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“Mr. Lasso,” the young man in front of him lingers by his office door, the ellipsis in his voice urging Ted to meet his eyes instantly in curiosity. “Do you happen to have a minute?”
Beard understands it right away and gets up to leave without saying a word, tapping the boy’s shoulder as they meet at the door frame. It was a conversation between both Mr. Lasso & Mr. Lasso-to-be only. Or, as Beard sometimes likes to call them: the Mr. Weltons.
“‘Course I do, Cindy Lou Who. Now I don’t wanna be the Grinch here, but I’m sensing some trouble in the air like that green boy sensing the Christmas tears coming before he realizes having a feeling is actually quite nice… What’s wrong?”
The chair once occupied by Beard welcomes a young boy in distress.
“It’s about Ellie,” he says suddenly, like he’s afraid he’s going to lose all the courage if he takes too long to pronounce words.
“Of course it is,” Ted replies. It’s not a dry tone or an annoyed reaction by any means, but his accent gets thicker and his voice drops a few octaves. It’s always serious business when it’s about his daughter.
Ted and Ellie had a special bond ever since she was one second old, as he naturally was in the delivery room with Rebecca when his wife was all sweat and his new baby daughter was all blood. After the doctor’s hands pull her into a mad world known as real life and the heavy oxygen hits her tiny, sensitive lungs, Ted’s actually the first one to hold her. It’s him who takes her to her mother seconds later, not wanting to steal more time away from Rebecca, who’s been waiting for that moment her whole life. But he allows himself three seconds. Those three seconds, the family would learn soon enough, were a sealed deal for both the oldest and younger Lasso in the room. They would absolutely, and forevermore, have each other’s back.
“We had this huge fight,” he starts saying.
“Before you go on, on a scale from 1 to 10, how ok is it for me to be listening to this from you first and not my own daughter? Now I love you kiddo, you know I do, but we Welton-Lassos must stick together first.”
The younger man nods. It was pretty obvious: neither Ted or anyone in that family would go against their full force of four. Especially not when it was about Ellie. The blonde girl was a daddy’s girl to the core, imprinted like that in her father’s soul ever since that very first three seconds.
“Probably 5? Not serious enough you have to pick sides or hide it from her, but real enough it made me come to you.”
“Alright, I’ll take my chances. Shoot.”
David leans his body against the table between the two men, playing with his fingers.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. We had new year’s plans with my family for the first time - you know that, you gave me your blessing so we could go. But it’s a long trip, there’s a lot to plan, and you know how she gets when… Anyway, miscommunication happened. And now I’m not even sure we’re going anymore. It was important to me. Planning that, introducing her to my family. You’ve been so generous in welcoming me into yours, I just thought that… It’s… Can I ask you something?”
Ted urges him to go on. “Think you just did, but absolutely go for that second one.”
“With you and Ms. Lasso, how did you know? That she was the one worth fighting for… and sometimes even fighting with? And, God, now listening to this makes it sound as if I’m not sure about Eleanor - which isn’t the case. I just… When life happens - and you’re happy and you love someone, but life still happens. Daily life, ordinary shit– Sorry, sorry. Stuff. You fight over what type of food you want for dinner, about who’s taking the trash out-”
“Ellie has never taken the trash out one day her entire life, but go on.”
“...Hypothetically speaking. I know our ordinary problems are not other people’s ordinary problems. But.. we still have those. Right? The annoyance ‘cause I’m being too loud and she wants to read in peace, or when she leaves the dirty dishes by the counter over the night even though the sink is right there.”
“Who raised this girl?”
“You did, sir.”
“Huh. Could’ve fooled me.” David chuckles over Ted’s made up resentment. “Listen, kiddo - and just between us boys, ‘cause we both happen to love strong, powerful Welton women - and I have a bit more experience in that regard. Hell, I married one and I helped create the other. Her mama did all the hard work, God bless her - nine months feeding that little creature swimming in there against all odds. So believe me when I tell you I know a thing or two about what you’re going through.”
When the younger man nods, Ted continues. “Ellie is hard work, okay? Rebecca is hard work, too. Know who else is hard work? Me and you. We are all complex, intriguing human beings. We argue over the smallest things and we let slide the biggest ones. We need that fuel of resentment and rage to keep us going, and I had my fair share of that when I was much younger than you are now, so I made a choice to never let that be in my way again. I do, however, understand that it’s not a state of mind meant for everyone. Not to my wife, not to my daughter. Henry’s a bit more resilient, but that’s just a personality trait. We’re all different people with a whole new set of packages trying to get along and walk that airport hallway of baggage, y’know? ‘Course sometimes shit goes down when it's a billion dollars on an elevator.”
“Beyoncé reference?”
