AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Bash
“More! More! More!” He chanted.
I glanced sideways at the little tyrant standing on his chair at the table in our eat-in kitchen. “Manners, Kody.”
He giggled. “Please.”
“I’ll get you some more, but please sit down. No standing on the chair.”
I missed the ugly plastic booster seat he used to sit in. At least then he was buckled in and couldn’t escape, but cleaning that thing was a giant pain in the ass. At three-and-a-half years old, Kody’s baby days were long behind him. Now, he was a master at getting into mischief, making enormous messes in record time, refusing to take naps, and changing his food preferences on the daily.
I pulled the second slice of bread from the toaster, slathered it with peanut butter, and then added a few banana slices on top of it.
When I turned back around, Kody was sitting on top of the kitchen table, his big toe pushing a mushy banana slice around his plate.
I grumbled under my breath. “Kody, I said, sit down.”
He grinned. “I am, Dad.”
“I meant on your chair, you little stinker. We don’t sit on the table.”
I placed his new slice of toast on the table and then scooped him up into my arms. I hugged his wiggling body for a few seconds and then deposited him back into his chair.
Before he could take a bite of his toast, his eyes lit up, and he shrieked, “Jojo!”
Josie came into the kitchen and rumpled his hair. “Good morning, kiddo. I told you I was going to be here in the morning.”
Kody nodded happily and then went to work stuffing the toast into his mouth.
Josie’s eyes swung over to me. “The question is: what are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you home so early.”
Ha! Neither was I.
Josie had come over to babysit last night because I’d had a date with a woman I’d met a few weeks ago. Usually, Kaylie and Sid took Kody overnight when I needed them to, but Kaylie was very pregnant with twins and due any day, so I’d enlisted Josie’s help.
She lowered her voice and looked around. “She’s not here, is she?”
“No!” I replied, a little too defensively. “I came home last night. You were already sleeping.”
“So, did the date go well?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Not as well as I’d hoped it would.”
If I thought Josie would let it go at that, I was sadly mistaken. “It was date number three, though. Did you take the bald-headed gnome for a stroll in the misty forest?”
“Huh?” It was too early in the morning to understand what Josie was going on about. Whatever it was, it was probably a dig at my expense.
Josie wiggled her eyebrows up and down. “You know, the four-legged foxtrot.”
Kody spoke up from the table. “More, please.” He was busy licking his fingers clean.
I glanced at his empty plate. “Jeez, Kody. How much toast can you eat?”
Josie bustled over to the kitchen counter where a large Tupperware container was sitting. “I made your favorite, Kody — banana-chocolate chip muffins. Do you want one?”
He nodded his head vigorously.
