Cool Mom

19: Picnic

"Mommy." Hazel's voice makes us stop our discussion about the building we visited in Paris.

"Yes, Bunny?"

"More juice." She points at her empty glass. I pour her some more from the carton.

Daniel leaves after breakfast and Hazel goes upstairs to her bedroom to play with Vanessa. After going over the day's plan with my female helpers, I'm in the lounge when my phone starts ringing.

"Hey mom!" I smile to myself, she's my mother after all.

"Hi baby. How's life?" She asks.

"Good. Nothing special." I reply.

"How was Paris?"

"Amazing!"

I hear her laugh and then she says something which makes me scream so loud that Hazel comes running to check on me.

"You're coming to Pasadena!" I exclaim as Hazel scrambles onto my lap.

"Yes! Glad you're excited."

"Excited? I'm over the moon!" I laugh.

After a few more minutes of conversation, Hazel nudges me with her arm and points towards the phone.

"It's grandma." I tell her and hand her the phone for her turn.

While she talks to her grandmother, I think about the upcoming visit from my parents. The last time they visited was three years ago when Hazel was born. It's a long time to go without seeing your parents. They're flying to America from Switzerland! I'm going to see my parents!

"Bye bye grandma." Hazel says handing me the phone.

"What did you talk about?" I ask.

"Vanessa!" She replies and I laugh, walking towards the kitchen.

"What do you want for lunch?"

"Mommy!" Hazel calls after me.

"Yes?" I ask as she runs to me and I lift her into my arms.

"Can we have a picnic?" She asks, twirling her hair.

"Okay. What do you want to eat?" I ask, carrying her to the kitchen and setting her on the counter.

The chef walks over to us and Hazel rattles off a list of things which include burgers, French fries, chocolate, cake, cookies, and pizzas.

"How about just burgers and French fries?" I suggest.

She nods and jumps down from the counter leaving me to instruct the chef about the food. After a few minutes I hear her running down the stairs and then she appears in the lounge doorway, clutching her teddy bear from Paris with Vanessa at her heels.

"We need a blanket." I tell her but instead we settle on a bedsheet.

I pack the food and blanket in a lunch pack and then help put the leash on Vanessa. I grab Hazel's hand while she clutches Vanessa's leash and together we walk down to park on the corner of the street. There are a few other parents there with their children and a man walking his dog. We find a shady spot under some trees and spread out the bedsheet.

Hazel throws Vanessa a stick and she runs after it and they go about it for a while before Hazel manages to pull the dog away from the stick and plops down beside me, hungry and exhausted. I set a disposable container full of crispy, golden fries and a burger in front of her and she begins gobbling it down.

I start to eat as well when my phone vibrates in my pocket. Daniel.

"Hey! Where are you?" He asks.

"The park down the street. Why?" I reply.

"Okay." With this he ends the call and I look at the phone for a minute before shrugging and continuing eating.

After about five minutes, Hazel's head snaps up and she sees something behind me. It turns out to be someone.

"Daddy!" She screams, running to him and he picks her up, swinging her around.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him.

"Jeremy and I are meeting at the house in an hour to go over some reports. You guys were here so I thought I'd join you." He tells me, setting down Hazel and coming to sit next to me.

I give him the extra burger we brought with us while Hazel leaves her half eaten food and runs off with Vanessa again.

We both go over our days and eat for a few minutes. I tell him about my parents coming to visit and his face turns nervous all of a sudden.

"What?" I ask him.

"I still can't believe they approved of me and let me marry you." He sighs, looking at Hazel.

I take his hand, making him look at me. "It's fine. I'm here, right?"

"Yep." He smiles at me, kissing my head and leaning his head against mine as we watch Hazel play with Vanessa.