Page 30 of Kiss Kiss Bang
“Mum likes bowls too.”
He opened drawers until he found what he was looking for and then put the handful of cereal into one and then poured some more into the other.
She sat across from him, swinging her legs back and forth. “Cheerios is your favorite cereal?” she asked.
“I’m more of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch kind of guy.”
“What’s cimonon? What is the cartoon on the box?”
Slowly, he repeated the word. “C-i-n-n-a-m-o-n. It’s a spice, I can’t really describe it. But it’s good. I can’t remember if it has a cartoon. How about I bring you a box next time I see you.”
“Good idea. I want to taste cimonon.”
He was about to correct her when he Olivia walked in.
“Good morning. I can’t believe I didn’t hear her wake up.” She kneeled in front of her daughter and kissed her forehead.
“He said a bad wod, Mommy,” Sophie said, pointing at Joey.
“You little snitch,” he teased her, then looked back up at Olivia. “I was sleeping. Woke up, and she was staring at me, The Ring style.” When she looked at him questioningly he continued. “You know. The horror movie about the little demonic girl that crawls out of the television in pajamas with her long hair down. That was your daughter.”
Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you just call my daughter a demon?”
“She almost gave me a heart attack,” he said incredulously.
“Mum, he said he was going to buy me cimonom cereal.”
“Cinnamon,” Joey corrected.
“Oh, the one with all the sugar. I’m looking forward to that.” She smiled. “So, I guess you met my daughter.”
“Sure did. She loves lizards and Cheerios.”
Olivia laughed. “Yes, she does. Not sure why, but she does. She asks everyone about it.”
“Okay.” Sort of random, he thought. Kind of like when she’d asked him about vegetables when they’d met.
“I’m making coffee. Help yourself. I’m going to go up to change.”
“Where’s Tom,” he asked.
“Should be here soon,” she answered.
He groaned loudly.
“I know. I know. He’s terrible. I have to have a talk with him,” she said, taking a step toward the stairs. His eyes roamed her bare legs.
He took a step so he was right by her ear and whispered, “Yes, he’s terrible. But also, I’m not thrilled about another man seeing your bare legs or ass.”
She scowled, then playfully shoved his shoulder and ran up the stairs. One thing he did notice was that she didn’t pull down the bottom of her shirt. Which, for some reason, gave him hope that she was starting to feel the pull between them.
Joey went to the bathroom to freshen up before walking back to the kitchen where Sophie was still eating. He sat back down to finish his cereal.
He smiled at her because she was adorable now that she wasn’t scaring the shit out of him. He began to eat as he watched her watching him. “You need milk. Milk gives you muscles,” she said, flexing her tiny bicep.
“You saying I need more muscles, freckles?”
She squished her face together. “Daddy Pig has big huge muscles!” She opened her arms wide as she said it. Then she walked to the refrigerator and hefted the gallon of milk out. Joey grabbed it before she dropped it all to the floor. He wasn’t sure how much she weighed, but the gallon looked bigger than she did.
