AN: Here you go, another little chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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"It's your dinner," Carol said. "I'm just helping. We'll fix whatever you want to fix."
Sophia was pacing around the store like choosing the food for the meal was the hardest task that she'd ever done. She had asked, and Carol had thought it was more than a fair request, if she could make dinner. She wanted to do something special. And, she divulged to Carol, that she didn't know how to cook, and she was interested in learning.
So they were out to pick up the food so that they could get something going and not to have to offer food to Daryl so late after he got home. But Sophia was having an almost impossible time choosing something to eat.
"Sophia," Carol said, "sweetheart, it's your first dinner, but it's not your last. We can make whatever you want, but it doesn't have to be like choosing your last meal."
Sophia looked at her and frowned.
"What do you want?" Carol asked. "What's the best dinner you've ever had or…that you've thought you wanted to have?"
Sophia's frown deepened until Carol got the distinct fear that the girl might actually cry in the middle of the store. She was willing, if it would make her feel better, to simply buy far more food than they even needed for several meals and explain it to Daryl later.
"We can get more than one thing," Carol offered, trying to see if that might soothe over whatever it was that Sophia was going through.
Sophia shook her head.
"I don't know what you like," Sophia sputtered finally. "I don't know what Daryl likes. I don't want to choose something that nobody likes."
Carol almost laughed at the sincerity behind the comment when they would like anything that she wanted them to like. But she knew that this wasn't a laughing situation.
"Sophia, sweetheart, Daryl will eat absolutely anything," Carol said. "And…I will too. Whatever you want, and I mean anything, it'll be fine. But if we don't pick something soon then we're not going to have time to cook it and eat before it's really late."
Sophia looked a little stronger in her decision making skills. She chewed at her lip and wobbled awkwardly on her feet while she worked it out for herself.
"Can we have Thanksgiving?" She asked.
Carol furrowed her brow.
"Well, sure," she said. "But, Sophia…Thanksgiving is in November."
Sophia looked crushed. She looked as crushed by this as she did over the fact that she didn't know what they might like to eat, and clearly if she prepared something they didn't like then the world would implode. Now the world was going to implode because she'd finally chosen something only to realize that it was really not something they would eat for another few months.
Carol sighed.
"We'll do our own Thanksgiving," Carol said. She shrugged. "You probably missed out on a few of those, right? We'll do…they don't have turkeys but we could do chicken? Cook sides to go with it. Have our own little Thanksgiving, just the three of us?"
Sophia smiled.
"Really?" She asked. "Tonight?"
Carol laughed.
"Why not?" She responded. "We can do this. We'll do some vegetables, some potatoes...dressing?"
Sophia smiled and nodded.
"I'll go get the chicken," Carol offered. "You go and get us some…what? Green beans? Potatoes?"
Sophia simply nodded. There was no telling what this meal would consist of, but they'd do it however she wanted. Carol offered Sophia the basket that she'd been carrying around with the few "must have" items she'd picked up and she went for chicken while Sophia trotted off toward the produce.
Once Carol had procured two chickens to cook, she started to make her way to where Sophia was picking through vegetables, clearly at this point just looking since she hoped she wasn't expected to work eggplant into the meal, and she very nearly collided with a woman that she knew from church. The woman was called "Pru" by everyone, likely short for Prudence, and she was friendly enough, but always one of those who seemed to think that Carol had really "won" with Daryl, which wasn't a problem in itself, but she seemed inclined to suggest, especially out of Carol's presence, that it wasn't really a good situation for Daryl.
After all, Carol refused to give him the family that he so deserved.
"Carol Ann!" Pru declared when she realized it was Carol. "We've missed you at church, you're not unwell are you?"
Carol forced the same smile she always did when running into Pru. She wasn't sure if it was so much a smile as something of a grimace, going along with the way that she felt about the woman, but she did her best to guard the decorum that she was expected to guard.
"Not unwell at all," Carol replied. "We've just been really busy. Things have…been really busy."
Sophia approached, basket on her arm, but hung slightly off to the side, regarding Carol and the woman that she was speaking too. Carol cast a glance at the girl, but turned her eyes back to Pru quickly because the woman was telling her something…some story she supposed that she cared about…and when she listened to it, she realized it was about Andrea.
"She really is about to add another little one to their clan. Another boy, I would suppose?" Pru asked.
Carol continued the forced smile, marveling at how bad her cheeks could sting from holding the position to long and shrugged slightly.
"We never know," she said. "But if the others are any indication…"
Carol didn't bother finishing the rest of her phrase. It didn't matter anyway. Pru had already written and was now performing this entire conversation in her head. Carol's input would only be heard if it really deviated in some dramatic manner from what Pru thought it should.
"Did you know that Walter and I are expecting again?" Pru asked, leaning into Carol like they were old friends sharing secrets in the grocery.
Carol shook her head.
