“Kick ass.” Emilia grins.
Jed pulls her close. “That word stays between us, okay?”
Emilia nods, but I guarantee she’ll say it again before she goes to bed tonight.
A few other dads and their daughters join us and then Eli walks in carrying a cute little girl with blonde hair, her head tucked into his neck. Mom approaches them first. I don’t want to bombard the little girl, so I pass out the kits Mom put together that have a big sticker on top that says Vote Greene.
“Nice touch.” Jed holds up one.
“Sorry, Erwin, I hope pink and purple are okay?”
“My favorite colors,” he says, looking ridiculous sitting in the small chair in front of Gavin like the rest of the kids here.
I snicker from the absurdity of it all. Gavin really is pulling out all the stops.
Once Eli is seated, I wave to him, and he waves back.
“Can we get started?” Gavin says. “The weather and everything.”
I narrow my eyes at his condescending grin, then I clap and announce that we’re going to get started.
“Let’s try a simple braid first. Can I borrow Emilia?” I ask my brother.
She’s already walking toward me.
“Have at it. I already rock the braid,” Jed says, and I roll my eyes.
I show the group how to split the hair into threes and weave it together. Once I have Emilia done, I tell her to go make her daddy try it on the other side. Then I go around the room and inspect how people are doing.
“It’s just one over, then bring the other one over to that side and the same on the other side. Good job, Eli.” I pat him on the back.
I compliment a few other dads who are definitely going to need some practice to master this.
“My hands just won’t do that,” Gavin complains when I make it over to him.
I go up behind him and touch Erwin’s hair. It’s so soft that it’s slipping out of Gavin’s fingers.
“Erwin, how much conditioner do you put in?” I ask.
“Half a bottle. I did a hot wax treatment too. Wanted my hair to be super soft for boss man,” he says.
I nod and look at Gavin. “Okay, that’s trickier for you.”
I reach forward, my arms on either side of Gavin’s neck. Damn, his cologne hits me and I’m back on that Tilt-A-Whirl again. The feel of his five o’clock shadow rubbing along my cheek, his sweet words of praise falling from his lips to my ear.
I pop my eyes open, trying to stay on task. My hands cover his and I manipulate them to do what I want them to do. Eventually, we manage to finish it and he ties off the braid with a small elastic rubber band.
“Perfect,” I say and walk away so I can breathe again.
We do pigtails with the braids, which is super easy, but I do have to help most of the guys find the part and make sure it’s a straight line down the middle. Mom takes over to explain the ponytail and some end up more on the right than the left, but they all pretty much ace it. They just need more practice.
“How about curling hair now?” I say. “Your little ones will be going places where you’ll want them to look extra special.”
“That’s when I take her to her favorite aunt.” Jed winks at me.
Mom laughs because to her, everything her son says is funny. We’re interrupted by her phone going off in her purse. She takes the call and heads out to the hall. Must be important.
“Who wants to volunteer?” I ask the room.
Eli and Gavin raise their hands at the same time.
“I’m not sure about the curling iron, Gavin,” Erwin says, and the room laughs.
“Eli, come on up.”
We try to situate his daughter in front of me, but she doesn’t want to be up front. I look at Eli, not wanting to force the poor girl, and he nods, picking her up and taking her back to his seat.
“I guess that leaves Erwin,” I say, forcing a smile.
He looks from Gavin to me. “Really?”
“It’s fine. I’m not going to burn you,” Gavin says as they both approach me at the front.
“You take one piece of hair and put it under the arm of the curling iron. Pull the curling iron down to the ends of the hair, then just turn it so it moves up the hair and twirls around.” I demonstrate on my own hair, but I’ll have to use Erwin as a model at some point. He has great hair for a guy. “Your turn.”
I stand back, allowing Gavin to try it. Erwin’s back is ramrod straight, as if he’s prepared to bolt out of here at any moment.
I put a gentle hand on Erwin’s shoulder. “It’s easy for your child to fear the curling iron. It’s hot and they can feel the heat when it’s close to their head, but keep reassuring them they’re okay, not to move and you won’t burn them.” I eye Gavin and he only stares at me as though I’m asking him to do an exorcism.
“Don’t burn me, Gavin,” Erwin says, and the room laughs again.
“Stop it. I won’t, and even if I did, it can’t be that bad,” Gavin says.
I shake my head at him. “Not exactly the attitude you want to go in with.”
Gavin takes a section of Erwin’s hair, sticks it between the wand and the arm, but he doesn’t get it right to the ends of the hair before winding it up, leaving Erwin with an indentation about an inch off his ends.
“It was a good try.” I do another example on myself.
“Yeah, I think I’m done here.” Erwin gets up and leaves.
Mom walks back in the room, and I know immediately that something is up. My entire body tenses.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go, everyone. Posey is going to finish up here. Thanks for coming and remember, vote Greene.” Mom gives a wan smile in my direction.
I abandon the class and go over to my mom while she retrieves her purse. Jed is right behind me. Emilia wants to join us, but Gavin detours her, asking her what her favorite color is. Emilia responds with a very specific color of orange as I mouth thank you to him.
“Mom, is everything okay?” I ask.
“Hank isn’t feeling well. It’s nothing. I’ll call you later.” She looks at us and she’s pale. There’s definitely something she’s not telling us. “You can get a ride?”
I nod. “I’ll be fine. You go.”
She kisses our cheeks and Emilia’s several times before she’s out the door and we hear her shoes clicking rapidly down the hallway.
Jed and I stare at one another, unsure what to do. Hank could just have the stomach flu or something, but Mom’s face didn’t look like it was something minor.
“Just keep going with the class. I’m sure she’d tell us if it was anything to be worried about,” Jed says.
He’s right. They’ve never hidden anything from us, not even when Mom got pregnant with Rylan.
I finish the class and give all the dads links to some online tutorials.
As I’m saying goodbye to Gavin and Erwin, Jed approaches me. “Hey, there’s something I have to take care of at the brewery, so I gotta go. You got a ride?”
“I have her,” Gavin says. “Do you mind taking Erwin? His car is back downtown.”
“Sure.” Jed kisses my cheek. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.” He gives me a meaningful look and I nod.