Ricco’s is the only Italian restaurant in town. I’ve been meaning to take Noah but I haven’t had the time.
“I have work. You can’t just expect me to drop everything because Noah wants pizza. We talked about this. You can’t just give him everything he wants. He’ll become spoiled.”
“Mike’s rich. He can give me anything I want,” Noah pipes up.
I sigh. The only thing he got from my conversation with me about his dad’s job last night is that he’s loaded. It’s important, butsonot what I was trying to explain to him.
Michael masks a cough.
“You heard him, I’m rich. I can get him anything he wants,” he asserts with a shit-eating grin.
“Fuck you,” I mouth.
“No swearing in front of our son,” he mouths back, pointing at Noah.
“When are we leaving for pizza?” Noah asks enthusiastically.
“We’re not,” I say flatly.
“Please, Mama,” he begs.
“Please, Chrissy,” his father adds.
I facepalm. This is getting old and fast.
“Fine, we’ll go get some pizza.”
“Yeah,” Noah says happily. “Let’s go get some pizza.”
We arrive at Ricco’s and order a pizza while Noah regales us with stories about school.
“There’s a kid in school that called me dumb today,” he says sadly.
“What?” I ask in surprise.
“Wrong question, Christine. What’s his name? Who are his parents?” Michael asks, angrily.
“Calm down, Mike,” I say to him. “What’s his name, honey?”
Noah shifts uncomfortably. “It’s a her. She’s always teasing me and making fun of my hair. She says it’s too long. Today she told me my eyes were pretty, when I didn’t say anything, she called me dumb.”
Michael and I exchange a look and simultaneously relax before bursting into laughter.
“Well, it’s certainly not nice of her to call you dumb, you’re a brilliant young man,” I say when I stop laughing.
“Listen, Noah. Next time she tells you your eyes are pretty, tell her thanks and that you think she’s pretty too,” Michael says to him.
“Yes, honey, but if she says something mean to you, tell her that it’s not nice.”
“It just means she likes you, little man, we Cranes have a thing with the ladies,” Michael says with a chuckle.
“So, girls make fun of you when they like you?”
“Pretty much,” Michael says trying to put Noah at ease.
“It’s still not nice of her to call you names, honey. So, ask her to stop the next time she does it,” I remind him.
“That’s stupid and girls are gross,” Noah says, crossing his arms.