“Is your girlfriend here?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Did your mom tell you to ask me that?”
“No. Grandma.”
Levi sighed.
She giggled. “Where is she hiding?”
He had no problem bending the truth for his nosy mom and sister, but he wouldn’t lie to Peyton. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Okay, let’s talk about my tea party. It’s soon. You’re coming.” She had a purse around her neck, one of Tess’s, and from it she pulled a small notebook and pencil. She opened it and made some scribbles and quickly closed it back up.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“It’s my secret diarrhea.”
He bit his lower lip so as not to laugh. Maybe one day he’d correct her, but today wouldn’t be that day. “What do you write in there?”
“Important notes. Mommy writes important notes in her diarrhea to save and show Daddy so she can kick his ask if he comes to visit.” She lowered her voice. “Don’t tell her I said ask, okay? Ask is a bad word.”
Levi mimed zipping his lips closed.
“Do you think my daddy’s coming soon?”
“I don’t know, baby.” But he’d gladly help Tess kick the guy’s “ask” for leaving two of his favorite females hurting. He sat up and realized that his dad sat only a few feet away, behind his desk, head bent to an awkward level so he could peer over the top of his glasses instead of actually using said glasses. He was muttering about “bullshit, crap internet reception” as he pecked with his index fingers on his computer’s keyboard.
Paying none of them any mind at all—not the dog, the man, or the little girl. Just as well. Peyton was back to jumping up and down, and shit, she was making him dizzy as hell.
“Can we have a tea party?” She put her face back close to his. “Can we? Can we? Can we?”
“I might need a nap first.”
“But! But! But!” Peyton liked to repeat herself. At high decibels. “I’m ready now!”
“Peyton!” Tess yelled from somewhere down the hallway, also at high decibels. The apple never fell far from the tree . . . “Don’t wake up Uncle Levi!”
“He’s already awake! Jasper did it!” Peyton squatted down and carefully picked up her bowl of . . . yep, Froot Loops. Sans milk because everyone was tired of slipping or sitting in spills that never got reported. “I brought you breakfast,” she said, the bowl balanced precariously in her little hands.
Levi leaned in to take a Froot Loop, but she held up her wand. “Any color but red,” she said very seriously. “The red ones are my favorite.”
“How about the yellow?”
“Those are my next favorite.”
“Green?”
“You can haz green,” she decided.
“Thanks.” He popped one in his mouth and she grinned at him, a sweet guileless toothless grin that tugged at his heart. He playfully pulled on a strand of her hair. “You know they all taste the same, right? They’re not individually flavored.”
She blinked, this new intel sinking in. “The reds are the prettiest.”
“Understood.”
She did the Energizer Bunny imitation again. “Get up, get up, get up!”
“Okay, okay.” He started to sit up before remembering he’d stripped down to just boxers last night. “Uh, why don’t you get the tea party all set up and I’ll come meet you after I shower.”