"Congratulations," she offered as warmly as she could. This had to be Pru's fourth child, unless Carol was forgetting someone. That was possible, of course, given that she didn't really care enough about the woman to be too heavily invested in her offspring.
"I don't suppose you're planning on blessing Daryl with any sons any time soon?" Pru asked.
The question stung, but what stung most about it was the fact that it was probably sincerely meant to be a genuine question. It was probably meant not to have venom behind it. It was just one woman sharing the fact that she and her husband were adding to their brood while asking the "friendly question" of another woman if she might be in the family way.
But no matter the intent, it stung.
Carol shook her head slightly.
"No," she said, renewing the smile that was starting to fade. "No, we're not…I mean, I'm not. We're not expecting."
Carol felt muddled, but then she always felt muddled when she felt like she was being overwhelmed with something she didn't wish to discuss.
Pru sucked her teeth and put on something of a genuine "sorry" face. She reached and squeezed Carol's arm as though she were offering her condolences for a loss instead of simply receiving the news that things were soldiering on much as they had for almost a decade.
"That's such a shame too," Pru said. "Walt's such a wonderful father, and you can really see that it's true. Their children are the…jewels for them. Daryl would make an excellent father."
Carol must have made a face, though she'd honestly intended to keep wearing her Halloween mask of a smile, because Sophia burst in and interrupted the conversation, stepping toward them quickly enough that she had to reach down to stop her grocery basket from swinging out its contents onto the floor.
"He is," she said in a much sharper tone than would be appreciated by Pru. "He's a good daddy, and Carol's a good mama."
Pru looked at Sophia with a great deal of confusion and with the same general expression that Carol assumed she might wear if greeted by an alien right next to the potatoes.
"And who is this?" Pru asked.
But it was to be expected. Since bringing Sophia home, Carol and Daryl both had become largely hermits outside of interactions that were required by their employment. Carol dealt with her clients, but didn't talk to them about Sophia. Daryl went to work and finished up his school work, but didn't join others for drinks or conversation about his new child. They spent, instead, all of that extra energy simply among themselves. As a result, Carol wasn't sure how many people beyond their immediate circle even knew that Sophia existed yet. And they hadn't really discussed how they were going to go about things when they did start introducing her to everyone. It was, after all, something of a tricky situation.
Carol put her arm around Sophia's shoulder and pulled the girl toward her slightly.
"Pru, this is my daughter, our daughter, Sophia," Carol responded, offering a more sincere smile to Sophia than she'd been holding for the woman.
"Oh," Pru said, clearly stunned, the furrow in her brow giving her away. "You went through with adoption? Congratulations."
It didn't sound too sincere, but Carol didn't care. She'd take it.
"A girl? She must be a good help to you, around the house?" Pru offered.
Carol sucked in a breath.
"She is," Carol said. "She cleans, she's learning to cook. She's already quite a good seamstress. You should come by some time and have a look at her work."
Pru nodded slightly, still looking at Sophia like the alien in the potato box, and then she smiled at Carol.
"Well, isn't that just wonderful," she said. She didn't sound like she really thought it was wonderful. "I'll need some new dresses soon. I'm sure I'll see it then."
Carol offered another smile.
"Well," she said. "If you'll excuse us, Pru? We've got to buy a few more things and get dinner on the table. I don't like to keep Daryl waiting when he gets home."
Pru nodded slightly, but didn't make any effort to move, so Carol pushed Sophia gently to lead her around the woman so that they could gain their freedom together and collect the last of the ingredients that they needed. Before she began to put too much distance between them, Carol reached for the basket to carry and put the chicken there that she'd gathered up to bake for dinner.
"Carol…" Pru called, catching Carol's attention. Carol turned, almost growling to herself that she hadn't been wise enough to put at least half the store between herself and the woman before pausing. "I just can't help…but the resemblance is striking…"
Pru muttered the words as she brought herself back in line with both Carol and Sophia, looking between them, the furrow deepening slightly.
Carol nodded at her, not entirely sure at the moment how to respond to such a statement.
"How did they do that?" Pru asked with a laugh. "Match you with someone who looks…so remarkably like you?"
"Sophia's my daughter," Carol said, not expanding on the idea in any way. "We look alike because she's my daughter."
Pru's mouth opened slightly, confusion painted on her face, and Carol assumed that her next logical move would be to ask for an explanation of some sort. That was where Carol was going to stop because she wasn't ready, not yet, to offer the explanation that the woman would want. Surely Pru would talk, and it wouldn't take long before there was a lot of talking going on, but for the moment Carol was done talking about it.
So, before Pru could ask for more, Carol tugged at Sophia's shoulder.
"We've really got to be going now," Carol said. "Congratulations again and have a nice day, Pru."
And before Pru could utter another question or even return the farewell, Carol pushed Sophia along with her to get the rest of their groceries as quickly as possible and get home to prepare the meal that Sophia wanted them to have together.
And she left gossips to do what they would, because really it was of little concern to her at this point.