Page 26 of Three Pucking Words
One I’m hoping that my hand and a cold shower can fix when I get home.
*
Gemma’s face appearson my screen a few hours later, and it puts a smile on my face no matter how exhausted I am. “Hey, Cookie Monster. Are you getting ready for bed?”
It’s late, but I know she tends to sucker her grandparents into staying up later than normal when she’s with them. “Grandpa Joe gave me chocolate and let me watchDirty Dancingwith Grandma Helen!”
“Hey,” a gruff voice calls out off camera. “You’re not supposed to rat me out, kid.”
Gemma giggles as Joe appears behind her.
“So much for not being their friends,” I tell him with an easy smile.
The old man grins. “I saidparentscan’t be their friends. Being their best friend is the only job for the grandparents.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever you say, Joe.”
He chuckles and ruffles Gemma hair before walking out of the frame.
It would have been obvious that they gave her something even if she didn’t tell me considering there’s chocolate smeared over her mouth. “Are you having a good time? Joe told me earlier you won a stuffed animal in the claw machine all by yourself at the arcade.”
Gemma’s eyes light up before she reaches for something beside her. When she holds up her prize, my eyebrows go up. “Is that a—”
“A bull,” Helen quickly interjects before I put my foot in my mouth by pointing out the phallic looking stuffed animal. “Yes, it is. See the horns?”
I see a lot.
A shaft.
Two balls.
All covered in brown felt with giant fabric eyes and two felt horns attached to either side of the tip—I meanhead.
“That’s a pretty cool bull,” I tell Gemma, trying not to laugh. I bet Joe and Helen barely contained themselves when she pulled that out of the machine.
Gemma goes on for ten minutes on everything she did today, detailing every second of her time at the arcade and almost no information on school or homework. I learn that she hates the ring toss but lovesMario Cart, and even though she spent most of her tickets on the claw machines, it was her favorite part of the day.
All for a stuffed bull shaped like a penis.
Who thought that design was a good idea?
About thirty minutes into the call, Gemma’s eyes start to get droopy. “Get some sleep, sweetheart. I’ll see you after the game. All right?”
“Okay, Daddy,” she mumbles tiredly.
Joe passes the phone to Helen as he picks her up and carries her up the stairs. “She’s doing fine,” Helen promises. “I do want to run something by you, though. We were going through Inez’s jewelry box and Gemma fell in love with some of the pieces. Mostly the necklaces, but there were a few earrings that Inez made in her jewelry-making phase. I was wondering if I could take Gemma to get her ears pierced the next time we have her so she can wear some of her mother’s designs.”
I’ve never had much of an opinion on piercings, so I shrug. “That’s fine by me. I think being able to wear her mom’s jewelry will make her happy.”
Helen smiles, and relief fills her eyes. “We think so too. But I didn’t want to do anything without consulting you first. I did check with her school, and there’s no policy against it.”
That means a lot to me considering the hell we went through to find some common ground after Inez passed. “Are you guys still bringing her to the game?”
Her smile softens. “We wouldn’t miss it, Bodhi. Gemma told us we all had to wear our matching jerseys so you could find us in the crowd.”
Seeing my daughter in my number for the first time did some shit to my heart that I thought might kill me. I’d never felt so much pride in my life as when I saw her yelling for me through the glass of the family suite.
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I clear it and smile. “I’m looking forward to it. And I can send you money for the piercing, if you’d like.”
