Daddy looks at me, and I fix the droopy sleeve of my stretched-out tee shirt. I can’t tell if he’s happy with me or upset, so I just raise my chin as he looks me over.
Finally, he puts his hand on my head, but he doesn’t smile.
“Of course, I’m happy with her. Why wouldn’t I be happy with mi corazones?”
That’s when he reached into his bag and pulled out the little watercolor paint set, which he plopped into my hands, before looking back up at Mami with a tilt of his head and a raise of his eyebrows that somehow made him look twice as tall as usual.
“I bought this for me and my little princess to share, so fortunately, she doesn’t have to miss out on getting a gift.”
Mommy rolls her eyes, motioning to the paint set, “Paint is not a toy, Jose Maria. You have no idea what little girls like. She should have dolls and-”
“Mami,” I tug on Mami’s dress lightly to get her attention, and she stops short in her rant as I smile up at her sincerely, “I don’t want any dolls. I like the paint set. Thank you, Papi.”
I smile over at him, but he almost looks like he’s going to cry as I make myself laugh, “I promise I won’t waste all the paints. But you’ll have to teach me how to paint flowers the way you do, okay?”
