Ye’re Queen Hen, my Chevy is hen one, and my Audi is hen two.”
“Spoiled brat.” I push at his chiseled chest, though addicted to the zany man between my thighs. “Hey, I’ll need to drive my namesake this week. The body shop is finally fixing my car. Don’t you have a coworker that can get the Audi out of the lot?”
“Nae.”
“Sheesh. What have I told you about associates at work? I bet none of them were as insufferable as Justice when she started on the job. She gave life to the mad black woman stereotype before people even knew why she was angry.”
“I dinna need any friends, Chevelle.”
“Um-Hmmm. I bet all you tech types have your nose glued to a computer screen. Ask your Silicon Valley roomy.”
“Nae.”
“I’m sure if you rub cocoa butter onto one of Ms. Mable’s tits—”
He’s up on his feet in seconds. “Ugh, Chevelle, boke! What kind of nugget d’ye take me for, touching her auld tits? I’m supposed to be the funny one. Ye’re cruel, lass.”
“Interest Ms. Mable in picking up your ride for a month’s supply of cat food. Surely that’s cheaper than leaving hen two in the short-term parking until Monday.”
“I’ll—Och, Mia!”
Our prankster daughter darts into the living room. There is a smudge of chocolate across her lips.
“Where’d you get that candy?” I ask, climbing to my feet.
She giggles about Camdyn giving it to her before he took off.
“See what I deal with when you’re gone?” I retort as we watch her zip around the open area, darting around furniture.
Leith nudges his chin to me. “Ye take left. I’ve right.”
“You’re headed to the tub right now, Mia!” I call after her.
Our daughter chuckles. Her curly hair jostles in the air as she slips beneath a glass table, sliding on the marble floor. My heart lurches into my throat as she jumps up. She has the MacKenzie invincibility complex. I cringe as Leith jumps over the same table a nanosecond later.
“You’re gonna kill her,” I mumble, seeing how Mia, giggling, is oblivious to any danger. Two crazy Scots run around the house. One caramel-hued with chocolate paw prints getting everywhere, the other issuing threats in Gaelic that only they can understand.
Mia zooms by. Her footsie socks garner traction. Or perhaps her Guardian angels are giving her a lift and preventing a bruised bottom every time she turns and zips past her father.
Finally, I gasp, arms raised. “Leith, you’re not even making an attempt! FYI, you’re just as incorrigible.”
He winks from across the room, setting up our child to run straight to me. At the last second, I embrace Mia, lifting her high.
“Nooo!” she screeches. “The goblin’s got me!”
“Goblin, my ass! Child, this is a team effort.” I plant a kiss on her forehead. “Mommy and Daddy married just so we could . . .”
Dry air creeps into my throat. All perception terminates. An image of my parents chasing after me deafens my daughter’s cheerful giggles. Damn, this was why I never brought them up in the past. If my memories were a sequence of cardboard boxes, all of theirs should’ve gone to the crematory.
Unaware, Leith hooks an arm around a wiggling Mia. He grips my cheek with the other hand and kisses my puckered lips.
“My ace,” he calls me as our daughter postures vomiting induced by our actions.
“Kissing, yuck!” she exclaims.
“Chocolate all over your hair and mouth, Mia, yuck!” I groan, following them to her en suite bathroom.
“Play Disney music now!” Mia orders the smart system.
“Lower,” I call out. “Kid, just because it’s computerized doesn’t give you the right to exercise such a bossy tone.”
“Aw, Mommy!”
Wagging a finger, I reprimand, “Don’t make it a habit. Got that?”
Leith places our daughter into the center of her huge bathtub, then glances down at the smeared chocolate on his shirt. Tufts of dark blond hair stick straight up on the top of his head as he removes his shirt.
“Hen, I’m gonna go sweet talk Mrs. Mable about getting my car out the lot.” Before he leaves, my husband says, “Scrub the tiny hag—”
“Leith, I just asked our daughter to change her tone. You’re using words that—”
“That about sums it up.” He grabs my face, grazing his lips across mine. “Get bonny for me. And then I’ll take the two of ye to dinner.”
He’s out the door, and Mia returns to her giggling while climbing over the empty ledge. Chocolate smears along the white porcelain. Determined to clean it later, I turn the knobs until warm water is pooling