“Always. What I mean is – that is the most ordinary thing to ever happen in relationships. Because you care. And she cares. That brilliant girl cares so much about you it scared me at first. Of course, I’m her dad. I should get all jealous and weird and… whatever it is we parents feel whenever we see our babies grow from that to proper adults with adult feelings. But it was more than that, it was… I was worried. Not because she was in love with someone, but because she was in love in a way that I could see in her eyes it was going to be it. The be all, end all. And ooh boy, let me tell you. She cares about you. When people care… the ordinary happens. And also the special part, the magic of it all, also happens. When you don’t care, however… That’s the real problem. How did I know, you ask? How did I know Rebecca was the one? Because I cared about every single detail to ever coexist between her and me in this whole wide universe. And I never stopped caring. Of course we fight. Just last week I wanted to go to Kansas for the holidays and she said no. Rightfully so - we managed to have a perfect Christmas ‘round here. Sure we disagree. We still fight over who’s got the car keys last and why is it that my toothbrush is so near hers - even when I tell her there’s absolutely no way that could ever be a problem ‘cause we’ve been exchanging saliva germs for years now. But isn’t it amazing? That you care so much to turn all these small things into a situation? I’ve been married before. And back then, with Henry’s mother, we gave up on the argument. We simply didn’t care anymore. That’s how you know, in my experience. That someone’s the one fighting for and fighting with. Because you still want to keep having those.”
It takes the boy a minute to reply. “I’m just afraid I’m not what she needs and that one day she’ll get tired of it and leave me in the middle of all the progress I’m trying to achieve for her.”
At that, Ted softens. It reminds him of himself somehow, a younger version of him asking Michelle’s father for guidance regarding their relationship, something he didn’t get to have with his own parents. David is younger than Henry, a little bit shorter - his eyes are a honey shade and his curly hair is combed in a way that makes him look older. He is, however, at that moment, just a boy.
Ted makes a sudden but calculated move of reaching for his phone laying screen down at the table in front of him. Two swaps of index finger later, Rebecca’s face lights up the screen, a picture David recognizes as one Ted took himself during the last charity gala. She’s wearing a gold long majestic dress and smiling widely, all teeth and proud lines, her green eyes shining while looking at the man behind the camera.
It rings four times before she picks up.
“Hi, love. Sorry, didn’t have my phone with me. Something wrong? You’re running late?” Rebecca’s voice is sweet on speaker. The background noise muffles, indicating she’s doing something else around the house.
“‘S alright, honey. I’ll be home soon, just finishing a few things ‘round the club. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, listen– is Ellie with you?”
Rebecca snorts, dropping something that sounds like a bag hitting the floor. “Upstairs. I was there with her. Almost didn’t hear your call because she was crying her eyes out.”
Ted opens the palm of his hand in front of David’s face, so he won’t speak or intervene. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Who knows? It was hard to understand amongst all the dramatic sobs. Something about fighting with David and feeling bad about it and being scared of losing him forever for being stupid - all that all at once, while still managing to ruin my favorite pink blouse with her running black mascara.”
“Yikes. Seems like you need reinforcement. We’ll be there in twenty.”
“Who’s we?”
“Just two boys who really love her.”
“‘Course. Drive safe and don’t be late. Bye David,” she murmurs the last part louder, already aware of what was happening on the other end.
When the call ends, Ted raises his eyebrows at a very disturbed young man in front of him, trying to prove a point.
Driving towards the Welton-Lasso household, David asks Ted if he’s not upset. “I made your daughter cry. And you’re still nice to me.”
Ted nods, understanding what he means, but also disagreeing with it entirely. “Are you or are you not carrying two bags of Ben & Jerry’s for her right now?”
“Chocolate Fudge Brownie,” he says softly. Her favorite.
Given that answer, Ted just replies: “At the end of the day, it’s not about what we do or don’t do, son. But about how we choose to deal with those consequences and how much we’re willing to learn from it.”
Later that night, Rebecca asks a sleepy Ted why he’s so pleased with himself. There’s an easy smile at the edge of his lips as he hugs his wife from behind, placing a gentle kiss against the back of her head. David was allowed to meet Ellie upstairs for a couple of hours so they could talk, as both Ted and Rebecca stayed at the kitchen pretending not to talk about them. He doesn’t get to talk to his daughter about it that night, the late hour David leaves their house forcing them to leave it to discussion during breakfast the next morning. But by the way she hugs the boy goodnight and then manages to place a kiss in both her parent’s faces before returning upstairs leads him to believe all his well again.
“I’m just satisfied, that’s all,” he tells Rebecca, eyes closing. “She’s gonna be alright. Our baby girl is gonna be alright.”
“Yeah?” Rebecca grabs his hand and places it against her lips, placing a kiss there. “How are you so sure about it?”
“Because there’s someone out there who loves and cares about her the very same amount I love you and care about you. I know that look on that kid’s face. Worried for the future, scared of losing something great.”
“You look at me like that. When you think I can’t see.”
“Oh, I know.”
At that, Rebecca smiles with him. The room is quiet and cozy, a bit too cold, but they don't mind. His body covered in a cotton white shirt keeps her warm.
For that moment, they were okay. Things would get cloudy again, as they usually do. But as long as they had all that love passed on to each other, everything would, eventually, find their way back.