Christ, I really needed to get laid.
A few minutes later, Carson stood beside me, asking to see the pictures more closely. I lifted him up and pointed out where Geneviève was.
“What? That’s too little to be Gigi,” Carson said, letting out a bellyful of giggles.
“Wait, wait, lemme see, too,” Cooper begged, pawing at my leg like the puppies often did.
I scooped him up, too.
“I wasn’t much older than you guys are right now,” Geneviève said, now standing beside us.
“You used to be a kid?” Carson said, astonished at the very thought.
She laughed and tickled his belly. Carson dove into her arms, and she yanked the rest of his body to her. “What’s that guy’s name?” he asked her, pointing to one of the pictures.
“Gord. He was the singer of the band. My dad used to call him Gordie, though. He would always pretend to be besties with him,” Geneviève said, her eyes getting watery as she smiled at the memory.
“Gordie’s a good name. You should call the boy puppy that,” Cooper interjected, and Geneviève’s eyes looked right at me.
She shrugged. “It is a good name—in music and hockey,” she said, referring to one of Canada’s hockey greats.
“I think it’s the perfect name,” I said, smiling down at her as I watched her eyes well up even more.
“Now you just need something for the girl puppy,” Cooper said, putting his index finger against his lips as though deep in thought.
“Oh, I know!” Carson said excitedly, pointing to Geneviève’s shirt. “Angel!”
“Huh, that is pretty genius, buddy.” She looked up at me. “What do you think?”
“I think we should have asked them for help weeks ago,” I said, then I kissed Cooper’s cheek. “Well done, boys.” I leaned over to kiss Carson’s cheek.
Then the little stinker grabbed my face and said, “Kiss Gigi, too. Just like you did before.”
Geneviève’s eyes widened and her lips tipped up at the corners. She lightly touched her lips to mine, then put her arm around my back. “I feel like this is a group hug situation.”
The boys laughed as we squashed them in our circle.
“Jon a beeve, what smells so good?”Cooper asked Geneviève as the three of them were cuddled up reading books. Apparently, she’d bought more French books for them. And a few more games as well.
“Yeah, what’s that yummy smell?” Carson asked, taking in a huge, deep breath—his shoulders nearly touched his ears.
She gave them a hug and said, “Cookies. They won’t be ready for a little while, though.”
The excited looks on their faces were priceless.
They both jumped up and started racing around the living room, chanting, “Cookies, cookies!”
Carson stopped in front of the guitar and asked, “Jon a beeve, do you know how to play that?”
Geneviève stood up and set the books aside. “Not very well, I’m afraid. I have been practicing a bit, though. She walked to the guitar and lifted it off the wall. “I can show you what I know.”
She sat down on the couch and told them to sit on the floor while she—completely massacred each and every note. It didn’t matter one bit to the boys. They looked up at her as though she’d hung the moon and the stars.
After a while, Carson got up to see what the puppies were doing, and Cooper followed. But Geneviève kept strumming a dead horse.
I moseyed my way over to the couch and sat beside her. “Hmm, finally something you can’t do perfectly,” I said, snickering down at her.
She returned a death glare back. “That’s what you get for learning from online videos.”