Page 51 of Five Fingers of Death

“We had pizza last night.”

“Pizza rolls!” She giggled behind her hand. The whole thing was so funny to her.

“What about peanut butter and jelly?”

“Pizza!”

I could see this was going nowhere fast. “Alright, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll get pizza today if tomorrow we can have…mushrooms!”

“Ew!” she squealed. “Gross!”

“You said you wanted pizza.”

“Daddy, mushrooms are gross!”

“Fine, how about…” I pretended to think. “Liver and onions.”

She scrunched up her nose at that and shook her head.

“You don’t even know what that is.”

“It sounds gross.”

“Fine, what do you like?”

She grinned at me, and we both said, “Pizza.”

* * *

“Did you brush your teeth?”

Carli turned and smiled wide for me, showing me her beautiful white teeth. “Did I do a good job, daddy?”

“Yeah, baby. You did a good job.”

“I sang my ABCs just like momma taught me.”

Well, that explained the toothpaste all down the front of her pajama top. “You sang while you were brushing?”

She nodded with a smile. “Twice!”

“Was there any toothpaste left in your mouth?”

“Yes, silly,” she giggled.

There was also quite a bit of toothpaste in her hair. I’d have to give her a bath in the morning. “We’d better pull your hair back next time we brush your teeth. You have it in your hair.”

“Momma always put my hair in a pony O.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me, stinker?”

She shrugged, then ran past me into her bedroom, laughing the whole way. I stood and rinsed out the sink, but when I saw the toothpaste dripping down the front and splashed all over the vanity, I knew I would need to bring a rag in here and clean the whole damn thing up. I flicked off the light and headed for the bedroom. Maybe I needed to supervise her, after all.

“Ready for bed, baby girl?”

She was already under the covers with her arms out, but instead of a smile on her face, she looked absolutely devastated.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

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