“Tricky or smart?” I asked him, taking off my vest and shirt.
“Both,” he grumbled. “But it’s okay, Nari is going to be on my team next time.”
“What? You are ditching Mommy?”
He shrugged. “Boys gotta do what boys gotta do.”
“Sedric.” I didn’t even know what to say; I just put my hand on his head, walking with him to the sauna. I adjusted the temperature before we both walked in. We grabbed towels and hopped onto the seats, laying back. I had bought the paintball center when he started walking as a place for him to train but also have fun. It was open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, so most Mondays and Tuesdays, we were all there.
He was so used to it here, he even knew when to add water to the rocks without me saying anything. He just lay back and relaxed. Was he spoiled? A little bit. But I was glad; life would get harder, at least he was still innocent now.
“Is something on my face?” He frowned, wiping his nose.
“Yeah.”
“Really?” This time, he rubbed all over his face. “Now?”
“Even worse.”
“Daddy!” he hollered as I laughed, crossing his arms again as he lied back down. “Why don’t you make fun of Nari?”
“Because Nari is good at comebacks.” She really was a fast thinker just like her mother, but she was shy. Mina wasn’t shy, she just preferred to only speak when she had something important to say. Other than that, she wore her emotions on her face.
“I’m not good at comebacks,” he replied. “All the girls are. Helen is the best, she even got Nari.”
“Nari and Helen were fighting?” Nari didn’t fight with anyone.
“Yeah. Nari thinks Kevin from Plane Owl is the cutest and Helen thinks Ian is…they all look weird to me.” He yawned.
Wait. “Nari likes a boy?”
“Duh, Dad.” He frowned. She was kind of young for boys, right?
“Do you like anyone?”
“Yes, me,” he said seriously.
Grabbing a small hand towel, I threw it at him. “You are just like your uncle sometimes.”
“Uncle Declan or Uncle Liam?”
“Both.”
He grinned, “I want to be cool like Uncle Declan, be the best at video games like Uncle Liam, and as strong as you. Won’t that be cool! I’ll be Superman.”
Good to know that the combination of the three of us is his version of Superman.
“We get to eat ribs…” He sang happily, then stopped, sitting back up. “Mommy eats a lot. She’s going to take the best ones.”
I couldn’t stop laughing; he was just too damn funny.
“Daddy!”
“Relax, girls take longer,” I reminded him, and he relaxed, leaning back. It was true though: for as tiny as Mina was, she could eat.
He went back to singing. “We get to eat ribs, we get to eat ribs.” Six years, that’s how long he’d been in my life, and I could not imagine not having a son.
“We get to eat ribs,” I sang along with him.