Cowboy Baby Daddy

“See you in a little while,” Helen said warmly, her eyes twinkling. It was moments like these, I thought distractedly, that made me forget that there was anything potentially wrong with Nana.

I sighed and headed over to Jeannie Sable's house, my heart heavy.

When I knocked on the door, Olivia was the one to answer it. She and I had only exchanged perfunctory greetings at the daycare th

at day, as though we were both saving our energy for tonight. Now, she looked anxious and drawn. I looked closer at her face. Maybe a little shy, even.

I wanted instantly to pull her into my arms and comfort her, but before I could do something to embarrass myself, she opened her mouth.

“My mom is—”

“Right here!” Jeannie finished cheerfully as she bustled around the corner, wiping her hands on a pineapple print apron. “Now, Dr. Jones, dinner is already on the table, so let's all go have a seat. We wouldn't want the roast to get cold before we tucked into it, after all.” She winked at me, and after a moment's hesitation and one last glance at Olivia, I trailed after the woman into the dining room.

I knew this tactic. She knew that I had bad news, and she wanted to delay hearing it for as long as she could. Unfortunately, I still would have to give her the news that night.

“Can I offer you a glass of wine?” she asked. “Or water? Soda? Juice?”

“Whatever you're having,” I said, my thoughts still turned deeper than that evening's meal.

“Wine it is,” Jeannie said, already pouring a glass.

We sat down at the table. I sat across from Olivia and Jeannie sat on the end in between us. After a moment, we started to eat.

“So how is Emma doing?” Jeannie asked after a pause.

“She's great,” I said. “You know her. Just...always chattering away.”

“That's good,” Jeannie said. There was another awkward silence until Olivia cleared her throat.

“It is good having her at the daycare,” Olivia offered shyly, looking at me through her lashes. “Harlan has been so quiet. All he wants to do is play video games all day. But today he played with Emma for a while.”

“She told me,” I said, grinning. “I didn't understand what she was going on about, but she seemed happy. Something about dots, though.”

“Pixels,” Olivia said, grinning fondly. “That's how I got Harlan to go outside: I told him that he'd be amazed by the pixel quality of the backyard. I didn't think it would work, but with a little help from Emma, we had him outside in no time. Then, he still wanted to play his favorite video game, so he and Emma made up some sort of game on the spot.”

“Sounds fun,” I said, hearing the quiet enthusiasm in her voice.

“What do you mean, the pixel quality of the backyard?” Jeannie asked, sounding confused.

Olivia turned toward her, and I felt a momentary sense of loss once that smile was no longer directed at me. Stop that, I chided myself. I was there for work. It wouldn't be right to start developing a crush on Olivia.

“Harlan plays a lot of video games,” Olivia explained. “Those video games, and your computer screen and your television screen, are made up of pixels. They're these little boxes of color that make a picture when they're all together.”

“I don't understand,” Jeannie said. How could she not understand? It had to be her memory.

“You grew up with analog photography,” I stepped in. “When your photos were printed, how did that happen?” Jeannie looked blank. “Lots of little dots of ink on a sheet of paper,” I said.

Jeannie frowned. “Emulsifier,” she corrected. “It wasn't ink.”

“Right, emulsifier,” I agreed. I scratched the back of my head. “I don't know enough about analog photography to finish the analogy.”

Olivia laughed and shook her head. “You know those photos that are made up of a bunch of little photos, Mom?” she asked, taking another tack.

“A collage?” Jeannie asked, and we all laughed.

“No, like those photos that all make up...” Olivia trailed off and shook her head. “I guess it doesn't matter anyway. Just, I convinced him that the real world was just another video game.”

Jeannie's face clouded with worry. “I hope you didn't tell him that he had unlimited lives,” she said, and we shared another laugh.