“Uh, that’s Bollywood, princess,” I muttered, still doing my best not to laugh. Naomi looked like she was close to a meltdown, and I didn’t want to be the catalyst that shot her over the edge.
“That’s the one. You do the dancing, too?”
She looked so excited it almost killed me to tell her the truth. “No, but I’ve seen some of the movies late at night when I couldn’t sleep.”
One of the females looked at me like I’d just hung the moon, the other looked at me like I was nuts. Guess which one was which.
“You’ve watched Bollywood movies?” Naomi asked slowly, just as Shanti squealed and jumped up and down.
“Yay, we can learn the dancing together!”
Naomi’s eyes widened, and then she got a mischievous look on her face that eclipsed the ‘are you tonto’ one. “Oh, now I reckon Carter would love that, wouldn’t you, dancing king?”
Narrowing my eyes on her, I ground out, “I’m happy to watch, but I suck at dancing, so that’s all I’ll be doing, Blow Pop.”
“Oh, I want a cool name. Name me, name me.” Shanti was bouncing around with her hand in the air, reminding both of us that we weren’t alone.
The change in our relationship had been like a switch being flicked from off to on, and the tension building between us was almost electric. It felt like foreplay, building to explosive proportions with each word now, and we needed to remember we had a kid involved, so we’d have to tame it… a bit like Naomi’s hair.
“What about cupcake?” I suggested, squatting down, and lifting Shanti’s wrist so I could pull two hair ties off it. I know Naomi had only asked for one, but I was pretty sure it’d take more than that to tie her hair up.
Shanti’s nose wrinkled. “I hate that. Cupcakes are the best, but I don’t want to be called that.”
“Jolly Rancher?” I suggested, passing the two bands to Naomi.
“Nah.” The little girl’s shoulders slumped forward, almost breaking my heart. She wanted a name badly, and I was determined to give it to her.
“Donut?” When she shook her head, I went back to trawling through names of candy and fun stuff.
“What about Troll?” Shanti suddenly suggested, looking excited.
“Negative,” Naomi cut in, having finished tying her hair up—with both ties.
“Nerds? Runts? Hubba Bubba?” I tried, then an idea hit me. “Hubba Bubba Baby.”
“Oh,” Shanti breathed, her eyes wide. “I love that. I’m a Hubba Bubba Baby.”
“Right on, Hubba Bubba Baby.” I held my hand out for a fist pump, making a popping noise like a bubble bursting when she tapped her little hand against it. “Okay, kiddo, I just came over to uh…” Fuck, what did I say?
“To check we were okay,” Naomi cut in. “I told Carter we’re heading to dance practice for you and the store for me, so he’s going to stay here and look after the house for us.”
Little brown eyes cut to mine. “You can’t come and see me dance?”
I would have been able to say no if it hadn’t been for the trembling lower lip she added to it.
Shit, Mark would never be able to carry that tank in by himself, and I didn’t trust him to pick out the right fish, either. He’d likely get some sort of weird freaky thing that wasn’t compatible with a standard fish tank or a shark.
“I want to, Hubba Bubba, but I’ve got some work I need to do.”
“Carter can come next time,” Naomi suggested.
“Absolutely. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Flashing me a sweet smile, Shanti made a farting noise with her mouth. “Okay, you stay and do your stinking work. I’m gonna go and shake my baby maker.”
Oh. What. The. Fuck?
“Um, have you ever said that before?” Naomi asked, sounding as horrified as I felt.
“No, I heard Aunt Jacinda say it when she was going to slide down someone’s pole.”
The words sounded worse when they were said by a little squeaky voice that belonged to a kid who looked like an angel.
“So, starting with you ‘shaking your baby maker,’” Naomi said, visibly shuddering. “We don’t say that because it’s rude and more for adults than kids, but adults wouldn’t just say it out loud, either.”
I was getting confused with what she meant, so it didn’t surprise me when Shanti just stared at her.
“What I mean is, we wouldn’t just say it to people. Something like that would only be said jokingly to friends.”
“Oh. Aunt Jacinda said it to Aunt Heidi, but she whispered it. Maybe that’s why?”
“We don’t listen in on other people’s conversations, Shanti. You know that,” Naomi admonished. “And this is a good example of why. Now, are you ever going to say that again?”
Proving she was an intelligent kid, Shanti shook her head, but then she stopped and shrugged. “Well, yeah. I’ll say it to my friends, but I’ll whisper it.”