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"Always do," he replied
She shing at us like she knew soone I looked up at Marco and said, "I really do like her"
"She’s good people"
Still s my interaction with his dad like a hawk "I heard three-year-olds love the zoo Do you fancy a day at the zoo, Dylan?"
"I’ers
Must Not Cuddle
Pushing past the overwhel adorableness, I replied seriously, "Well, I’ve heard nearly-four-year-olds love the zoo, too"
His brows drew together "Will there be lions?"
"They have two lions, I think, and big cats"
Dylan’s face closed down at that and hecage They can’t get at you"
He still looked unconvinced
"Your dad will be there with us Do you think he’s going to let a lion get near you?"
It was the right thing to say He looked up at his dad, conte he was corinned and smoothed a hand over his son’s hair affectionately "You ready to go, then, buddy?"
He nodded and reached for his dad’s hand
As alking out the door, Marco’s other hand in ht?"
"It is tehed infor superhero boyfriends on the Internet They always turn out to be duds who’ll quite happily let you get eaten by a lion"
Marco hissed in a breath through his teeth "You do roll the dice when you find a boyfriend on the Internet"
"What about penguins? Surely you won’t let the penguins get ht be fun to watch"
I stopped on the stairwell and Marco and Dylan drew to a halt on the steps below uin protection? What kind of superhero are you?"
"You’re weird," Dylan said quietly to"Buddy, you don’t know the half of it"
Since Dylan grinned in response, I took the "weird" comment on the chin and ith it
Dylan and I stared at each other across the table
Marco had left me with him while he went up to order us so had been fine while andered around the zoo with Marco present as a buffer When Dylan had gotten close to the lion enclosure and one of the lions let out what I think was really just a yawn rather than a growl, I had easily reassured Dylan so he didn’t go skittering off in fear
But alone? Even if it was only for a few minutes? I felt so much pressure for him to like me that my mind was suddenly blank I couldn’t think of any topics of conversation that were appropriate for a child
"You were scared of the snakes," Dylan suddenly said, tilting his head to the side inquisitively
He was not wrong
I shuddered I’d hurried away from the snakes as quickly as possible "I don’t like snakes"
"Why?"
That was actually a really difficult question to answer for a small child "They scare me"
He frowned "Why?"
"Uh… because so many of them can bite you, and the bite can make you really, really sick"
"All of them?"
"Well, no…"
"But you’re scared of all of the and I didn’t like it
"Why?"
Yup, that’s where I thought it was going
There really was no good explanation other than irrational fear, and I didn’t think an almost-four-year-old would understand irrationality as an answer I didn’t want the kid to think I disliked things because they were different, because even at his age that kind of thinkingsound they make"
Dylan stared at h of relief before quickly changing the subject
"What was your favorite anirinned and turned the tables on hied "Cool eyes I wasn’t scared It smiled"
The panda hadn’t actually smiled, of course, but when she conte mischievous in her eyes The fact that Dylan had picked up on that ood reasons"
"D’ye live with erous territory I shookout a lot"
"You’ll be there when I come to stay?"
"Soain "Daddy laughs a lot, so okay"
I felt elated by Dylan’s analysis of the situation and the blessing he had given me in his cute little-boy way
Must Not Cuddle
When Marco ca from ear to ear He smiled in bewilderment at my expression as he sat down andon with you?"
I shrugged "I just love giant pandas"
Marco’s brows drew together and he looked at Dylan as if he would explain His son gave him a look as if to say, What? It
The last few months had been an utter roller coaster of ely past again, and then losing Jarrod, I hadn’t known if or when I’d ever be able to laugh that hard again
But laugh hard I did
Marco was s, but he leaned his head down to Dylan and said, "You were right Weird"