The tale of the princess and the G.I. Joe Who: Steve & NPC Lily What: A quiet evening. When: Present Where: Their apartment Rating: Low Status: Complete
Sweet dreams
7:30.
It was already seven thirty. Or so said the little clock shaped like a black cat which hung on the kitchen wall.
Lily snuggled into one of the couch pillows already deep in dreamland. The light from the television washed over her as she lay there curled up clutching her princess Ariel blanket beneath one arm and a G.I. Joe action figure tucked into the crook of the other.
Kernels of popcorn managed to find refuge on the floor. Part of the little rug in the living room turned up as if beckoning the kernels a safe place to hide beneath its borders.
Steve had turned the volume on the television down a while ago, once he realized the girl had fallen asleep - Poppy from Trolls was presently moving through the motions of a singing monologue with Branch - but Lily wouldn’t have been affected by the noise. She always slept like a rock; Casey had been the same way.
He was sitting silently at the kitchenette. Lily’s Marvel Superheroes backpack was sitting open on the flat of the table. He’d been packing it for the next day minus her lunchbox which was nestled between the large jar of whole pickles and the milk in the fridge.
Between his fingers were the proofs from the most recent Picture day event. Smiling brightly up at him was the little girl who was looking more and more like her mother every single day.
Across the room, hanging from a branch of their little Christmas tree was an ornament Casey had made for them to celebrate the first year of marriage. Another ornament to the right of where that first one dangled was a mold of Lily’s footprint from when she had been first born which declared in careful script that that particular year had been Lily’s first Christmas.
Steve wished Casey was there. She always knew what to do when things got challenging, or if things went off kilter with Lily. Sometimes he found himself asking her for help. Other times raising a kid was the easiest thing in the world.
The glow of that little smile illuminated his face and Steve slumped slightly in the kitchen chair.
Every year he got each of the grandparents a set of Lily’s school pictures, put them in frames to make them special, and every year it got harder and harder to do because it was obvious which of them Lily favored most. He didn’t look at Casey’s passing as a total loss, at least not the way he had before. Because their daughter was blossoming, he had more of Casey there than he realized.
Setting the little proofs aside, Steve cleared his throat, wiped at a blue eye with the tips of his fingers and got up to finish getting Lily ready for the next day.