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“No.” I shake my head. “Mom would never do that. She’s tired right now because she and Dani were in the sun all day. Silly girls. You know Mom doesn’t let you stay out in the sun, in a pool, all day, right?”
He nods, so I keep talking.
“So, she’s had too much sun. And then they went out to eat, and she’s tired. She just needs some sleep. Another day or two of girl time. And then she’ll be home.”
“kay.”
“Ryle, Mom misses you, too. You know that.”
“I know.”
He takes a drink and reaches for a cookie. “Are they still hot?”
I pick one up and take a small bite. “Kind of. Just blow on it.”
We eat our cookies quietly, both of us lost in thought.
“So.” I clear my throat. “Just so you know, you can spend the night here whenever you want.”
“I can?”
“Yep.” I nod and take a big drink. Ryle giggles when I put my cup down. “What?”
“You have a milk mustache.”
I shrug. “I’ll shave it off before we go to bed.”
“Dad!” He snorts. “You don’t shave milk mustaches.”
“You don’t?”
“No, you wash your face.”
“Oh.” I nod. “Okay.”
Ryle licks his thumb and reaches over to smudge it over my upper lip.
“Did you just do the mom-thing to me?” I snatch his hand and pull him from his chair. He squeals when I tickle him.
“Mom does that all the time.”
“Yep, it’s a mom thing.”
Still holding him, I stack our now empty cups and carry them and the plate to the sink.
“Let’s go shave.”
“No!” he laughs. “We brush our teeth now.”
“Oh, right. Okay.”
We brush side by side and then I follow him into the room I was considering redecorating for him. Now I have other plans.
“What’re we doing tomorrow?” he asks me when he lays down and I pull his sheet up and make a ridiculous deal out of tucking it under his chin.
“Going to Aunt Harper’s.”
“In the day,” he says.
