81. I Hate You
Waverly trotted down the stairs with a huge grin on her face as she walked over to Nicole, who had just sat down on the couch with a giant bowl of popcorn. “Alright, I’m heading over to Chrissy and Rosita’s.”
“Okay baby, have fun.” Nicole smiled as she leaned up to kiss her wife.
“Enjoy the rest of your day off.”
“Oh, I will.” Nicole held up a piece of popcorn before tossing it into her mouth.
With a shake of her head in amusement, Waverly couldn’t help but crack a smile. “You’re so cute.”
“You’re cuter.”
“Alright, I really have to go now. Bye,” she chuckled lightly and gave Nicole one more kiss before grabbing her keys and walking out the door.
About ten minutes later, just when Nicole has settled into a comfortable position she planned on not getting up from anytime soon, the doorbell began to ring several times. She groaned as she slowly pushed herself up from the couch and opened the door.
“Auntie Nicole!” Alice shouted excitedly as she ran up to Nicole and jumped with her arms stretched out, and Nicole quickly reacted to catch her and held the preschooler against her hip.
Nicole furrowed her brow at a stressed out looking Wynonna, waiting for her to explain.
“I just got called into work suddenly for a few hours and need a babysitter. Waverly said she wasn’t home but that you had the day off? I was hoping you could watch Alice for me, especially since I need to be there in twenty minutes.” She looked at the redhead with hopeful eyes.
“Yeah yeah, go ahead, I’ve got her,” Nicole replied reassuringly as she waved her hand, and Wynonna sighed in relief.
“Thank you. You’re my hero.”
“I would like to see that in writing please,” she teased, earning a small laugh from Wynonna.
“Yeah sure, I’ll give that to you on the fourth of neveruary.” She waved as she walked back out to her car while Nicole laughed under her breath and shut the door.
“You have really pretty hair,” Alice said while stroking her fingers through the fiery locks that were hanging down past Nicole’s shoulders. “It’s like Ariel’s hair. You’re a princess.”
Nicole smiled at her niece. “It’s not as pretty as your hair. It’s like Belle’s.”
Alice gave a small gasp as her eyes widened. “She’s my favorite!”
“I know,” Nicole said with a breathy chuckle and she set Alice down on the floor with an exaggerated groan. “Jeez you’re getting heavy. You sure you’re only four years old and not five?”
“Auntie Nicole I’m four,” Alice giggled.
“Well you feel like a five-year-old to me.” She grabbed her back and rubbed it, pretending like it was actually hurting.
Alice grinned for a moment, but then the corners of her mouth quickly dropped and suddenly she looked sad. “I’m the smallest kid at preschool. Everyone makes fun of me.”
Nicole pursed her lips, wanting nothing more than to call up all of those kids’ parents and give them a piece of her mind. She squatted down to the floor so that she was eye level with Alice. “When I was a little bit older than you I got made fun of for having red hair.”
“You did?”
“Mhm.” Nicole nodded. “I got called all sorts of names.”
“What did you do?”
“Well for the longest time I ignored them, but they would still do it. Then one day this boy called me a name and I looked at him and asked him why he was so jealous of me. He looked shocked and said that he wasn’t, but I told him that he sounded pretty jealous. After that he stopped making fun of me because he didn’t want people to think that he was actually jealous of me, and the other kids didn’t either so they stopped as well.” She smiled at Alice looking intrigued. “Turns out he had a little crush on me.”
“Ew,” Alice scrunched her face up. “Boys are gross! They have cooties!”
“What about your Daddy? And Uncle Jeremy and Uncle Robin?”
“They’re not boys,” Alice giggled as she shook her head, “They’re men.”
Nicole couldn’t help but laugh. “Did your mom teach you that?”
Alice gave a few large head nods. “Girls are better. I want a girl to have a crush on me because girls aren’t gross.”
After chuckling in amusement for a few seconds, Nicole replied, “Well I can’t argue with that.” She stood up and swooped Alice up into her arms before grabbing the girl’s legs and holding her upside down by her ankles. The scream Alice gave quickly morphed into a loud giggle as Nicole dropped her onto the couch.
“What do you want to do today Allie-pal?”
Alice pushed herself up so that she was standing on the couch and brushed her hair out of her face. “Arcade!”
“Arcade it is then,” Nicole nodded, and picked her up off the couch to set her down on the floor. Alice quickly grabbed Nicole’s hand and they walked out of the house together, and Nicole couldn’t help but grin at not only how much she loved her niece, but how excited she was to be a mom.
