"Good morning, son. My grandson wants a sweet treat, and he's gonna have one."
"He's already eating pancakes," I explained.
"That's nice. Melo…Pop-Pop will make sure you get a nice big scoop, but no toppings," he continued completely ignoring me. "We don’t want your father to have a heart attack. He's not as cool as us unfortunately."
Melo burst into giggles and I heard my mama snickering on the line.
I sucked my teeth, biting back a laugh. "You do too much, Pops."
"I do enough," he said, voice warm and teasing. "We'll see y'all soon. Enjoy your breakfast."
"Bye, Mee-Mee and Pop-Pop." Melo waved.
"Bye, precious," my mama replied.
"Bye, parental figures," I responded.
They both laughed, said their good-byes and we hung up.
I looked over at my son who was looking at me all innocent like he hadn't ambushed me. I shook my head, smiling despite myself. “You and Pop-Pop always teaming up against me.”
He giggled and took another bite of his pancake, kicking his legs under the chair. “Pop-Pop is cool.”
I grabbed a napkin and wiped his face. “Oh really?”
“Yeah.” He nodded confidently.
“And I’m not?”
He thought about it for a second while chewing. “You’re a little cool.”
I clutched my chest dramatically. “Alittlecool? After I made these pancakes?”
He looked down at his plate, tilting his head. "Okay. Very cool."
"Thank you," I let out a fake sigh of relief. "Give me some credit, geez."
Melo laughed. We finished our breakfast and he helped me in washing the dishes and cleaning off the counters. Afterwards, I sent him to his room to pick up his toys before it was time for us to head out.
I made my way back into my room phone in my hand. I had a bunch of notifications including one from an unsaved number. I clicked the message:
So… do all the women you meet get desserts named after them?
I froze for a second, then slowly smiled. It was Gianna. She must've seen the video. When I made it, I wasn't sure if she would be curious enough to dig into my social media. But just in case she did, I wanted her to see that I was serious in wanting to get to know her. It was a shot in the dark, but damnit…it worked.
I quickly typed back:
