Page 36 of Kiss Kiss Bang
“Soph, honey, I didn’t get mad at you for catching lizards. I got mad at you for wondering off.” She poured a glass of milk and placed on the spot at the table where Sophie sat.
“You know, some lizards get awfully big all the way back there. Your mom is right, you don’t want to get snatched up by a big giant lizard.”
The little girl’s eyes went wide, then she burst out in giggles. “You so silly. There’s no big lizards. But cwocodiles can be big. I don’t want to get bited by a cwocodile.”
“Bitten,” Olivia corrected her.
“So, let’s make a pact. If you absolutely must go hunting for lizards or crocs, you’ll ask your mother and she’ll take you.”
“Mum hates wepitailes.”
“Wepitailes?” Joey asked.
“She means reptiles.” Olivia explained, as Joey portioned the food. He’d found some tomatoes and had sliced them and drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar on them.
“Yeah, I’m not going out there either,” Olivia said, again shuddering. “Sorry, sweets, you know I love you, but I’m not touching any lizards.”
“Okay, then you call me and I’ll go with you,” Joey said. “But only if you promise not to go alone, deal?”
“But what if you’re not here when I need to go?”
He chuckled. “How about this, I’ll write my phone number on a piece of paper and you can hold on to it. If ever you have a lizard-hunting emergency and I’m not around, you call me and I promise to be right over.”
“You pwomise?”
His heart melted at the way her long lashes and big eyes were staring at him with so much hope. “I promise, freckle. And I never, ever, go back on my promises, okay?”
“Yay!” she said with a little giggle. She looked down at her plate and shoved the tomatoes aside and dug into the mac and cheese.
“You have to eat those veggies, Soph,” her mother said.
Sophie pointed to Joey’s plate and he immediately knew what was coming. “How come Joey doesn’t have to eat vegetables?”
He groaned and stabbed at a couple of slices and put them on his own plate and plastered on a fake smile. “Of course I do.” He took a bite. “Mmmm.”
Olivia looked at him and then burst out laughing. That’s how the rest of the meal went. Sophie telling him all she knew about “wepitailes,” which was surprisingly a lot, while they all ate the “fancy” mac and cheese.
It was after the dishes were all washed and Sophie sat watching television that Olivia finally looked a little relaxed.
“When can you get a babysitter again? I want to take you out.”
“This week is busy but I think I can get away Friday evening. I’ll talk to Winnie.”
Five days until he saw her again? That wouldn’t do.
He leaned in and kissed her lips just like he had earlier. “I like you amenable like this.”
“It’s the wine,” she shrugged, cheekily.
He kissed her again. “It’s not the wine, darlin’.”
And that was how they ended their evening. Full bellies and content hearts.
Before he left he kissed both females in the cheek, making both of them giggle adorably, and then he went home with a big smile on his own face too.