---
Waverly sat on the couch between Rosita and Chrissy at their house as they opened their beers while Waverly sipped on her herbal tea.
“Are you sure it’s okay that we’re drinking around you?” Rosita asked.
“Yeah,” Chrissy nodded. “We don’t want to give you any FOMO.”
Waverly shook her head as she smiled at them. “No, it’s fine. You know I’m not a huge drinker anyways.”
“Just making sure,” Rosita shrugged and brought the bottle up to her lips and took a modest swig.
“Well I appreciate that.” Waverly smiled.
“So, tell us all about pregnant life,” Chrissy said excitedly as she briefly placed her hand on Waverly’s leg. “Do you get morning sickness?”
“Do you cry at random things?” Rosita questioned.
“Do you have weird food cravings?”
“Is the sex better? I bet the sex is better.”
“Wow, you guys have a lot of questions.” Waverly began to feel slightly overwhelmed by the interrogation, even though she knew her friends meant well.
“Hey, we’re curious. Now spill.” Rosita tapped her on the shoulder with the back of her hand as she kept her arm draped over the back of the couch.
“Okay, well the morning sickness doesn’t happen as much as before which is really nice. I cry at nearly everything now which is very annoying but understandable. I don’t have any weird food cravings yet but I have been craving a lot more peanut butter lately. And as far as sex...” A small simple crept onto her face as she nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing.”
“I knew it,” Rosita pointed her hand in the air and nodded her head.
“Yeah,” Waverly chuckled. “The annoying thing is my pants are starting to get tight. I think it’s almost time to start looking into maternity clothes.”
Rosita nodded. “And your boobs are way bigger than they were before.”
Both Chrissy and Waverly looked at her with quirked eyebrows.
“What, I notice boobs. I can’t help that I like them.” She shrugged. “I mean, who doesn’t like boobs.”
Waverly gave a breathy laugh. “Let’s not forget that Chrissy is our token straight friend here. We don’t want to make her feel left out.” She winked teasingly as she nudged the blonde.
“Yeah, sure. Straight.” Rosita shook her head as she gave an incredulous smile before downing the last bit of her beer. “I’m going to pee. I’ll be right back.” She stood up and gave Chrissy a look as she walked past them, but didn’t say anything. And yet, the way she was looking at Chrissy said a lot of things. And so did the warning look Chrissy was shooting back at her.
“Uh, what was that all about?” Waverly asked as she looked at Chrissy with a furrowed brow and a small laugh.
“It’s nothing.” Chrissy snatched her beer from the coffee table and began chugging.
“Whoa. That’s some quick drinking to be doing over nothing.” She looked at the blonde glancing at her and when she saw the look of guilt in Chrissy’s eyes, Waverly’s face shifted to concern. “Chrissy, what’s wrong?”
Chrissy set the beer on the coffee table and shifted her eyes as she patted her hands on her legs. “We may have hooked up.”
Waverly visibly relaxed, thinking it was going to be some sort of shocking news. “Chrissy, I know.” She laughed at the obvious statement. “You already told me.”
“No, I don’t just mean that one time a few years ago. I mean recently. Multiple times.” She lowered her head as she quietly added, “Too many to count.”
Waverly’s smile instantly dropped and her eyes widened. “Multiple times?!”
Chrissy picked her beer back up and chugged some more as she avoided eye contact and quickly looked down at the bottle and gave an impressed head nod. “Wow this stuff is good!”
“Stop diverting.” Waverly snatched the bottle out of the blonde’s hand and firmly set it back down on the table. “You and Rosita are having sex?!”
“Kind of.” Chrissy sighed. “It’s mostly when we’re drunk and horny. Or at least when I am.”
“Oh is that what ‘kind of’ means? Doesn’t count because you’re drunk then?” Waverly said in an accusatory tone.
Chrissy shrugged.
“Well is it a one way street?”
“I mean I’ve done stuff to her before, but it’s mostly her. Again, it’s mostly when I’m drunk too. I just get really horny and this single life isn’t doing me any favors in that department.” She had been dating a guy for a few weeks, but they had broken up about a month ago.
“So you’ve never hooked up with her sober then?” Waverly asked suspiciously.
Chrissy shifted her gaze around the room and slightly raised her shoulders. “I have a couple of times.”
Waverly let out a short, surprised huff. “Does that mean that you like her? I mean, like her like her?”
