Page 69 of Forbidden Kisses

"Smile," I said, positioning the phone so I caught both zebras and Riley and Jeremy.

"Come on, let's give your dad a toothy grin," Riley said.

They both grinned at me, then started making silly faces.

I snapped a few pictures.

"Let's look and see which ones we want to keep," Riley said. “I bet it’s the third one. We always seem to get the hang of things by then.”

I couldn't believe they had their little habits. When had that happened? Riley hadn't been with us for that long, and yet she was already so important to both of us.

She crouched so I could hold her phone at Jeremy's level. Once they could both see it, I scrolled to the right.

"I want this one," Jeremy said, pointing to the second one I'd snapped where they were both flashing their teeth.

"Okay. Then that's the one I'll keep too," Riley said.

As she rose to her feet, I handed her the phone back. I touched her fingers, squeezing them. Her eyes widened. The next second, the popcorn tumbled all over the ground.

"Oh my goodness," she said, jumping back.

"Don't worry, we’ll clean it up. Nothing happened," Jeremy said.

That was exactly what I told him every time he had an accident, ever since he was a little kid. I'd always made it my mission not to yell at him or make him feel bad when accidentshappened. They were just that, accidents. There was no reason to lose my shit over it.

"Um, I-I'm sorry. I didn't…" Riley started licking her lips. She was blushing. Because I'd touched her hand? Damn, it made me feel good about myself.

"I-I'll clean up," she said.

"No. You enjoy your ice cream and snap all the pictures you want of the baby zebra. I’ll pick it up and buy you a new popcorn."

She shook her head. "You don't have to do that."

I winked. "Come on, your zoo experience wouldn't be complete."

They stayed in front of the zebras as I cleaned up the popcorn and headed to the cart. I could hear Riley sharing trivia about zebras with my son. I wondered if this was what Jeremy meant by doing mom stuff. I was determined to give him a good childhood, but was I failing him somehow? How could I be better?

When I returned with a fresh batch, I noticed that Jeremy was quickly shifting his weight from one foot to the other. I knew the signs.

"Riley, here's your popcorn," I said.

“Thanks.”

She took it from my hands as I looked straight at my son. "Jeremy, do you need to go to the men's room?"

He nodded. "Yes, I really do."

"I didn't notice," Riley said.

"Want me to go with you?" I asked him.

"No, Dad," he said indignantly, standing up as straight as he could. As if he wanted to make himself taller. "I'm a big boy. I know how to go."

"All right," I said, pointing to the restroom that was right next to the zebras’ enclosure. "The men's restroom is actually right around the corner. I can go wait with you."

"No, Dad. What will everyone say? Can you and Riley waithere?"

"Sure," I said. I wasn't sure why I was even offering. He'd been insisting on going to the restroom by himself since he was five years old, and I always waited by the door. He ran straight toward it, which meant he needed to go badly.