Treat Me (One Night with Sole Regret 8)

“You know,” Jacob said quietly to Amanda. “I don’t give a shit if Tina knows we’re together. She’s going to have to come to terms with it eventually.”

“I know,” Amanda said, deciding eventually would be best a few years into the future. “I think we should break the idea to her very gradually. It’s enough that she knows I saw you today.”

“At random,” Jacob said flatly.

“Exactly.”

“Okay, Mommy. I love you!” Julie shoved her phone into Amanda’s hand and skipped ahead to peer at another capuchin monkey through the wires.

“What have you done?” Tina said accusingly.

Amanda’s stomach dropped. “Um, we just— I thought— He invited—”

“Now she wants a goddamned monkey,” Tina interrupted Amanda’s disjointed stammering. “A monkey. You’d better get that idea out of her head before you send her home. Jacob will go out and buy her one. You know how stupid he is. I had to put her fucking birthday present in a lockbox at the bank.”

Amanda’s spine straightened, and her jaw hardened. “He’s not . . .” She glanced around to make sure he wouldn’t overhear. He had lifted Julie into his arms so she could see into an exhibit and wasn’t paying Amanda any mind. “. . . stupid,” she whispered harshly into her phone.

Tina snorted. “He has a brick for a brain, that one. He’s lucky he’s attractive.”

Jacob had so much more going for him than his looks. Even more than the vocal talent that had made him successful and rich. Yes, even more than his exceptional skills in the bedroom. As far as Amanda was concerned, Jacob’s best trait was his big ol’ heart, and Tina was the stupid one for discarding it.

“I’ve got to go,” Amanda said. She didn’t think she’d be able to stay civil with Tina for another second. She didn’t care if Tina was her sister.

“Rain check?”

“Yeah, fine,” she said, although at that moment she doubted she’d ever want to go to lunch with her again. “Bye.”

She hung up immediately, so she didn’t know if Tina had anything else to say. And frankly she didn’t care. How dare she turn Julie’s joy into an excuse to belittle Jacob?

“Look, Aunt Mander,” Julie said, pointing to the cage. “This monkey looks like Jojo, but he has blond hair like me.”

Amanda took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face. “He does look like you.”

“Wanna know how I know he’s a boy?” Julie asked slyly.

The monkey was naked and letting everything hang out, so it was obvious that he was a male. “Uh . . .” Amanda bit her lip and glanced at Jacob, who was laughing silently, his lips pursed, face reddening by the second.

“’Cause he has big eyebrows,” Julie said. The monkey did have wild, bushy eyebrows going on. “Girls have to pluck theirs.”

“Oh,” Amanda said, deciding it was best to leave the boy-versus-girl anatomy discussion for a later time and a more private location.

“And he has a penis,” Julie added knowledgably.

Jacob snorted and then burst out laughing. Julie leaned back in his arms and gaped at him.

“Is a penis funny?” she asked.

“Nope,” Jacob said, blinking back tears and touching the back of his hand to each eye in turn. “I was just laughing at these crazy monkeys.”

Those crazy monkeys were currently sitting quite docilely in their enclosures.

“You’re a boy,” Julie said. “So you have a penis. But me and Aunt Mander are girls, so we don’t have one.”

“You are correct,” Jacob said, “but we don’t talk about private parts while we’re out in public.”

“Penis is a secret?” Julie asked, glancing around for eavesdroppers.

“Not a secret,” Jacob said, obviously struggling to find the right explanation.

“It’s a bad word?”

“No, we just don’t talk about certain things in public,” Jacob said. “If you want to talk about private parts, you can ask me or Aunt Mander about them when there aren’t any strangers around. They might get offended.”

“What’s offended mean?”

Jacob paused for a moment as he thought up a child-friendly definition. Amanda didn’t interfere. She didn’t want to come to his rescue.

“It means—sort of—that they don’t like what you’re saying, so they don’t want to hear it.”

“But penis is just a fact of life,” Julie said.

Amanda pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t laugh. Jacob was holding it together quite well now.

“You’re right,” Jacob said with a shrug. “I just didn’t want you to get into trouble for talking about something that many people think is inappropriate.”

Julie squished his face between her palms. “I don’t want to get into trouble. I hate time out. I’ll just talk about penis to you later.”

“Good.” Jacob’s smile was a bit false—he probably didn’t want to talk about penis to his four-year-old daughter ever—but he gave her a tight squeeze and set her on her feet.

“Are you ready for lunch?” Amanda asked. “Your dad made all sorts of good things to eat and packed them in your bag.”

Jacob rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, actually Tammy knew I had Julie this weekend, so she stocked the fridge with sandwiches and stuff. I just tossed them in the bag.”

“You did good,” Amanda said and patted his arm. Her pat turned into a light touch and then a caress. And then she was leaning in closer, longing for him to wrap her in his arms and kiss her.

“I want to see more animals,” Julie said.

Amanda took a step back from Jacob so she didn’t try to jump his bones in front of his impressionable daughter.

“You’ve already seen them all,” Amanda said. “This place isn’t very big.”

“So we can go to that other zoo now? The one with the lephalants.”

Amanda glanced at Jacob, who shrugged and nodded. “It’s only about an hour and a half drive. We’ll eat lunch on the way.”

They made a pit stop at the bathroom. Amanda froze when Jacob leaned in to brush a kiss across her cheek. “Take good care of my girl,” he said.

If Julie had noticed his affectionate peck, she didn’t mention it.

After they used the toilet—Julie insisted she didn’t need help because she was a big girl—Amanda made sure she washed her hands.

“Get all the monkey stink off,” Amanda said. Julie sniffed her wet hands, made a face, and washed them again with double the soap.

Jacob was waiting for them outside the bathroom when they came out. He placed a hand on the small of Amanda’s back as they walked down the ramp, with Julie skipping ahead. All the sudden touchy-feely he had going on worried Amanda. It wasn’t that she didn’t like it—she wished they could show their growing affection for each other openly. But she didn’t want anyone to get hurt. She didn’t much care how Tina would feel anymore, but she did care if Jacob and Julie suffered.

They had to exit through the gift shop, so their trip to San Antonio was further delayed. Jacob picked up a new set of sunglasses; a small capuchin monkey now had possession of his old pair. And Julie thought she needed an entire collection of stuffed animals.

“You can pick one,” Jacob said.

“But I need them all,” Julie insisted.

“Only one.” He wrapped one of her curls around his finger. “Choose wisely.”