“No,” Chrissy quickly replied with her eyebrows drawn together and shook her head. “She’s hot. And she knows her way around the female body, that’s for sure.” Chrissy nodded with a huge grin on her face before it slowly started to fade. “But I can’t see myself with her or any woman romantically. I like men, and I see myself marrying one and having a family with one. This thing with Rosita is just sex, nothing more.”
“And how does she feel about that?”
Chrissy looked at Waverly for a moment and slowly inhaled through her nose, when the bathroom door opened and Rosita returned. She plopped down on the couch and creased her eyebrows at the looks Chrissy and Waverly were giving her.
“Why are you guys looking at me weirdly?”
Waverly quickly changed her face and shook her head while Chrissy just shrugged and said, “Because this water beer you picked is so lame.” She laughed when Rosita lightly pushed her.
“Okay, well I know we said we’d stay in and just hang out and talk tonight, but what do you guys say to going out? I feel like we haven’t had a girls night at the bar in ages. And Waverly you’re about to get even bigger and soon your back and feet will start hurting and you won’t want to go out anywhere, and then after that you’ll have a baby to take care of and you won’t have any time.”
“Mhm, what’s your point?” Waverly said dryly, not appreciating the sudden reminder of the things she wouldn’t be able to do as much anymore.
“I say, we take advantage of it now while we still can. Go out, have some drinks, water for Waverly of course. And just dance.” Rosita looked between her two friends who were looking at each other and shrugging.
“I’m down,” Chrissy said excitedly as she looked to Waverly.
A slow grin spread across Waverly’s face as her friends waited for an answer. “Let’s have some fun.”
---
Nicole looked over at Alice fully concentrated on the motorcycle racing game they were playing and smiled. She hit the brakes lightly a few times and watched Alice pass her straight to the finish line.
“I beat you!” Alice shouted with a proud grin on her face that was so wide it showed all of her tiny teeth.
“You did,” Nicole replied with a faux disappointed smile, even though she let her win, which of course Alice didn’t know and would never find out.
“Cheer up, you’ll get it next time,” Alice said as she patted her aunt on the back, and with an appreciative smile Nicole stood up from the motorcycle and picked the four-year-old up to place her on her shoulders.
“What do you want to play now?” Nicole asked while looking up at Alice. She held onto her legs that were dangling down over her chest to keep her sturdy.
Alice scanned her eyes around the arcade until she spotted a spin-the-wheel game. “That one!” She pointed her arm straight out ahead of them.
Nicole looked at the game and shrugged. “Alright, that one it is.” She set Alice down and swiped their game card as the music began to play from the machine. Alice grabbed the lever and pulled it as hard as she could, letting out a small grunt. The two of them watched as the wheel spun for a few seconds before landing on the 20 tickets slot.
“Hey you won 20 tickets!” Nicole said excitedly.
Alice frowned up at Nicole. “20 isn’t a lot. You can barely get anything good from the ticket store unless you have at least 500 tickets.”
“Oh,” Nicole nodded. “Well, try again. Maybe you’ll get more.” She swiped the card and watched Alice pull the lever down even harder, watching the wheel spin again until it stopped on 10 tickets.”
“That’s even worse.” Alice whined. “I wish I could get the 1000 tickets one, but it’s too hard.” She pouted.
Nicole looked at the wheel and eyed the thin green line that had ‘1000 tickets’ labeled above it, and her eyebrows lowered in concentration. There wasn’t a challenge she wouldn’t accept. She swiped the card and pulled the lever as she watched the numbers spin around, keeping her eyes out for that one spot every time it appeared. “Come on, come on, come on,” she whispered to herself, until it landed on 50 tickets. “Dammit.” She swiped the card again, and this time it landed on 20 tickets.
“You’re not going to win, it’s impossible,” Alice said as she watched Nicole spin the wheel for the 12th time.
“Nothing is impossible. I will win, I can feel it.” Nicole pulled the lever and watched with unblinking eyes until it stopped on 250 tickets.
Alice placed a gentle hand on Nicole’s arm, pulling the redhead out of her focused mindset as she looked down at her niece. “I think it’s time to accept it.”
Nicole sighed as she looked back at the game. “Just one more?”
Alice nodded, and Nicole closed her eyes as she spun the wheel. They both watched with hopeful eyes as it moved right past the 1,000 ticket mark and landed on the 75 ticket mark.
Nicole pursed her lips and lowered her head in disappointment. “Well, sorry I couldn’t win those tickets for you.”
“You did!” Alice said in excitement as she pointed to the small screen on the card scanner displaying the number of tickets they had won. “Look! You won 825 tickets!”
