Page 78 of A Taste of Whiskey
Cowboy rubbed her back. “That’s one of my favorite memories.”
“Don’t be embarrassed, Sully. It’s a rite of passage around here,” Billie reassured her.
“What’s skinny-dipping?” Gus asked.
“It’s when you go swimming naked,” Ezra explained.
Gus giggled. “I don’t wanna do that.”
Not yet anyway.
Gus was his typical happy self throughout dinner, chatting with everyone about everything and anything and asking a million questions. There was so much goodness around the dining room, it was almost enough to make Ezra forget that Tina had blown Gus off again.
AFTER EZRA LEFT for church, his living room became costume central. First Sasha and Gus drew pictures of their costumes. Many,manypictures. Then they picked out their favorites and colored them in. Because how could they make costumes unless they knew what color everything should be? Then they got to work, and now there were pieces of green, red, and black fabric spread over the coffee table, and littering the floor were yellow pom-poms, more fabric swatches, and hand-drawn stencils. Christmas music streamed from Sasha’s phone, and she and Gus sang along as they worked. Sasha had used the stencils and a Sharpie to mark the material for Gus to cut, and he was hard at work cutting out red cuffs that would go around his wrists.
“Do you think I’ll win the contest?” Gus asked, brows knitted in concentration as he cut the material. He was cutting miles away from the lines she’d drawn, but he was so proud of himself, Sasha let him run with it.
“Yup. Nobody else will have a green elf vest with a Dark Knights logo on the back.”
Sasha was in love with the elf costumes they were making, but she was even more in love with the process of making them with Gus. She’d worried that he might get bored after a few minutes, but he’d been excited about coming up with ideas, and he’d helped her draw the stencils and trace them onto the fabric. She wished Ezra were there to see how happy his little man was, but she was taking plenty of pictures.
“Should we make Daddy a green vest?” Gus asked.
“I think he’ll want to wear his leather vest, but we can make decorations for his motorcycle.”
“Can we put reindeers on it? And lights andorments?”
“Ornaments?”
“Yeah!Ornments.I have to pee!” He dropped the scissors and fabric and ran into the bathroom, leaving the door open.
Sasha heard him singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” When he flushed the toilet, she said, “Wash your hands.”
“I know.” She heard the water running. “One, two, three…” The camp counselors were teaching the kids to wash their hands for ten seconds. Gus usually made it to five.
He ran into the living room and dove onto the couch, accidentally kicking over his chocolate milk. “Oops!”
“Shoot. I forgot to put the top on your sippy cup.” Sasha righted the cup and ran into the kitchen for a dishcloth and paper towels.
Gus scrambled off the couch. “Hurry. It’s getting all over everything!”
“It’s okay.” She dropped to her knees by the coffee table and began mopping up the mess.
“Did I ruin our costumes?”
“No. It’s just a little milk. We’ll wash the material that got dirty.” She finished cleaning up the mess and hand-washed the pieces of fabric that had milk on them.
“Now what are we gonna do?” Gus asked.
That was a good question. She wanted to keep him off the rug while it dried. “Why don’t we run over to the holiday shop and see if they have a Santa hat for your dad to wear on the Reindeer Ride? Maybe we can find something to decorate his motorcycle with while we’re there, and if you’re a good boy, we might even find something for you.”
Half an hour later, they were heading into the holiday shop, when Tina walked out of the yoga studio two doors down. She was wearing yoga pants and an exercise bra, and she was irritatingly gorgeous. A knot formed in Sasha’s chest, but she pushed past it for Gus’s sake, instinctively holding Gus’s hand a little tighter. “Look, Gusto, there’s your mom.”
“Uh-huh,” he said, and continued walking toward the store.
Surprised by his lack of enthusiasm, she tried to figure out how to handle it, but in those few seconds of indecision, Tina saw them and headed their way.Shit.“Come on, Gus. Let’s go say hi.”
The Selfish Witch of the West narrowed her eyes at Sasha but quickly put on the charm for Gus. “Hi, baby,” she gushed, crouching to hug him.
