Dominic. Time for papas. I sort of started using it with Oreo. It’s why he’s showing you his food. He’s been repeating the word for days. I thought you’d heard him.”
“I probably have. He’s just been sputtering out so many different new words I didn’t catch it.” Dani pouted playfully, making Orlando smile and lean over and kiss her. “It’s okay.” He turned to Oreo, opening his mouth to accept the mushed bean his son was offering him. He chewed on it making mmm noises to show Baby O how much he liked it. “Delicious.” He turned to Dani as he picked up another crooked-ass and slightly burnt taquito. “You are getting better.” He dipped it in the guacamole and sour cream and bit into it. “It’s not pretty, but it is good.”
The taste of the burnt parts was completely worth seeing Dani smile so proudly. All through dinner they coaxed the baby to say new words. Short easy words like fork, drink, and bread. For the most part, Oreo babbled out stuff that sounded something like what they were asking him to say, but mostly it was all gibberish. The few times he got close enough to what they asked him to say they applauded and made a fuss.
By the time Oreo got through all the mush Dani had prepared him and he was bored with the word game, he began getting fussy and repeating one of his latest favorite words, up! He was ready to be out of his highchair and done with dinnertime. It was also obvious he was getting tired by the way he rubbed his eyes. “Bath time,” Orlando said, pulling him out of the highchair.
“It sure is,” Dani said, ignoring how Oreo reached out to her. “You and daddy can get ready for that while I clean up a little.”
“You don’t have to, babe,” Orlando said, kissing the baby on the head. “I can get that once I put him down.”
“No, no,” Dani assured him as she started cleaning off the highchair. “I’ll meet you in the bathroom as soon as I’m done here.”
She explained how she’d cleaned up as she cooked and all she had to do now was clear the table and load the dishwasher. Orlando headed to the bathroom in his master bedroom and set up the baby bathtub on the bathroom counter. He was glad now that the his-and-hers sinks were far enough apart it left plenty of room for the tub. He’d since bought a special faucet with a sprayer that reached perfectly for him to rinse the baby off. He worked diligently, surprised by how good he’d gotten at this since his first bungling attempts. So good, he was done before Dani ever made it back to the bathroom. He even got the baby into his jammies and ready for bed before she made it back. Once done and Oreo was all warm and toasty in his fuzzy pj’s, they headed back to the kitchen to fetch a bottle. Orlando could hear the TV on in the kitchen, either that or her phone, and wondered if she’d gotten caught up watching something. When he walked into the kitchen, he was surprised to see the under-the-cabinet TV wasn’t on and she wasn’t in the kitchen. But he followed what sounded like a news broadcast of some kind around the corner of the kitchen into the larger walk-in pantry. Dani was standing halfway in the pantry, engrossed in whatever she was watching on her phone. “Hey.” Seeing her jump nearly out of her skin and clutch her chest had him wincing. “Sorry—”
“No, no.” She shook her head, clearing her throat as she brought her phone down to her side, even as whatever it was she was watching kept playing. “I just . . .” She glanced down in the direction of her phone but didn’t lift it. “I didn’t hear you come in the kitchen. You startled me.”
Curious now, Orlando glanced down at her phone. “What were you watching?’
“Someone—” She cleared her throat. “Ted sent me a link to a press conference he did today.” She shrugged indifferently as Orlando felt his entire body go taut. “He’s running for office. I guess since he’d been talking about doing so forever, he wanted me to see it’s finally happening.”
Their eyes met for a moment, but she glanced away quickly before hitting something on the phone that turned the sound off. “Office, huh?” Orlando said, trying not to sound as irritated as