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Treat Me (One Night with Sole Regret #8)(42)

By:Olivia Cunning


"I've got to go," Amanda said. She didn't think she'd be able to stay civil with Tina for another second. She didn't care if Tina was her sister.

"Rain check?"

"Yeah, fine," she said, although at that moment she doubted she'd ever want to go to lunch with her again. "Bye."



       
         
       
        

She hung up immediately, so she didn't know if Tina had anything else to say. And frankly she didn't care. How dare she turn Julie's joy into an excuse to belittle Jacob?

"Look, Aunt Mander," Julie said, pointing to the cage. "This monkey looks like Jojo, but he has blond hair like me."

Amanda took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face. "He does look like you."

"Wanna know how I know he's a boy?" Julie asked slyly.

The monkey was naked and letting everything hang out, so it was obvious that he was a male. "Uh . . ." Amanda bit her lip and glanced at Jacob, who was laughing silently, his lips pursed, face reddening by the second.

"'Cause he has big eyebrows," Julie said. The monkey did have wild, bushy eyebrows going on. "Girls have to pluck theirs."

"Oh," Amanda said, deciding it was best to leave the boy-versus-girl anatomy discussion for a later time and a more private location.

"And he has a penis," Julie added knowledgably.

Jacob snorted and then burst out laughing. Julie leaned back in his arms and gaped at him.

"Is a penis funny?" she asked.

"Nope," Jacob said, blinking back tears and touching the back of his hand to each eye in turn. "I was just laughing at these crazy monkeys."

Those crazy monkeys were currently sitting quite docilely in their enclosures.

"You're a boy," Julie said. "So you have a penis. But me and Aunt Mander are girls, so we don't have one."

"You are correct," Jacob said, "but we don't talk about private parts while we're out in public."

"Penis is a secret?" Julie asked, glancing around for eavesdroppers.

"Not a secret," Jacob said, obviously struggling to find the right explanation.

"It's a bad word?"

"No, we just don't talk about certain things in public," Jacob said. "If you want to talk about private parts, you can ask me or Aunt Mander about them when there aren't any strangers around. They might get offended."

"What's offended mean?"

Jacob paused for a moment as he thought up a child-friendly definition. Amanda didn't interfere. She didn't want to come to his rescue.

"It means-sort of-that they don't like what you're saying, so they don't want to hear it."

"But penis is just a fact of life," Julie said.

Amanda pressed her lips together so she wouldn't laugh. Jacob was holding it together quite well now.

"You're right," Jacob said with a shrug. "I just didn't want you to get into trouble for talking about something that many people think is inappropriate." 

Julie squished his face between her palms. "I don't want to get into trouble. I hate time out. I'll just talk about penis to you later."

"Good." Jacob's smile was a bit false-he probably didn't want to talk about penis to his four-year-old daughter ever-but he gave her a tight squeeze and set her on her feet.

"Are you ready for lunch?" Amanda asked. "Your dad made all sorts of good things to eat and packed them in your bag."

Jacob rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, actually Tammy knew I had Julie this weekend, so she stocked the fridge with sandwiches and stuff. I just tossed them in the bag."

"You did good," Amanda said and patted his arm. Her pat turned into a light touch and then a caress. And then she was leaning in closer, longing for him to wrap her in his arms and kiss her.

"I want to see more animals," Julie said.

Amanda took a step back from Jacob so she didn't try to jump his bones in front of his impressionable daughter.

"You've already seen them all," Amanda said. "This place isn't very big."

"So we can go to that other zoo now? The one with the lephalants."

Amanda glanced at Jacob, who shrugged and nodded. "It's only about an hour and a half drive. We'll eat lunch on the way."

They made a pit stop at the bathroom. Amanda froze when Jacob leaned in to brush a kiss across her cheek. "Take good care of my girl," he said.

If Julie had noticed his affectionate peck, she didn't mention it.

After they used the toilet-Julie insisted she didn't need help because she was a big girl-Amanda made sure she washed her hands.