Page 141 of Ruin

“So, if I said to you that me and Daddy were together now, would that be okay with you?” I ask her.

“Together?” Her eyes and cute button nose screw up with confusion.

“Like Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder,” I explain. “A couple.”

“Ohs, like boyfriends and girlfriends?” She beams.

“Yeah, like boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“I finks that’d be awesome.” She pauses, looking between me and Zeus, her nose screwing up again. “But you’s not gonna be kissing all the time, are you?”

Zeus barks out a laugh, and I go beet red.

“No! Of course not. Where on earth did you get that from?” I ask her.

“TV.” She shrugs.

“What do you mean, TV?” I ask her.

“Movies, Mommy.” She gives me a look that says this should be perfectly obvious. “The mens and womens are always kissing in the movies.”

She starts to make kissing sounds, and Zeus laughs again, harder this time.

“And no more movies for you.” I reach over and tickle her side, making her squirm and giggle.

Looks like I’m going to have to monitor even more closely exactly what it is she’s watching on the television.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Gigi?”

“Does this mean that you and Mommy are gonna gets mwarried?”

“No!” I say at the exact same time that Zeus says, “Yeah, one day.”

My eyes snap to Zeus, who’s staring back at me, a furrow puckering his brow.

I move my eyes from him to Gigi. “We won’t be getting married anytime soon,” I say to Gigi.

“Okay.” She sighs. Another pause and then, “But, when you do’s gets mwarried, I be a bridesmaids, right?”

A smile creeps onto my face. I glance over at Zeus to see he’s grinning, too.

I press a kiss to her soft hair and say, “If Mommy and Daddy ever get married, you’ll be the only bridesmaid, Gigi girl.”

“Pwomise?”

“I promise.”

She goes quiet again. I’ve just closed my eyes, and I’m dozing, loving just being here with my little family, when her little voice breaks the quiet.

“Mommy?”

“Yes, Gigi girl?”

“Can we all gets up and watch TV together now?”

“What do you want to watch?” Zeus asks her on a yawn.