"I'm still not used to this," says Holly. She has called Gail who is working the front desk hoping to break up her day, well maybe both of their days. Holly has become accustomed to Gail sometimes complaining about how slow it is to sit at the front desk and answer the phone, watching her friends and coworkers rush by her on their way to somewhere while she just sits there.
"Not used to what? Having a baby? You waited nine months for that baby, I'm pretty sure you can't return him. You need to get used to him." Attempt at humour-check, Gail can hear Holly roll her eyes over the phone. "OR do you mean talking to me on the phone?"
"Of course I mean talking to you on the phone, you are just as annoying and insane on the phone as you are off the phone," Gail can hear Gilbert laughing on Holly's end.
"I aim to be consistent." Gail's stomach growls.
"What was that?" asks Holly.
"You could hear that? That was my stomach, I'm starving, I didn't have time for breakfast. I left my lunch at home on the counter, and now Chris is behind me eating pizza he wont share," she swivels around in her chair to scowl at him. He smiles back and waves his greasy hand at her.
"I could bring you your lunch," Holly says a little eagerly, excited about getting out of the house and seeing other humans, she loves spending all this time with Gilbert, getting to watch him grow day to day, this is what she wanted, but the prospect of getting out of the house for a little bit is too tempting to pass up.
"Would you?" asks Gail, who's currently pinned to the desk and can't leave, no matter how hard she's tried to grab someone's attention to come sit here for a couple of minutes and go grab a snack from the break room, Gail hates showing up to parade late.
"I would."
"Ok," says Gail, "I mean it was your fault I didn't have time for breakfast this morning."
Holly laughs breathily, "would you like me to recap what you did this morning instead of have breakfast?" Holly drops her voice making it husky.
"Err, no Holly that's okay, I think I remember," trying to keep everything professional, she is at work, and now has somehow caught the eye of someone. Steve. She has caught the eye of Steve who is now making his way over to her desk. She motions for him to bring her something to drink, he nods his head, Gail internally cheers herself, buying some time, and hoping to avoid an awkward conversation.
"Are you sure?" Holly asks, still in a deeper voice than normal, "I could easily remind you…"
Gail's face starting to redden, starting to get flummoxed as she begins to replay in her head the events of this morning, "no it's okay Holly," she sees Steve leaving the break room, now on his way to her desk, "see you in a little bit, don't forget to bring the baby, I'm hanging up now."
"Are you sure?" Holly asks one more time as she begins to laugh, just picturing Gail's face going from complete calm to not.
Gail fumbles with her phone as she tries to end the call. Gail sighs. Steve comes to the front desk with a mug of coffee for his sister, "Holly?" Steve asks, he doesn't know why he asks, he knows the answer. "What did she have to say?" Gail reddens all over again, thinking back to what Holly was saying and where her mind was starting to wander. Steve takes his sister's red face and quietness the wrong way, thinking Gail messed up, "aw Gail," he chastises, "I like Holly don't screw this up."
"I'm not screwing this up," Gail insists, "she's bringing Gil and my lunch down to the station."
"Oh," Steve says excitedly, "that's okay then, let me know when they get here. I want to hold my nephew."
"Whatever," says Gail as she shoos her brother away, now completely done with him now that he brought her some coffee, "don't you have something you should be doing?"
Steve pats his little sister's shoulder and in his best 'Terminator' impression, "I'll be back."
"Great," says Gail sarcastically and rolls her eyes.
Gail makes Steve pass her the baby, knowing that as soon as he gets in her arms, arms that he knows, he will stop crying. "What's going on eh? Big mean Uncle Steve making you cry?"
Steve sits on the front desk smiling, '"eh?'" he questions.
"Pardon?"
"You said 'eh'" says Steve. "You never said 'eh'," Steve points out, "something you picked up in Moonbeam?"
"Must have," says Gail, not seeing the big deal.
"It's funny; you sound like a real Canadian."
"I am a real Canadian…" She looks down at her baby boy in her arms, "I understand why you cried. Steve is completely annoying and if me crying could get him to leave you know I would."
"Okay, okay," says Steve holding up his hands, "I'll stop being annoying, maybe, now can I please try holding my nephew again?"
"What do you think?" Gail asks Gilbert, "should we give it another try?"
Just then Gilbert sees Holly returning from talking to Traci and Oliver, bringing them with her. He reaches his arms out towards Holly. Holly picks him up out of Gail's arms and passes him off to Traci, where he nestles into the new arms.
"What the-?" says Steve. "How did you do that?" completely jealous of his girlfriend.
"Experience," smiles Traci. She breathes him in, "he still smells good."
"I want to smell the baby," whines Steve.
"Well, maybe if you didn't make him cry…" Gail trails off.
"You say it like I did it on purpose," says a pouty Steve.
"Well, you have been known to in the past…" Gail trails off yet again.
Holly and Gail go to Montreal in the summer, Gail's in the Stewart's swimming pool, holding little Gilbert, both wearing sunhats to protect them from the sun's rays as well as an ample amount of sunscreen. Holly is lounging on the deck with her siblings, admiring her little family in the pool. "I like Gail," says Yvette, "she's nice."
"Nice to look at," says Walter.
"That's my wife!" says Holly, "but, yes she is." Holly positions her arms under her head to better see her wife and son in the pool, happy that they were able to get away from Toronto for the week, happy to finally spend some time with her side of the family. Wanting to take the focus away from her wife Holly says, "Noah's getting so big, and Tiffany's pregnant, do you know what you're having?"
"No, not yet, it's too soon to tell," Walter looks over at his family, his wife lounging on a cot under a tree with their son pressing his ear against her belly to try and hear the baby. "He really likes the idea of having a sibling." He turns to look at his sisters, "I mean, who wouldn't want a cool older brother?"
Both of his younger sisters roll their eyes, "I don't know what that would be like," says Yvette, Holly high fives her.
"Hey!" says Walter. The two ladies laugh. Walter doesn't mind though, that's just the loving and kidding relationship they have. "How about you Holly, are you going to have another kid?"
"I don't know, and I haven't talked to Gail about it. I'm just happy right now, I don't need anything else."
"I hear ya," says Walter wistfully.
"You two need to stop," says Yvette, "making me feel all left out without a family of my own."
"You just have to be patient little sister, I'm sure your someone special will come along," advises Walter.
"You said that two summers ago to Holly," remembers Yvette.
"Yeah, and look how well that worked, we didn't see her for like a whole year then she shows up married and with a kid."
"You make it sound like I was trying to be secretive," gripes Holly, "even though I didn't have a choice."
"Whatever Holly, all I know is we don't hear from you for several months, then this guy and his girlfriend appear on mom and dad's doorstep, then they're gone and come home to tell us you're pregnant." Walter perfectly recaps everything.
"Sorry?"
Yvette laughs, "don't listen to him Holly, he doesn't get it."
"You could have come to visit," comments Holly.
"And stay where exactly? Your town house is becoming too small, I'll somehow end up sharing Gil's crib," Walter tries to joke.
"You're right, my house is getting too small, I left the spare room a spare room and put Gilbert in the study," agrees Holly, "but if you were to come, with Noah and Tiffany-"
"And me," chimes in Yvette.
"It would be quite cramped," continues Holly. "That's another thing I need to talk to Gail about…"
"Well, I'm too hot, time to cool off." Walter stands. "Yvette, want to help me welcome Gail to the family?"
Yvette stands up and shucks her t-shirt. Holly's siblings run to the pool and cannon ball into it. Gail turns her back on the splash to protect Gilbert from the large waves coming their way. "Hey!" she yells "I've got a baby here!"
"Holly, come get you kid," shouts Walter.
Holly quickly jumps out of her spot and rushes to the pool to grab Gilbert.
"What's going on?" questions Gail. She passes Gilbert to Holly.
"I love you," says Holly giving her a quick kiss.
"What's happening?" asks Gail, as she feels someone has grabbed onto each of her ankles, yanking her feet out from under her, and she is now underwater. She comes up sputtering for air, and sees the two Stewart siblings laughing ultra hard in the deep end. "You'll pay for that!" as she swims after them. She catches up to Walter pretty easily and dunks him, as Yvette pulls herself out of the pool so she doesn't drown from her laughter, "you're next!" Gail shouts. Good thing learning to swim was a necessity at the Peck house.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Gail hasn't decided yet, but Elaine has kept her word, she shows up at Gail and Holly's about once a week and spends some time with her daughter and grandson. Sometimes Elaine and Bill even take Gilbert for the weekend to let Gail and Holly catch up on some much needed sleep. Even though the baby has started sleeping through the nights, those extra naps during the day are a savior to them.
"Holly's parents have a swimming pool and Gil loved it," Gail tells her mom.
"Oh," Elaine thinks for a second.
"Not even remotely afraid of the water, he stayed in my arms, and he kicked his little legs," Gail wiggles her son's legs, "and he splashed about with his free arm, he had a blast, it was like a big bath tub, wasn't it?" She gets Gilbert to giggle.
"Our backyard is big enough for a pool," says Elaine, "and you kids always wanted a pool, your father and I were talking about it not too long ago, and we decided we would finally put in a swimming pool."
Gail gets a look on her face.
"What's that look for?"
"Nothing," Gail shakes her head knowingly. Knowing Elaine loves little Gil and wants to spend more time with him and Gail and Holly. "Whatever you want, it's your house."
"Exactly," says Elaine, with a furrow on her face. "It's my house, if I want to put in a swimming pool, I will."
Gail desperately wants to laugh, but doesn't, not wanting to reverse Elaine's decision. Gail would rather go to her parent's house to swim then step on an unkown bandage in some public pool. "Great," says Gail, completely elated at the idea, her childhood wish is finally coming true.
Something's been bothering Gail, she can't put her finger on it. Her life is great, she's married to the most wonderful woman in the world, they have a beautiful baby boy, her family and friends are completely supportive, work is going great, but Gail feels a little off. Something's been turning over in head irritating her. Gail sends a text, "hi Keith, it's Gladys. I have a lot to tell you, if you're willing to listen. Give me a call sometime. Also my name isn't Gladys. It's Gail. I hope you Stacey and your baby are good."
Me too Qbonbon, I can't wait to see what how it ends! I'm probably going to end up stalling, more like keep stalling, writing random snippets of life until I can think up something.
Thanks for reading.
