Ruslan giggled. “He’s not a Smurf.”
Oh.
“You got blue paint.” That would make him a Smurf. “We could—”
Talk softer.
We could talk softer so Daddy wouldn’t glare and Gary wouldn’t giggle.
“Ruslan likes his paint.” I pointed to it. “He’s going to make a good picture later.”
Yes.
That was good.
“You’re smart.”
Ruslan wasn’t because he talked too loud.
Big smiles.
Ha.
Even Angel tried not to laugh.
Dante looked suspicious but he was too far away to hear our Smurf idea. “Do I want to know what you two are up to?”
“No.” Ruslan needed to learn better truths to tell his Daddy. Telling him the real one every time was dangerous. “Where’s Angel’s present? We didn’t lose it.”
He’d already opened mine.
He was the kind of grown-up who liked to set things on fire, so we got him grill stuff and special sauces to use when he set his meat on fire.
“I found it.” Dante pulled out a big flat box and handed it over to Angel. “Here you go.”
Did they get him a shirt for setting his meat on fire?
“If you got me a Christmas sweater again, we’re gonna have words.” Angel really liked being grumpy but he made Dante laugh. “Just saying it’s ugly doesn’t make up for it actually being ugly.”
Hmm.
Maybe he had reasons to be grumpy.
“Did your Daddy get him an ugly sweater?” I wasn’t sure if we should say sorry first or make him a picture.
“No.” Ruslan shook his head. “Promise.”
“Good.” Whew. “Did your Daddy need help picking out presents?”
Some people just weren’t good at stuff…that was okay…Dante did other stuff good.
Ruslan sighed big. “Yeah. But I was a good helper.”
Hey.
We made Angel smile again.
Dante huffed and puffed and glared but he didn’t do it as good as Daddy or Angel and he made Ruslan giggle. “It was funny.”