“Hey, that’s a lot right?” Nicole asked with an excited smile.
“Yes! With the other tickets we’ve won so far I can get something really good.” Alice beamed as she hugged Nicole’s waist. “You’re my favorite aunt. I love you.”
A feeling of warmth spread all over Nicole’s body as she hugged Alice back with a huge smile. “Want to go look now?”
Alice nodded and took Nicole’s hand as she pulled her towards the prizes.
---
Waverly sat at the table sipping her water as she watched Chrissy and Rosita dancing with each other, studying their body language. Chrissy seemed pretty drunk and having a good time while Rosita seemed a little more into it, especially with the way she was looking at the blonde. Rosita then grabbed Chrissy’s hand and wrapped the other around her waist before proceeding to salsa dance with her, earning a laugh from the blonde as she followed her lead. It was obvious that it was something they’d done before as they fell into a comfortable routine, and Waverly let out a small sigh. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt, and this seemed like one of those situations where someone was going to. And it looked like that someone would be Rosita. She also hated it because she selfishly didn’t want their friend group to change.
After a couple minutes of the pair salsa dancing together, and guy came up behind Chrissy and whispered in her ear, and with a small smirk Chrissy turned around and began dancing with him, leaving Rosita standing there by herself. She shook her head in both disbelief and frustration before making her way back towards the table, and Waverly quickly pulled her phone out so that it wasn’t obvious that she was watching them.
“Hey, why aren’t you out there dancing? You’re supposed to be having fun, not sitting here alone like a—”
“Married pregnant woman?” Waverly teased.
“I was going to say downer.”
“I’m not a downer,” Waverly replied defensively.
“Well you’re not an upper.” Rosita said with a lighthearted laugh.
Waverly looked at her friend and could tell that the smile on her face was forced. Especially with how many times she had glanced over at Chrissy since sitting down at the table.
“Does she know?” Waverly asked, and Rosita looked back at her with a furrowed brow.
“Does who know what?”
“Does Chrissy know that you like her?” Waverly gave her a small, sad smile.
Rosita looked at Waverly for a moment like someone who had been caught in a lie before she began laughing. “I don’t like Chrissy! That’s ridiculous. She’s my best friend.”
“Oh yeah, nobody ever falls for their best friend,” Waverly replied sarcastically.
“Hey, I don’t do feelings. I don’t fall for people, they fall for me. Plus I don’t do relationships anyways.”
“You just had a girlfriend for like four months.”
“Exactly, and look how that turned out. Clearly it’s not for me.”
Waverly nodded and took a sip of her water. “She told me that you guys hook up sometimes. I just wanted to see how you were doing with it all.”
Rosita smiled and shook her head. “Is that what this is about? Waverly, you know me. Just because I’m having sex with someone doesn’t mean I want to marry them. It’s just not my thing. I’m independent, I don’t need the whole cookie-cutter lifestyle thing like you and Nicole have. I just wanna fuck who I want and enjoy not being tied down.”
“Okay,” Waverly held her hands up. “It’s just that you seem pretty jealous that she’s dancing with that guy.”
“She can dance with whoever she wants, as can I.” She was quickly becoming defensive and Waverly picked up on the hint that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
“Well hey, if you’re looking for a salsa partner I can guarantee I’m better at it than Chrissy,” Waverly said with a smile, and Rosita’s face softened.
“Okay, but I’m leading.” She stood up and reached down for Waverly’s hands as she helped her up and wiggled her hips as she walked backwards until they were in the middle of the dance floor.
---
Nicole looked in the rearview mirror at Alice hugging her medium-sized stuffed unicorn that she had picked out at the arcade and couldn’t help but smile at how adorable she was. When she noticed that the seatbelt strap wasn’t going across her chest, she tilted her head as she knew she had buckled it when helping Alice into her booster seat.
“Hey, did you take your seatbelt off?”
“I don’t like it.” Alice shrugged nonchalantly.
“I know it’s uncomfortable, but you need to wear it. It keeps you safe.”
“I don’t want to.” Alice continued to pet the rainbow-colored hair on her stuffed unicorn, as if she really believed the conversation was over.
Nicole’s smile was gone now as she realized that she was going to need a little bit more authority in her voice in order to get Alice to do what she was told. “I understand that you don’t want to, but you need to. Please put your seatbelt on,” she said a little more firmly.
“No.” Alice argued. “I don’t want to,” she said again, only this time more sternly and with angry eyebrows.
