Page 72 of Just A Little Fling

“Hold on there, sunshine. We need to pack a bag for you in the morning and get Saffy, so she’s not lonely.”

I pouted a little but did what I was told. Babbo helped me get an overnight bag from the top of my closet and decide on pink pants with a darker pink jacket for work tomorrow. That Babbo knew my favorite color made me want to kiss him. Again. So I did.

“Sweetheart, I may have a surprise for you at the house.”

“For me? Hurry up! Hurry up!” I finished gathering all my items in record time and was out the door for real. Babbo followed behind me at a more sedate pace. Once in his house, he guided me to the living room.

“Babbo, hurry up!”

“Nico, that’s no way to ask for a present. You need to behave to get presents. Can you use your manners?”

“Babbo, want my present. Peas.”

“That’s a little bit better, but I wouldn’t call it good.”

I thought extra hard about manners and how Rory would ask for his presents because Rory was always the nicest. I wanted to get it right ’cause Babbo wasn’t gonna give me a lot more chances. “Thank you for my prezzie. Can I see it? Peas.”

Babbo kissed my cheek and ruffled my hair. “I knew my Sweet Boy had some manners in him. And since you asked so sweetly, you absolutely can have your presents.”

He deposited me on the sofa in the living room, pushing me gently down with instructions not to move, and went to the coat closet in the corner. I held my breath and waited for him to come back. Luckily, the wait was short, but it was long enough that I was bouncing on the couch in anticipation. Babbo turned around, and in his arms were several wrapped boxes.

“Babbo! For me?” Whatever was left of my grown-up thinking faded. Anytime I was around Babbo, it was hard to keep myself big.

“Of course, they’re for you. You have Saffy”—he stopped to stoke her petals before continuing—“but one isn’t enough. A boy needs toys.”

I tried to be careful about not ripping the paper when he first gave me the boxes, but Papa’s laughing encouragement to rip them open was all the permission I needed. The paper on the first box was dinosaurs eating donuts. Inside was a collection of adult-sized garden tools with a bucket and spade and one of those hook-looking things in bright colors.

“Babbo, now I help in the garden.”

“I know, Sweet Boy. I need all the help I can get making the flowers look pretty.” Babbo gestured for me to look inside the bucket, and there was more tissue. I thought it was trash at first, but he told me to look again. It was wrapped around something. I tore it apart, and it was all kinds of sunflower seeds.

“We gonna plant ’em in the garden?”

“Yep. We can start them in little pots and then plant them in the ground when it gets a little bit warmer.”

“Look! We got orange, yellow, red, light yellow, and bright yellow.” I showed each of the pictures to Babbo, and he said they were too pretty to pick a favorite, which made me giggle. Babbo was next to me, watching me open my presents, and he was too cute not to kiss. I grabbed his hand, pulled him closer, and kissed him. On. The. Mouth.

“Tank you for my flowers.” Babbo turned a little red and kissed me back.

After all the kisses were given, he handed me another present. The paper on this one was duckies and chickies wearing floaties on their way to go swimming. That’s silly because neither one uses their wings to swim, except I wasn’t sure if chickies could swim anyway. “What’s dis one, Babbo?”

“You gotta open it to find out, sweetheart.”

“Babbo, you happy?”

“Yeah, Sweet Boy, I am.”

“You don’t look happy, and that makes me sad. You want presents too? We can share.”

“No, sweetheart. You don’t need to share your presents with me. They are all yours, but I wouldn’t mind playing with you if you’d let me.”

I gave Babbo a sly grin and answered, “Babbo, you can play with my toy anytime you want.” He narrowed his eyes, homed in on my tickle spot right under my ribs, and attacked. Between laughter and pleas to stop, the sadness I felt earlier disappeared. When I tore the paper off I found a collection of plastic trucks that got faced when you rolled the wheels back. I gave Babbo three kisses–one for each truck.

“You’ve got more, sunshine.” This package was a large bag with tissue paper poking out the top. I stopped for the crinkly sounds like I always did, and Babbo never told me to hurry like my brothers did at home.

“Oh, it’s so cool.” Inside the box was a reusable paper doll that had all sorts of different outfits I could put together. It was a boy and a girl, so they could pick out outfits together and they had bags, backpacks, umbrellas, and lashes so I could make all kinds of outfits for them. All the outfits were in bright colors, just the way I liked my clothes.

As much as I wanted to try them out, I still had two more presents to open. Babbo sat beside me and looked on like a proud Daddy watching his boy.

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