"Honey I'm back!" Lara called as she entered the kitchen. JJ shook her head with a laugh. "Did you have fun without me?"
"Fun without you? Impossible. Oh I got something fun for you to do, monkey."
"Do carry on." Neil opened the door with a groan. "Oops."
"What did I said about running through the bakery? You almost knocked someone over."
"I yelled move out the way."
"Do you want me to take you home? You haven't even been here two minutes and already messing around. Now, if you misbehave one more time I am taking you home and you won't come back here for the rest of the week okay. Understood?"
"But daddy I told them to move-"
"That's enough Lara!" JJ looked back at him. She had never seen him angry at her. "I told you not to run in here numerous times. And you know if you want people to move then you be nice and say excuse me. You know your manners and I'd appreciate it if you used them. This is JJ's place of work it's not a playground."
JJ saw the tears in Lara's eyes before she huffed and turned to face the wall. She looked back at Neil who was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Hey," she whispered as she approached Lara.
"I want to go home," Lara sobbed as she turned around. "I didn't mean to push." She knelt in front of her and opened her arms. Neil sighed softly as he walked towards them. JJ was whispering something in her ear which made his daughter smile.
"Jay, don't be nice to her. She's misbehaving and she knows it."
"Neil...come on. She's crying."
"I can see that, JJ. But just because she's crying, it doesn't mean you have to be nice to her and make her stop crying." JJ stood up slowly. She turned to him but before she could say anything, he shook his head. "She's my daughter and I'd appreciate it if you didn't fight me on this. This isn't an argument on how many pancakes you give her so in the nicest possible way, let me deal with it."
"Neil..."
"Judith, I already said no. Now Lara, you know what you have to do." Without another word, JJ walked away with a frown.
"I'm sorry I was running. And I should have said excuse me instead of pushing." He knelt in front of her and sighed.
"Lara, you know Daddy doesn't like screaming at you. But you have to remember no matter how excited you are, you still need to use your manners okay? I'm sorry for shouting." She looked down at the ground before nodding her head. When she opened her arms, he smiled. "I love you tesero."
"I love you too. I'm sorry again."
"And I promise daddy will try not to shout next time."
When Neil stood up, he found JJ back at the stand with a frown on her face. He sighed as he walked up to her. "Don't."
"Cara, I'm sorry. I never should have-"
"Neil, I will never get into your way of parenting. I'm just your girlfriend and definitely not Lara's mother, so I have no right in saying how to discipline her but I'd really appreciate it if you didn't talk to me like I was a child. So don't ever Judith me again otherwise I'll kick you where the sun don't shine." Neil slowly extended a hand out to her arm. She put the icing bag down before looking at him.
"Cara I am so sorry. I swear I'll never talk to you like that again."
"Okay. Just shut up and kiss me."
"Are you sure? You look pissed and I have a feeling you're gonna bite my lip."
"Yeah? Like you don't like it when I bite your lip. Now come here, I missed you." When he cautiously leaned towards her, she rolled her eyes. "Neil I just want you to kiss me. Properly like you always do when you see me after work. Before Mariam comes back from her break."
YOU ARE READING
The Deal
Random"Promise me," he whispered before he looked at her. His eyes were searching her light brown eyes and was once again lost in the beauty. "Let's make a deal. That we stay together. That we stay a family." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not crazy...
