“We takin’ him home, buddy?”
Heath wrinkles his nose. “No. He’s dirty, Daddy.”
“So is your room, kid. He’ll fit right in.”
His son rocks his head and forth. “No, I want a snake.”
“I thought you wanted a hamster.”
“No. Not anymore.” Heath glances over at me as if noticing me for the first time and immediately shuts down.
So, it’s me. Dammit.
“I had a pet rabbit once,” I blurt out to break the ice a bit. “His name was Olivia.”
I’m lying to a six-year-old right now.
Heath slowly lifts his face as if I’m an idiot. His nose scrunching up as if I did a huge disservice to the poor animal. “That’s a girl’s name.”
I lift my shoulders. “I didn’t know any boy names.”
“I have a boy name.”
“Well…when I get another one, will you help me name it?”
“Really?” Heath’s blues widen a bit, and he hesitates when he asks, “Can…I see it?”
“Sure.” I pull my gaze off him and casually look around to keep him comfortable. “I’m getting him this weekend.”
“You are?” That’s coming from Micah, and no, actually, Iwasn’tgoing to. However, if it’ll get Heath to finally open up to me, I’m…getting a rabbit, I guess?
“Oh yeah.” I look back to Heath’s father and press my lips together before tacking on, “Sure am.”
He smiles because he can clearly smell my bullshit a mile away, but Heath steps closer to me and regains my attention.
“Can I be the only one who names it?”
I shorten my eyes into tiny slits. “You’re not gonna name it Heath, are you?”
He chortles quietly and says, “No. I like Pikachu. Can we paint him yellow?”
“Uhhh…no, buddy. The chemicals would hurt him, but I can find him a sweater.”
“With a Pikachu on it.”
“Yeah…” I begin to bob my head as though that’s a fantastic idea. Just like the one I just pulled out of my ass a moment ago.
“He’ll need shoes, too,” Micah inserts. “And his own house, what do you think, buddy?”
“Yeah!” Heath begins to bounce on the tip of his toes. “Can he have a car, too?”
“I dunno, you’re gonna have to ask Miss Vesper.”
Heath’s head snaps to me, clearly too excited to forget that he’s leery of me. “Can he, Miss Vesper? He needs one.”
Where in the hell am I going to…
“We’ll have to find him one.” I look over his head, not knowing what I’m looking for when I point. “Oh, look, the kids are going toward the sheep!”
