For The Love of Easton (For the Love Of #2) - A.M. Hargrove Page 0,36
and pulled her up on her lap. “Listen, Miss Nosy Britches, you’re right about me being your mommy. But what Mr. Tristian does is his own business.”
Easton’s nose wrinkled. “But what if he wants to get married and you don’t want to?”
She was much further along in her thinking than me.
“Easton, you can’t say those things.” English’s cheeks had blossomed into pink roses of embarrassment.
“But why? I like Mr. Trishan and so do you. What if I want him as my daddy?”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to get married or be a daddy.”
Easton patted both of her mother’s cheeks. “Why wouldn’t he? You’re the prettiest mommy of everyone in my class. And I’m lots of fun.”
This had gotten funnier with each question English tried to answer.
“That has nothing to do with it.”
Easton crossed her arms. “Does too. Mr. Trishan won’t wanna marry someone who ain’t pretty.”
“‘Who’s not pretty,’ not ‘ain’t,’” English corrected.
Then the little mite ignored her mother and leaned over to ask me. “Would you, Mr. Trishan?”
How the hell did I answer that? “Um, Easton, the way someone looks has nothing to do with it.”
“Uh-huh. Boppy tells Mimi how pretty she is all the time. Why would you want to marry someone that’s ugly?”
“Easton Bridges, that is not nice. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
“What’s a buholder?”
English groaned, so I offered the answer. “What your mom means is that each person has his or her own standard of beauty, so I may think someone is pretty while someone else may not.”
“But you think Mommy is pretty, don’t you?”
No use denying that. “I think your mother is very pretty.”
“Then that means you wanna marry her, right? So I can be a flower girl and wear a pink princess dress.”
English grumbled and rubbed her temples. “Easton, it’s like this. You love Boppy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“But you wouldn’t want to marry him, would you?”
Bubbly giggles flowed out of the pint-sized human. “Noooo! Mimi wouldn’t let me. He’s already married.” Then her little mouth contorted into a strange expression. “What does it mean?”
“What does what mean?”
“Married?”
English answered, “It’s complicated, but when people get older they do it so they can live together and have children.”
Easton clapped her hands. “Yay! I want to have a sister! But not any brothers! Boys are icky.”
This was not going well at all. My tongue poked the inside of my cheek, while English’s face got even redder than it had been. Then she declared, “It’s time to change the subject.”
Easton seemed happy with that, but English nearly fell off the couch when she asked, “Mommy, does Mr. Trishan have a weenus?” She accentuated the ‘wee’ part.
English sputtered for a solid thirty seconds, then stood, holding Easton, and disappeared into the kitchen, mumbling something about a snack.
I gave them a few minutes of private time before I joined them. “May I have one of those?”
Easton grinned with her mouth full of cookies. “Yeah, but you gotta sit here. Remember?”
“Easton Bridges, no talking with your mouth full.”
“Oops.” Her hand covered her mouth.
English handed me a cookie. “May I please have some milk?” I asked.
Her brows rose a tad, but she filled a glass and handed it to me.
Easton’s eyes burned holes into me, specifically below the waist, so I turned to her. “What’s up?”
“Mommy said you have a weenus and I have a wagina.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep. Boys have those. Weenuses. Will you show me yours? Cuz I never saw one before.”
English’s jaw hit the floor. “Easton! That is not nice and remember what I told you.”
“You mean never ever show my pirate parts?”
“Yes, that’s right. And if you are never to show yours, what does that mean?”
“Mr. Trishan can’t show his either.” She bit off another piece of cookie as if it didn’t faze her a bit. I’d had no idea kids asked these things. Then the best part came when she added, “Boys don’t have boobies either. Isn’t that right, Mommy?”
“I give up.” English’s hands went up in the air in surrender as I laughed. One bonus was—this kid was definitely entertaining as hell.
“Hey, Tristian, did you hear what I said?” My brother’s voice brought me out of the past and back to the present.
“Uh, sorry. Can you repeat it?”
“Where the hell were you? You had a dazed expression on your face. Almost like you got hit with several hundred volts.”
Interesting. It was close to how I felt. “Yeah, I sort of wandered off. I’m back now. So how is Landry coming along?”