old soul | matthew gray gubler

39. pumpkin patches

They spent the night in the living room, sharing stories though they had put on a movie to watch. The kids enjoyed the cartoon, though they didn't finish it because they left at 8 PM, so they could get to bed. Laura left with the promise of being back tomorrow for the pumpkin patch. Charlotte was nervous about that because they were all focused on photographing her.

Marilyn went to bed shortly after, hugging Charlotte a little tighter than she had earlier. Charlotte was making her place in the family as the hours sped by.

Charlotte leaned her head on Matthew's shoulder. He insisted on finishing the movie, but her eyes were dropping with sleep. He noticed her breathing even a bit and he decided to just turn off the tv and get her to bed. Matthew went to pick her up, but Charlotte stirred. She lazily stood, brushing stray hairs from her face.

"Ready to get to bed?" He asked, touching her cheek with the tips of his fingers lovingly.

"Yeah," she yawned into her hand, intertwining her hand with the one on her cheek.

He headed for the stairs, leaving her to shuffle along behind her. When he went to step onto the first one, Charlotte tugged him back. He looked down at her, brows drawn in concern.

"This is really weird, but can I have one of those bananas sitting in the kitchen?" Charlotte whispered, afraid to wake Marilyn up.

Matthew cracked a smile, nose scrunched up. "Yeah, you can. C'mon."

He turned them towards the kitchen and stopped at the counter. Charlotte dropped his hand and reached for the bananas. Matthew stopped her from peeling it with a confused tone of voice, "Charlie, those are really black."

She held a, 'so what?' expression that jutted out her chin and arched her left brow. "I saw them earlier and I haven't stopped thinking about them. Let me eat in peace."

Matthew sighed, touching his stubble. "Do you at least want water?"

"Yeah, thanks," Charlotte mumbled through a mouthful of banana. She leaned back against the counter and absolutely demolished the fruit.

When she was done, she gulped the glass of water. She had been cradling the banana peel as though she didn't want to let it go, but in reality, she had just forgotten she was holding.

"Ready now?" He sarcastically asked.

Charlotte shook her head at him, "Haha. Yes, let's go."

She grabbed his hand went to lead the way when he tugged at the banana in her hand. "You gonna bring the banana peel with you?"

"You know what I always say, 'Always have your banana peel!'" Charlotte said, proudly holding up the carcass of the fruit.

Matthew laughed into the kitchen's darkness, palms flat against the counter as his weight teetered. Charlotte giggled at his response.

"You literally never say that." His face was red as a tomato.

"Well, I do now."

Charlotte flipped open the lid to the garbage can and tossed the peel inside. It landed with the soft plunk of plastic crunching. After, they trekked up to bed, Charlotte nuzzled into his side as soon as he settled on his back.