Page 45 of Marrying the Billionaire Single Dad
"But Daddy, Salad wants to read Calvin and Hobbes." Riley folds her arms over her chest.
I glance up from the copy ofAlice in Wonderlandthat I had been trying to read out loud—’trying’ being the operative word here, for Riley is having none of it. "You’re too young for Calvin and Hobbes."
"But Mommy read to me from it."
Ah. I bite the inside of my cheek. How do I tell her that her mom made a mistake? Not that I could come out and admit it openly, huh? So, what should I tell her? That Calvin and Hobbes has the kind of language that is just a little too mature for her.
"Daddy," Riley’s bottom lip quivers. "you promised…"
"I promised I’d read to you."
"From a book of my choice," she lisps. She only does that when she’s upset. Shit. A tear rolls down her cheek.
"Don’t cry, baby." I push the book aside, then scoop her up in my arms. "I promise I’ll read Calvin and Hobbes to you, just not yet."
"But…but..."
I cuddle her closely as I lie down on the bed. "Alice had a white rabbit, you know."
"White…white wabbit?" she gazes up at me with her big blue eyes so like mine.
Damn, she sounds so young. Well, she is young. Except, she normally sounds so much older than her years that I forget. Then she lapses into the language of her younger years, and damn, if my heart doesn’t almost break. "Yeah, she followed the white rabbit down the hole and that’s when her adventures began."
"Ad—ventures."
"Yep, she meets a crazy queen, a mad hatter—"
"What’s a hatter?"
"Someone who makes hats."
"You wear a hat…"
"A cap," I correct her. "A baseball cap."
"What’s the difference?"
"A cap? Well, uh, it has a rim that doesn't go all the way around, unlike a bowler hat."
"A bowler hat?"
“Yeah, you know… The thing that the twins wear in the adventures of TinTin."
"TinTin?" She sits up, "Who’s TinTin?"
"TinTin has a dog called Snowy."
She scrunches up her features, "D-a-a-d, I want a dog."
Shit, no way, can I deal with a dog on top of a kid. Christ, how did we land on TinTin anyway? Weren’t we talking about Alice and her adventures?
"There’s a dog in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland too."I think.
"Really?"
"Yep." I pick up the book in relief. "Here, let me read to you…"
Ten minutes later, she’s fast asleep… Shit, there is no dog inAlice’s Adventures… Fuck, if I couldn’t do with my own version of a white rabbit though. The kind you imbibe, not the dildo… Shit, don’t think of a dildo when you’re putting your daughter to sleep, you ass.