“Alice—” Nicole started as she continued to look in the mirror, but quickly noticed red tail lights rapidly approaching and looked down to see that traffic had stopped, and she gasped as she slammed her foot on brakes stopping lees than an inch away from the car in front of her, which was honking at her as the guy threw up a hand at her. She looked up at Alice to make sure she was okay, and she was. But even so, fear and worry began to course through her at the thought of what could have happened if she hadn’t noticed that those cars were stopped, and her maternal instincts began to take over. She whipped her head around and looked at Alice with serious eyes as she sternly said, “Alice Michelle Earp you put your seatbelt on right now.” Her voice came out a little louder than she had intended, and suddenly she felt like her mother.
Alice blinked at her for a moment and threw her unicorn down in the seat beside her as she grabbed her seatbelt and buckled it. “You’re mean. I hate you!” She yelled and folded her arms across her chest and began to cry.
The words hit Nicole hard as that was the first time Alice had said that to her. She let out a heavy breath and slowly turned back around, staring at the traffic light as she waited for the it to turn green before lightly pressing her foot on the gas pedal. She wondered if this was going to ruin their relationship forever, or even if it was the first stepping stone towards them becoming less close than they were. She hated how much she sounded like her mom and remembered how over time she wanted to be around the woman less and less. And that was the last thing she wanted to happen to her and Alice.
---
Rosita and Waverly helped Chrissy out of the car and wrapped each of her arms around their shoulders as they walked her through the front door.
“You guys are great friends. You’re my best friends.” She kissed Rosita on the cheek and then did the same to Waverly. “I love you guys.”
“We love you too Chris,” Waverly said as she looked at Rosita, and they both bit down on their lips as they tried not to laugh.
They took Chrissy to her bedroom and laid her down on the bed as they took off her shoes, then her jeans, followed by her shirt before getting her underneath the covers. Just as Rosita had tucked her in, Chrissy grabbed her and pulled her down on top of her as she began to kiss her, and Rosita quickly pulled back and pushed herself off of the bed.
“I’m uh, going to get her some water,” Waverly said and left the room to give them some privacy.
“You’re so sexy,” Chrissy rasped through her drunken slur as she tried to pull Rosita down on top of her again, but Rosita gently removed the blonde’s hands from her shoulders.
“Not tonight.”
Chrissy pouted as she fought to keep her eyes open. “Why not?”
“Because you’re too drunk.”
“I’m not drunk,” Chrissy replied with a shake of her head and then started laughing. “Okay maybe I’m a little drunk. But I’m not too drunk for you to fuck me.” She gave a sloppy grin and shook her head while reaching out for Rosita’s hand and laced their fingers together.
Rosita looked down at their hands and rubbed her thumb across the back of Chrissy’s as she sighed. She looked back up at the blonde who had her eyes closed and was already breathing in a slow and steady rhythm, meaning that she was already asleep. She slid her hand out of Chrissy’s grasp and shook her head.
“Hey, I got a couple of Aspirin for her as well,” Waverly said softly as she walked back through the door. “Is she already asleep?”
“Yeah.” Rosita nodded.
“Well that was fast.” Waverly chuckled and set the items on the bedside table for Chrissy to take when she woke up in the morning, and followed Rosita out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.
“Are you okay?” Waverly sat down on the couch beside Rosita, who was sitting with her feet up and her knees bent as she had her arms folded across her chest.
“We’ve just been living together for so long that I didn’t even notice it until you pointed it out.”
Waverly nodded. “So, there are feelings then?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I still want to fuck other people. I don’t think I could ever be in a relationship with just one person for the rest of my life. But if I’m being honest with myself, there are feelings. What I feel for her is different than what I feel for you or anyone else. And I guess I just thought it was this extremely strong friendship, but you’re right, I was jealous earlier of that guy she was dancing with. And I’m not someone who gets jealous, ever.”
Waverly nodded as she gave Rosita a sympathetic smile. “Are you going to tell her?”
She blew out a deep breath through her lips as she shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t want to ruin everything by making it weird or awkward. And I don’t want her to end up moving out because it feels too complicated to stay. I don’t want to live with anyone else but her.” She dropped her head back against the couch. “Maybe she’ll never figure it out and we can just stay in our naive little bubble for the rest of our lives.”
Waverly laughed. “You really think that’ll work?”
Rosita shook her head and gave a lighthearted chuckle. “No, but that’s not going to stop me from hoping that it does, because fuck all of this bullshit. Love just leads to pain and heartbreak.” She slowly dropped to the side until she was leaning against Waverly’s body, who wrapped her arms around her friend as she rested her chin on top of her head. She wanted to spread some typical Waverly positivity, but knew it wasn’t what Rosita wanted right now.
