“Sit!” she repeated, then stuck two fingers in her mouth and stared at him again
He stood there scowling.
She ducked down and then poked her head up. “Peekaboo.”
“Yeah, yeah, kid, peekaboo to you, too.”
She ducked again.
He rolled his eyes.Great! We can sit here and play peekaboo all damn day.
A red curly head slowly rose above the edge of the trunk and two bright eyes sparkled at him. “Papa!”
“Oh, no! No way!” His hands shot up, and he backed up so fast he bumped into a tree trunk. “No Papa!” He jabbed a finger in his chest. “Hank! Got it, kid? I’m Hank.”
She grinned around her fingers, then took them out of her mouth and gave him a childish wave. “Hi!”
While he was pacing, running his hand through his hair and mentally spouting every curse in his vast knowledge of them, Annabelle climbed out of the trunk and ran toward him on short, stubby little legs.
He turned and froze. She was holding up a banana. They eyed each other, a meeting of innocence and cynicism. Hank squatted down in front of her, and she handed him the banana. “You hungry, kid?”
She just grinned at him. He peeled the banana, and she edged closer, then poked her finger on his nose.
“Nose,” she said as clear as could be.
That surprised him.
“Hank’s nose.”
He laughed. “Yeah. That’s my nose.”
He sat down in the sand and held out the banana. “Here, kid.”
She grabbed it and squeezed so hard the banana mashed through her fingers. She looked at it, then looked up at him and said, “Sit!”
“That’s what it looks like all right. You’re a smart kid.” She crammed some banana in her mouth, licking it off her palm, and crawled into his lap, then settled in, her back to his chest and her squat legs casually slung over one of his.
He stared down at her. She swung one foot back and forth. She had fat feet, fat hands, and fat legs that looked too short to support her. “So, kid... where are your knees?”
“Kneezzz.” She pointed to her nose and wrinkled it.
“Nah. That’s your nose.”
“Kneez.”
“Nose.”
“Kneez,” she insisted, then blew air out her nose twice.
He laughed then and nodded. “Sneeze.”
She blew out her nose again and laughed with him.
He looked at those squatty legs for a second and said, “Yeah, well, you probably don’t have to know what knees are until you grow your own.”
She wiggled into a standing position and brought her face scant inches from his. She lifted a sticky finger and started to poke it in his eye.
He grabbed her wrist. “No, you don’t.”
