"Ba. China." She says again, scribbling back and forth on the paper in front of her. I finish my trek down the stairs and drop a kiss on top of her head.
"Whatcha colorin', sweets?" I ask, wrangling her curls into a ponytail on top of her head and securing it with a band. Crawford James, professional hair-doer. I pause, taking in my work. Not bad.
"A picture for you to hang on da fridge. Daddy, what's a bachina?" She asks, reaching for her juice box and slurping it down. My face twists in confusion.
"Uh, I'm not really sure. Can you use it in a sentence?" I snag one of her grapes from her bowl and pop it in my mouth. She plops her juice box back on the table.
"My friend Josh at school said girls have bachinas and boys have penises, but I told him that can't be right, because I don't even know what a bachina is!" She ends her sentence on a huff and I choke on the grape that's in my mouth.
"Jesus Christ," I cough out, surprised as shit at the words that just left her mouth. What the fuck are they teaching in Kindergarten? Dislodging the grape from my throat I scrub a hand down my face. "Aria. Don't say penis." I say, shaking my head and laughing a little.
"But why? It's not a bad word. Zane has a penis. You have a penis. Daddy, why don't I have a penis?" She pouts. For fuck sakes. I crouch down.
"Baby, please," I choke out, "for the love of god. Stop saying penis. Only boys have those. Girls have vaginas. I think that's probably what your friend was trying to tell you. Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina." I need a beer. Now. I stand up and walk towards the kitchen.
"Well why didn't Josh just say vagina? Yeesh. I know what that is." She goes back to coloring. I open the fridge, shaking my head, and reach for a Corona. Popping the top, I slice a lime up quick and put it in the bottle. I take a swig and drop it back on the counter. I hear a tap on the sliding glass door and look up to see Lex standing there shyly. She wiggles her fingers in a wave and I crook my finger at her, telling her to come in.
She slides the patio door open and closes it behind her.
"Hi," she breathes, her cheeks turning pink and I know she's thinking about what we did last night. I sure as fuck am. Haven't stopped thinking about it since she pranced her sweet ass back over to her side of the fence this morning. "I hope it's okay that I'm here," she says, cutting her eyes to Aria at the table and hefting herself up onto the bar stool at the island.
I smirk at her, leaning over the counter, and press a kiss to her lips after making sure Aria isn't paying attention. "Don't apologize. You're always welcome."
"Hi, Mizz Carter, daddy and I were just talking about vaginas," Aria shouts from the table. And I die. Right there on the spot. Lex shoots me a questioning look and arches an eyebrow.
"Vaginas?" She questions quietly so only I can hear her. "Do I even want to know?" She laughs, reaching over and snagging my beer before taking a drink. Her tongue sneaks out, catching a drop that snuck free. My eyes narrow and she laughs.
"You better watch it," I say, leaning in and dropping my voice low enough so only she can hear, "or I'll drag your sweet ass back to the laundry room, sit you on the dryer, turn it on high, and eat your pussy until you're screaming."
At my statement, her jaw drops open and she bites her lip. I reach out with my finger and free it from between her teeth. Her breath hitches. I’m just about to lean in and steal a kiss when the front door opens, and I hear Zane and mom.
I step back and put some space between me and Lex just as they round the hallway into the kitchen. "Hey bud," I say, giving him a chin lift. "How was the sleepover?"
Zane returns my chin lift and says his hellos to Lex before swinging open the fridge door and grabbing a water. "It was good. We stayed up all night playing Fortnite."
"Cool. Did you tell your gramma thanks for picking you up?" I ask, knowing he already did, because he may be a little shit, but I taught him manners.
"Oh Ford, of course he did." Ma answers, entering the kitchen and dropping a kiss on Lex's cheek before doing the same to mine. I take the casserole dish that she's carrying and sit it on the stove.
Zane mumbles his thanks and heads back down the hallway. It isn't long before I hear two sets of footsteps on the stairs and Aria hollering for him to wait up. Ma sits on the stool next to Lex after pouring herself a glass of sweet tea.
"I am plum tuckered out," she exclaims. Her phone dings in her bag and she focuses her attention on rifling through it to find it. I roll my eyes and Lex stifles a laugh. "What are you kids up to, today?" Ma asks, still fumbling with her phone, unlocking the screen.
"Well Nina, I just popped by to see if Ford wanted to take the kids to the pumpkin patch with me," she says, stating her reason for showing up unannounced.
"Oh well that sounds fun! I'd tag along but Steve is picking me up at 7," ma says nonchalantly.
"Ooh, Steve?" Alexis questions, propping her chin in her hand and resting her elbow on the counter. "Who is Steve?" My vision starts to get blurry. Who the fuck is Steve?
Ma waves her hand in the air dismissively. “Just this guy I’m seeing,” she says, tapping out a text on her. I make a sound somewhere between a choke and a growl.
“Guy? What guy?” I ground out. She finally meets my eyes, having the decency to look embarrassed.
“Oh, now Crawford. Don’t be like that. I may be old but I ain’t dead yet,” she huffs out. “I loved your daddy for a good long time. I will always love that man, God rest his soul. But Steve is nice. And handsome. And he tells me I’m pretty and buys me flowers. Can you please let me have that?” She gives me a watery smile and I instantly feel like an asshole. Dad has been gone for a long time.
I round the island and step up behind her, wrapping my arms loosely around her shoulder and dropping a kiss on top of her head.
“I know ma. I’m sorry,” I sigh, “You do deserve to be happy. Can ya just make sure Steve knows Zander is Special Forces and knows a million ways to dispose of a body?"