---
When Nicole had gotten back to her house, she put on a movie for Alice to watch and made her something to eat, but the girl didn’t even bother to look at her, let alone say anything to her. It was clear to Nicole that she was receiving the silent treatment, and she was ready for it to be over already.
A few hours later, Nicole’s phone rang and Wynonna’s name popped up on the screen.
“Hey,” she answered.
“Hey, I just finished my shift and I’m on my way to get Alice.”
“I can drop her off if you want. That way you don’t have to make the trip out here.”
“Really?” Wynonna exhaled in relief. “That would be amazing.”
“Yeah I’ll take her, don’t worry.”
“Thanks, Nicole. I really owe you one.”
“It’s no problem. See you in a bit.”
She hung up the phone and walked into the living room where Alice was watching TV and crouched down in front of the couch with a warm smile on her face. “Hey Allie-pal, your mom is finished with work so I’m going to take you home.”
Without saying a word, Alice picked up the remote beside her and turned off the TV before sliding off the couch and walking over to the door to put on her jacket and shoes. Nicole sighed and pushed herself up as she grabbed her keys and followed Alice out the door. They arrived at the homestead around the same time Wynonna had gotten there, and when Nicole helped Alice out of her booster seat the girl pushed past Nicole and jumped out of the car as she marched towards the front door.
“Hey Alligator, did you have a good time with Auntie Nicole?” Wynonna smiled at her daughter while getting out of her car, but the girl walked right past her. She looked at Nicole in curiosity, but Nicole just shook her head. When she went to shut the door, she noticed the stuffed unicorn sitting on the seat and grabbed it. She walked up the front porch steps behind Wynonna, who was already unlocking the door as Alice impatiently waited.
“Hey, don’t forget this.” Nicole smiled and handed the stuffed animal out to Alice.
“I don’t want it,” Alice replied shortly and stomped inside as she headed straight up the stairs to her room.
Nicole sighed and dropped the unicorn down by her side defeatedly.
“Well she’s in a mood. What did you do?” Wynonna asked, and Nicole followed her into the kitchen and slumped down in one of the chairs as she set the unicorn on the table.
“We went to the arcade and we were having such a great time. She even said that I was her favorite aunt.”
“Uh oh, don’t tell Waverly,” Wynonna teased.
“But then on the way back she had taken her seatbelt off in the car and I told her to put it back on, but she refused. And then because I was looking at her in the mirror I almost rear ended someone which triggered something in me and I yelled at her to put it on. Even used her full name. Then she said that she hated me and has been giving me the silent treatment ever since.”
With an amused smile on her face, Wynonna grabbed a couple of beers and handed one to Nicole, who took it gratefully. “I can’t even tell you the number of times Alice has told me she hated me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, she’s four. She’s at that age where she says things like that all the time. Doesn’t mean she actually hates you.”
“She’s just never said that to me before.”
“Well probably because you’ve never really disciplined her before,” Wynonna chuckled. “Welcome to parenthood.”
“So I’m not a horrible aunt?” Nicole lowered her head as she looked down at her finger making lines in the condensation on the side of the cold beer bottle. “Or a horrible mom?”
“Nah, you’re going to do just fine.” Wynonna reached across the table and gave the redhead a firm pat on the shoulder. “You love the shit out of Alice, she knows that. And you’re going to do the same with your kid, probably even more so. And loving your kid means doing things they don’t like in order to protect them. So you may get a few I hate you’s along the way, but you’ll get even more I love you’s. And that’s how you know you’re doing the job right.”
Nicole smiled and nodded her head, feeling better about the whole thing.
“Besides, she’ll have forgotten all about it by tomorrow. And I have a feeling that this is going to become her new favorite stuffed animal.” Wynonna winked as she held the unicorn up for a brief moment before setting it back down.
“Thanks, Wynonna.” Nicole smiled in appreciation.
“Don’t mention it. No seriously, Waverly might think we actually like each other.”
“Oh, we can’t have that,” Nicole shook her head and took another sip of her beer.
“Definitely not. She might make us hang out and stuff,” Wynonna teased while doing the same. “Hey, got time to watch an episode of CSI before you have to go?”
Nicole looked at her watch. “Waverly shouldn’t be home for another hour.” She stood up from the table and grabbed her beer as she nodded. “But I’m picking the episode.”
“In your dreams, Red.”