Holy Lord in heaven, you’re a good, good man.
Glancing back down, I saw Bond look from Nemi to me and wink, and then he focused back on her.
Jarrod shrugged, still grinning. “Your momma read you fairytales? Jack And The Beanstalk was always my favorite, and I grew up to be the giant from it. What do you want to be?”
My daughter was also affected by the impact of the Klein DNA, because she whispered, “A pirate.”
My daughter hardly ever whispered anything. She went full throttle on anything and everything, so this reaction from her made me smile.
All four of them grinned down at her, and instead of taking a step backward and seeking me out, she took three steps forward and held her hand out to Bond. Yeah, I’d probably do the same if I was in her shoes.
Bond checked with me before he took it, and after I nodded, he shook it gently. “My name’s Bond. What’s yours, little pirate?”
“Nay-mee.”
This time when he looked up at me to check, it was to confirm she wasn’t just saying crap. That wasn’t something I hadn’t encountered before, but I loved the name, so I accepted it.
“That’s her name, but just not pronounced as dramatically as that. It’s spelled N-e-m-i and pronounced Nay-me.”
“That’s a beautiful name, Nemi. My parents named me after a famous book and movie character who caught bad guys,” he told her, still keeping his voice soft and gentle. “The books were written by the author in Jamaica, where my mom’s family’s from.”
He’d find out soon enough my daughter didn’t shy away from any tone of voice, but in the meantime, I was hella enjoying the way it sounded.
Nemi’s eyes went almost round as she pivoted to look at me with her hands on her hips. “We got dose movies?”
“We do,” I confirmed, then added, “At least the ones with Daniel Craig in them.”
Spinning back to face him, she dropped the quiet miss act. “Dose your brothers?”
Standing up, Bond shook his feet out briefly and then pointed behind him as he reeled off names. “The giant’s Jarrod, the police officer next to him is Reid, and the one at the end is Canon.”
Nemi pressed her finger to her lips, showing them her hot pink glitter nail polish. I hated the stuff because it was a bitch to get off, but she’d insisted on them being that color, and Dad was a pussy when it came to her.
Yeah, my dad painted her nails and dressed up while they had tea. In fact, he’d painted his own nails this time, too, and had wanted to know my opinion on how well he’d done it when I’d picked her up. I loved that he adored his granddaughter enough to make himself look dumb to whoever walked by and saw it, yet he just didn’t care so long as she was smiling.
I wonder if the Kleins would let her do that to them?
Shaking my head, I focused back on Nemi.
“You all like Rose boys?”
“Twins,” I explained as I watched Bond squat back down. “She wants to know if y’all are twins, or whatever four identical babies are called, like Rose and Raoul’s kids.”
“No, we’re not quadruplets or twins,” Canon said as he copied his brother’s squat so Nemi wouldn’t feel intimidated. “We just look alike. Jarrod’s wife says we’re four versions of each other, so that’s kind of cool, right?”
Nemi nodded and squinted as she leaned forward and looked closely at the two brothers who were squatting and closest to her.
“Uh, what’s she doing?” Bond stuttered, leaning slightly away from her when she got too close to his face as she leaned.
Putting a hand on her shoulder and trying to tug her back to me, I smiled weakly. “I think she’s trying to see similarities or differences.”
Reid started laughing behind his hand. “She’s adorable.”
“She’s something,” I muttered. Taking pity on them, I pointed at Delicious Divas, where Sayla was standing laughing as she watched her niece. “Look, there’s Aunt Sayla. Let’s go say hi.”
Pouting out her lower lip, Nemi pointed at Bond. “I want him.”
Like mother like daughter. Well, so long as he kept his mouth shut and didn’t come out with any more immature dumb shit.
Bond’s lips twitched, and then he smirked up at me.
“Uh, we can’t just pick out humans like fish or puppies, Nemi. Life doesn’t work that way.” Sadly.
Sighing dramatically, she held her hand back out. “I help you up, Bund.”
Instead of correcting her, Bond smiled gratefully at her. “Thanks, Nemi. The first time I stood up hurt, but all I needed was your strength to make it easy a second time.”
My girl, in all her sassiness, gave him a look that said “bullshit,” making all of them burst out laughing. Yeah, she was that easy to read. Then she moved over and did the same thing for Canon, who gave her a high five afterward.