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“Mo—om, gross.” Max wiped his cheek dramatically.
Jeff rolled. “Gross?” He kneeled up and tickled Max in the side. “What’s gross about your mom’s kisses? She gives great kisses.”
“That’s true. I do,” Kia declared.
“Sto…stop,” he gasped, squirming against the mattress to get away from Jeff’s tickles. “I’ll pee.”
Jeff increased the tickling. “Gross, don’t pee on the bed.”
Max squealed and squirmed further. His legs kicked as he tried to free himself. “Mom, help,” he giggled.
“Help?” She crawled to her knees. “Why would I help you? You said my kisses were gross?” She held her hands up like claws and laughed maniacally.
Max squealed louder. “I take it back.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“I take it back,” he yelled. He sucked in a breath and snorted, which made him giggle harder.
Geez, at this rate he really would pee. She held up her hand. “Alright minion,” she said to Jeff. “Halt.”
Jeff flicked an amused glance at her and held up his palms. “Minion?” he mouthed.
Kia shrugged and turned to Max. “Say I give the best kisses, or I’ll order your dad to start tickling again.”
Max giggled. “You give the best kisses, Mom.”
“Thank you.” Satisfied, she flopped back on the mattress. She looked at Jeff and nodded. “You may resume reading.”
He snorted. “Gee thanks.”
Max giggled again.
Together, they read three chapters in the short book before Jeff finally closed the book and set it on the bedside table. “We’ll pick it up next time.”
“When’s that?” Max asked.
Jeff eyed her. Unable to give him any clue, she said nothing.
“I don’t know Max. I have games all weekend, then I head out-of-town Monday for an away game on Tuesday, so it might be a couple days before I get back.”
Max stuck out his bottom lip. “That’s dumb,” he mumbled.
“Language,” Kia warned.
“Maybe we can FaceTime while I’m away,” Jeff said. “You liked when we did that before.”
Max eyed Kia. “Can we?” he asked hopefully.
Shit. She had done a crappy job with things recently. She’d let her hurt feelings and fear get in the way of what Max wanted. “Of course.” See, she could do this. She could be normal with Jeff for Max’s benefit. And if she felt a little nauseous, well, sometimes that was just the price of admission. For Max she’d deal.
She plopped a kiss on Max’s head and pulled him in close for a tight squeeze. “I love you. Sweet dreams.”
“Night, Mom.” Max’s little arms wrapped around her tightly and she closed her eyes to absorb the feeling. It wouldn’t be too long before he didn’t want to hug her goodnight. She was not looking forward to that at all.
Jeff gave Max a hug and kissed the top of his head. “Night buddy, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Promise?”
