Max and his sweet ten-year-old daughter Ceecee are sneaking around in the kitchen when I walk in. They look up at me. I see they wear matching guilty expressions and I narrow my eyes at them both. I whisper, “Were you stealing cupcakes?”
Ceecee has such a sweet disposition. She has auburn shoulder length hair and amber colored eyes. When she was just a baby, she was involved in an accident. Max’s ex-girlfriend had gone through postpartum depression, and just as she was recovering, she made a small mistake that changed their lives forever. Maddie put Ceecee up on the counter and turned to get something out of the fridge. Ceecee fell backwards and hit a stool on the way down. Her tiny body was twisted in such a way that she was left a paraplegic.
From looking at them, you’d never know the struggles they’ve been through and, secretly, Max is my hero. He’s the type of dad that gets Father of the Year every year. A total catch for any woman.
Max looks down at Ceecee wide eyed and they both answer, “No. ” Oh, I might’ve believed them before I saw both their mouths stuffed full of chocolate cake. I whisper hiss, “You guys are in so much trouble!”
Ceecee covers her mouth and giggles and I smile. She is so damn sweet. I just want to eat her. I pass Tatiana over to her uncle Max, grab a cupcake and tell Ceecee, “Let an old pro show you how it’s done, honey. ”
I carefully peel the wrapper off, bounce up and down like a boxer while craning my neck side to side. Max bursts into laughter and I narrow my eyes at him before turning to face a wide-eyed Ceecee. Max counts me down. “Three. Two. One. Go. ”
And I shove the entire cupcake into my mouth. Ceecee covers her mouth in astonishment and giggles loudly. Max laughs hysterically while bouncing Tatiana on his hip. I chew and chew and freakin’ chew for a good minute. I swallow the cake and take a big bow.
“Wow. That was awesome,” Ceecee whispers.
Max smirks. “That’s impressive. ” H
e hands over Tatiana and whispers in my ear, “Makes me wonder what else you could fit in that mouth. ”
I slap his shoulder and mouth behave, then take Tatiana and her rice pudding over to her high chair and sit at the dining table. Nik and Meems come out from the hallway. As soon as Nik sees his daughter, his eyes soften and he melts a little. He comes over to where I’m feeding her and kisses her cheeks saying, “Who’s daddy’s girl? Huh? Are you daddy’s girl?”
Tatiana looks up at her daddy with her dark hair and amber eyes and smiles a wide gummy smile. I can’t help but laugh at her. It must be nice being a baby. No worries at all. I hate mushy mush, but when it comes to children, I go gaga too. I turn my smiling face up to him. “You did good, Niki. She’s perfect. ”
Leaning down, Nik kisses my forehead and says, “Thanks, babe. Love ya. ” And then he leaves me to feed his golden-eyed daughter.
Suddenly, the front door opens and I hear arguing coming from the hall.
“I just want to know where you go! Why is that so much to ask if you’re not cheating on me?” That’s Lola.
Trick responds, “Baby, I don’t have time to cheat on you even if I wanted to!” And I cringe.
Wrong answer, Trick.
Lola raises her voice in disbelief. “I don’t believe you! I don’t know how much more of this I can take, Diego. ”
Using Trick’s real name shows just how pissed she is. Storming down the hall over to where Mimi, Nik and Max stand wearing equally stunned expressions, Lola’s wide brown eyes water as she asks loudly, “Where does he go at night?” Her voice cracks and I know she’s going to lose it.
Tina comes forward wearing a sympathetic expression and says to Lola, “C’mon, honey. Let’s go. ” She and Mimi lead her down the hall to her bedroom, but not before Mimi openly glares toward the front door.
Just as I hear the bedroom door shut, Trick emerges from the hall looking unkempt and tired. At least he shaved today. I turn back to Tatiana. Feeding her, I tell him quietly, “I don’t know what’s going on with you, Trick, but family doesn’t keep things from each other. You got something to say, just say it. We need you as much as you need us, and I don’t like that you’re pulling away from Lola. ”
Max and Nik don’t say a thing, but I see Max nodding his agreement in my peripheral vision. Without a word, Trick walks over to me and kisses my cheek. He takes the spoon from my fingers and nudges me to get up. I get up and leave him to feed Tatiana. At least she can get a smile out of him these days.
Walking over to Nik and Max, I ask them, “So, what’s for dinner?”
Nik says, “Chinese” at the same time Max says, “Pizza. ”
They both turn to each other. My eyes widen and I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing.
It’s a stare off.
“We can’t have pizza every second night, Max!” Nik snaps.
Max nods and says, “Yeah we can, Dik. That’s the beauty of pizza. So many different toppings, it’s like you’re eating a different meal every time!”
“It’s not good for Ceecee. ” Nik retorts.
Max narrows his eyes and puffs out a breath, his face wearing an Oh please, is that the best you got expression. He yells out, “Ceecee, baby. You want pizza?”