Page 23 of Santa’s Little Faker
Not as much as Daddy Bastian but no one liked cars as much as him.
He liked old cars and fast cars and little cars and funny-looking cars.
Oh, he groaned.
That was a Daddy defeat sound…Terrence said so.
“We definitely need to get you more coloring books and toys.” Daddy Bastian was getting weaker and weaker like a good Daddy should. “But we’re having our grown-up date tomorrow.”
He was still being sneaky.
“Little morning. Big later.” I shrugged. “I’m smart. I can do both.”
Ha.
He smiled. “You’re very smart…sneakily smart.”
“No…” That was what Daddies did. “I’m cute.”
Daddy Bastian leaned back and laughed. His great big belly sound, not the nice sound he did at family stuff. It lasted a long, long time until he leaned back on his hands and smiled at me. “You’re very cute. But we are not watching the movie again. So you have two options.”
Ugh.
“What kind of options?” I might like options. “Enzo would give Terrence kissing options or dessert options.”
He gave me his eyebrow look like I’d been naughty. But I wasn’t trying to sell him the silly car that didn’t work. “We need to find you some better influences to hang out with.”
“New friends?” He knew people. “You talk to people.”
Daddy Bastian groaned. “I talk to a lot of people.”
He kept talking to them even though he didn’t like most of them. “Little people?”
What kind of little people?
“You’re mine. I don’t have to share. You said so.” He’d promised, but I poked his chest to make sure he ’membered. “I didn’t forget.”
I did good.
Trying to hide his weird face, Daddy Bastian nodded and pretended he wasn’t a tiny bit confused and another tiny bit happy. “That’s right. I know you won’t forget.”
Daddy Bastian liked that I didn’t share.
He just couldn’t tell me yet…that was the game.
Mumbling something about me having a very convenient memory, Daddy Bastian was dramatic, so I had to pretend not to hear him. Daddies liked to pretend they were always good boys, but they weren’t. Terrence said we just had to pretend or the world would explode.
I wasn’t so sure about that but he was smart.
“What if we played with a little friend who already had a Daddy? That way you wouldn’t have to worry about sharing.” Daddy Bastian had a sneaky face on but he knew lots of people. “We could play toys and have a snack? They might want to watch a movie?”
“Not family people?” There werealwaysfamily people. “Not even neighbor kinda-family people?”
Daddy Bastian chuckled and shook his head. “Nope. They don’t know your family at all. They live on the other side of the city and I’m not sure they’ve ever been in this side of town.”
“Not even for food?” Family liked food.
“Nope. They like going to Mexican restaurants and they have a few favorite Asian restaurants they love.” Daddy Bastian made a thinky face. “I’m not sure we’ve ever had Italian or anything even close to that when we go out.”
