Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Never would have pegged you for the chick flick kind of guy.” Zelda sighed and shook her head. “I really thought we’d get at least a groan out of him.”
“What about slasher films?” Kira tilted her head to the side studying Tiny. “Yeah. I think maybe we need to watch a horror movie next.”
Tiny’s eyes got wide and he shook his head slightly. “Um, aren’t the two of you a little young for horror movies?”
Zelda rolled her eyes. “We’re twelve. Not two.”
Right.
At the end of the film, both girls were up on the couch with us. OK, so they were on the couch, one on each side of Tiny, squealing at the scary parts and burying their faces in the vicinity of his armpit. Every time they squealed, he laughed. Christ, that deep chuckle warmed my heart. I had my arm around Kira, and she alternated between me and Tiny for comfort. It was a magical moment.
“Maybe we should call it a night.” Tiny reached for the remote, but both girls let out outraged protests, Zelda snatching the remote and shoving it in the couch cushion.
“Touch the TV, you’ll find blue food coloring in your body wash.” Zelda snarled her remark but didn’t take her focus off the television. When the creepy killer struck, they both screamed. Popcorn and M&Ms went flying. Tiny pulled both girls close and chuckled through the blood and gore. Both girls turned away, though Zelda turned her head to the side so she had one eye on the screen.
When my laughter joined Tiny’s, Kira turned to me and hid her face against my shoulder, hanging on to my arm for dear life. “I really thought you two were past the stage where you’d have nightmares from scary movies, but I’m beginning to wonder.”
“Mom,” Zelda said, poking her head up again. “The threat of nightmares is half the fun.”
“Yeah?” I raised my eyebrows at her. “What’s the other half of the fun?”
She smirked. “Waking you and Tiny up at zero-dark-thirty when we have those nightmares.”
Beside me, with her face mashed into my side, Kira giggled. It struck me how sickeningly sweet all this was. And I loved every fucking second of it. This was the family I should have had. It was the family I wanted. A protective man who was willing and able to keep us safe instead of being the one to cause the harm.
I felt myself grinning at Zelda, laughter threatened to bubble up from deep inside me, but I held back. Not because I didn’t want to show my humor, but because the image that popped in my mind was… not something I wanted to try to explain to my daughters since my face felt hot. And, yeah, I fully admit that Zelda had likely said what she had on purpose. I probably glowed like a firefly’s ass. “That’s it. Time for bed.”
The girls grumbled and groaned, but ultimately left giggling, both of them going to Kira’s bedroom. Then Kira opened the door, poked out her head, and addressed Tiny. “You’re not gonna leave. Right?”
“I’ll be right across the hall. Moved all my stuff there this afternoon.” Tiny gave her a reassuring smile as he stood as if to leave.
There was a flurry of whispers and lowered voices as the girls conversed. It quickly became obvious they were arguing about something. The whispered conversation continued, escalating. I thought I heard slapping and a thump or two before everything suddenly stopped. I glanced at Tiny who shrugged slightly, shaking his head, a puzzled look on his face.
Kira stepped outside her room once again, glancing back at her sister before giving Tiny a pleading gesture. “Will you stay here tonight?” She glanced back inside the room but didn’t move.
“Uh.” Tiny glanced at me, a puzzled look on his face. “I mean, yeah. If you think I need to. Couch is pretty comfortable.”
There was more whispering, this time mostly on Zelda’s part. Kira looked back and forth from us to Zelda before finally twisting her fingers together tightly, something she did when she was nervous.
“Well, um…” She glanced back at Zelda. Again.
“Spit it out, honey.” I had to fight the smile. Last thing I wanted to do was to make Kira think I was making fun of her, but I knew in my heart whatever was about to come out of her mouth was, A) a lie, B) had been Zelda’s idea, and C) Kira knew she was about to say something Zelda thought we’d buy more coming from Kira rather than her. And Kira was nervous about it.
Finally, Kira sighed and shook her head sadly. “I’m really sorry, Mom.” She took a breath, then looked at Tiny. Her expression was so earnest and concerned I was starting to get worried. “Tiny, Mom has this thing about scary movies. She’ll be terrified if she stays by herself. Do you think that, maybe you wouldn’t mind sleeping in her room? With her? You know. In case she wakes up screaming in terror. The screams can sometimes be blood-chilling…” Her voice broke on the last word as if she were driven to tears by the whole thing. The child actually covered her mouth with the back of her hand like she was some delicate feminine flower faced with unspeakable horror.