oh, alright. Do you want to cook? You just got home,” I asked him. He shrugged.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” I finished up and lifted Avery off of her stool.

“Alright, c’mon,” I said. Then I pretended she was an airplane and flew her into the living room so she could watch her favorite cartoons while Chris finished. I got her settled in while he went to get breakfast started.

“Want some help?” I asked him.

“Yeah, can you make the eggs?”

“No problem.”

We were silent as we cooked side by side. The only sounds in our house came from the TV in the living room and the occasional giggle from Avery. When I went to the fridge to get cheese for her eggs, Chris asked me a question.

“What’s the plan for Avery’s birthday?” he wanted to know.

“I’m not really sure yet. I was thinking of just doing something small like at the park or the pizza place. Depends on the weather, I guess.” I ate a piece of cheese and watched him finish the potatoes.

“Do you want to do it this weekend or next?”

“Well, next you have your last game, don’t you? So we can’t interfere with that. I mean, we can plan for the week after that, but I kind of wanted to do it as close to her real birthday as possible.”

“Let’s just do it this weekend. It’s late notice, but I don’t think anyone will mind. Just friends and family. The park makes me nervous, though.”

“Why?”

“Avery likes the ducks too much. I don’t want her to chase any of them into the water. She almost fell in last time.”

“Yeah, the pizza place is probably better anyway. Just in case it rains. I’ll talk to Olivia today to make sure everyone’s available,” I said.

“Sounds good to me. Let me know how it goes.”

“I will.” I ate some more cheese, then I watched him smile to himself. He had a full beard growing now and looked so manly and lumberjackish. It was crazy hot.

“So do you remember when Avery was born, and we made that deal?” he asked me.

“What deal?”

“That we’d have another baby when Avery was three.” I choked on the cheese, and Chris laughed before patting my back.

“You’re joking, right?” I coughed.

“Well, I mean—if you don’t want to, it’s cool with me.”

“Do you want another one already?” He shrugged and went back to the potatoes.

“She’s a good kid. I wouldn’t mind having another one.”

“Um—I’m not sure. I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve been so busy with Avery. Just—give me a while to think about it, okay?” He smiled and nodded.

“Just let me know when you’re ready. No pressure.”

“I will.” I smiled and put the eggs on a small plastic plate. “Avery, breakfast is ready!”

“Yay!” I heard her yell from the living room. She shuffled into the kitchen a moment later. So I got her set up at the table in her booster seat and made sure the eggs weren’t too hot. “Where’s the potatoes?” she asked me.

“Almost done,” Chris told her.

“Eat your eggs, and you can have some potatoes,” I told her.

“Okay,” she replied.

When Chris finished the potatoes, he dished them out and put a plate in the fridge for Avery. Then he poured us all orange juice and made us plates. But I had to rush through breakfast since I had to get ready for work. I hadn’t expected Chris to get home until later that day, so it was kind of awesome that I didn’t have to take her to daycare. After I got ready for the day, I kissed them both goodbye and drove to work.

We were still living in the same apartment we’d moved into just before Avery was born, but we’d been talking about buying our own house so we could have a yard for her to play in. We just hadn’t made any actual plans to do so yet. And when she was a couple of months old, I decided to leave my job at the comic book shop because I didn’t make much money. Of course, Chris made a crapton of money just playing baseball, but I didn’t feel comfortable relying on him totally. And Avery needed new clothes and things almost constantly. I didn’t like having to ask Chris for money just so I could buy her things like shoes or toys. Not that he ever would have had a problem giving me the money, just that we didn’t have a conjoined bank account, and it made me feel kind of cruddy.

But Chris’s teammate, Josh, had a really cool wife named Olivia, who worked at an independent comic book publishing company in the city. They had two kids together, and she and I hit it off from the first day that we met. So when I quit my job, she offered me one on the spot, and I went to work for my dream job. Almost. I mean—I worked in a cubicle. But she was really good to me. I made a decent amount of money, and I was good at it. And whenever they set up booths or small conventions, I usually got to be her assistant. I got to follow her around and have fun. One time they even got to go to the San Diego Comic-Con, and I about cried when she asked me to go with her.

Another great thing about the job is that our building had a daycare. So I could drop Avery off with Josh and Olivia’s kids, and everyone would be happy. She was close by, so I could sneak off to see her whenever I wanted and still work. Plus, Josh was always hanging around whenever the team was in off-season, and he usually always brought Chris.

I parked my car in the parking garage and trooped up the stairs and to my cubicle. I used to get my coffee from Starbucks every morning, but it was kind of pricey and wasted a lot of my time. So finally, Chris decided to get me my Starbucks coffee maker for Christmas, and I’d been bringing my own ever since.

My desk was an organized mess. There were pictures pinned up on all the walls. Chris, Avery, my best friends, my brother, his wife, and their baby. There were also a lot of gum wrappers and ancient candy that I had never eaten. This was okay for me. Whenever Olivia asked me why I kept so much trash on my desk, I told her it was because it held sentimental value. But the truth was that I always kind of forgot there was a trashcan like two feet away from me. And turning in my chair to try and aim for it always seemed like a waste of time.

But I sat down with my coffee and looked over the picture I had of Chris holding Avery at the Giants stadium. He was wearing his uniform, and she had his hat on her head. Even though she was almost three years old, he was already trying to teach her how to play. She was signed up to start tee-ball as soon as their season started, and he was determined to make her a pro. But I smiled as I looked over their picture, then I decided to get to work.