Page 4 of Leo
Maybe Tío was a nickname? Everyone my parents knew was my uncle and aunty when I was growing up, and I noticed a lot of cultures did the same. He could be a manny. Though I supposednannywas gender-neutral, right?
My thoughts had distracted me so much I almost missed when the young man, Leo, and the boy were about to pass me. He was wearing a long-sleeved, green Henley and matching cargo pants. Stylish, but casual.
Why was I thinking about his style?
“No, Daddy,” Dezi pulled my attention back to her and I knew she was done. No and Daddy were her two main words, and she used them liberally. I started pulling her out of the toddler seat as Leo waved to the nannies who’d been gossiping about me.
“Time me,” the little boy, Nacho, yelled before taking off across the grass. It was still morning, so the space was mostly clear of people. Leo held up his watch like he was really timing the boy.
Dezi’s stroller was right next to where he stood, so I ended up only feet from the man I’d been oddly focused on. I tried buckling her in, but she got irritable and started chanting, “No, no, no!”
Noticing a bit of drool, I kneeled down to wipe her chin. When she bit my finger, I pulled it back with a curse. “Fu–fudge sticks,” I corrected.
“Learning not to cuss in front of little ears is not easy,” a soft, masculine voice commented, and I looked up to find Leo smirking at me. “Good for you.”
“Thanks?” I replied, confused by the sense of pride at being told I did something right as a parent. “I’m usually good about it after the first time Dezi said the s-word. But she bit me.”
“Naughty girl, Dezi.” Leo glanced out to where Nacho was making his way back towards us and then knelt beside me. “Looks like she has all four front top and bottom teeth in. Eighteen months?”
“Uh, yeah,” I confirmed. Was he really good at guessing ages? Pulling out her sippy cup, I handed it over to sooth Dezi. “How did you know?”
“I have a degree in early childhood education and have been the full-time nanny to my nephew from birth,” Leo explained. So he was a nanny, or manny, and also the boy’s uncle. He glanced back towards Nacho then to me, “Has she started getting any of her molars?”
“Uh, the back teeth?” I asked like an idiot.
Leo only smiled, “Yep. The front molars and eye teeth show up around sixteen to twenty-two months. It causes irritability and drooling, plus they get bitey.”
“Like little vampires,” I chuckled and Leo joined me.
“Did I beat my time, Tío?” Nacho sucked in a deep breath from his run and Leo pressed a button on his watch.
“Almost, mijo,” Leo gave the boy a big smile and pulled a water bottle out of the pocket on his cargo pants. Must be nice not to have to travel with a diaper bag and stroller. “In the top five for sure.”
“Yes,” Nacho cheered and then looked at me and Dezi as he gulped down the water. He held out his little hand and I took it, still on my knee beside Dezi’s stroller. “Hi, I’m Jose Ignacio Ibarra, but everyone calls me Nacho. Are you my tío, Leo’s, friend?”
“Nice to meet you, Nacho.” I couldn’t help smiling at the boy’s exuberant introduction and followed his example, “I’m Isaac Quintel the third, and this is Destiny Valentine, but everyone calls her Dezi.”
“Quin means five, and I’m five,” Nacho stated, like it wasn’t odd for a little boy to know Latin prefixes. “So you should have a son to be the fourth and then your grandson can be the fifth Quintel!”
His precocious idea of my being a father to two, let alone a grandfather, had me choking on a laugh. I stood but Leo stayed low, at Nacho’s level. “I only became a father last year. I’m not ready to be a grandfather.”
Nacho looked me up and down, “You’re old, but you’ve got time.”
“Nacho, we don’t call people old,” Leo chided the boy but we were both laughing. He stood up to face me and I was caught on the dimple in his left cheek. “Sorry, he’s too smart for his own good, sometimes.”
“I’m seven times his age, so to him I am old,” I commented, feeling my age in my knee after kneeling on the grass for too long. Leo licked his lips and I couldn’t help feeling like he was checking me out. I wasn’t into guys, so I changed the subject, “Dezi is teething, then?”
“Most likely, but I’m not an expert,” Leo shrugged. I admired his humble statement of facts. “They make teething rings, but frozen fruit to munch on is a great way to numb her pain and get her chewing on nutritious foods.”
His competence was attractive. I mean–not attractive–impressive. I coughed and buckled Dezi into her seat. “I’ll have to try that.”
“Are we gonna go to the market now?” Nacho started to tug on his uncle’s hand, but for some reason, I didn’t want Leo to leave yet. I rarely got to talk to people who knew things about young children.
Definitely wasn’t trying to get him to talk more. I just wanted his knowledge. That was why I asked, “Have any other advice?”
“She might get a low fever and more pain, so baby aspirin might be needed,” Leo smiled down at Dezi, who had dropped the sippy cup and was falling asleep. “Cuddles from Daddy help too.”
Hearing Leo use Daddy in reference to me had a very different response than I was used to, over the past ten months. My dick twitched and I realized it had been way too long since I’d gotten laid if a man saying Daddy got me going. “I’m a good cuddler.”