You’re soft, like Kate’s kitten.”
I do not know who Kate is, but I nod slowly, not wishing to scare the little one. “I am.”
“Can I sit on you?” Without waiting for a response, the girl-child immediately crawls up my leg, moving onto my knee. Willa takes the bowl out of my hands as the girl tucks her small body against my chest and pets me. “Very soft.”
Willa chuckles, glancing up at me. “Should I be worried about competition?”
“No,” I tell her, even as the child pets my jaw.
“Aayla, don’t bother the nice man,” Liz calls out. “He’s trying to eat.”
“I’ll feed him, Mommy,” she says. “Just like Kate’s kitten.” And she takes a piece of fish from the bowl in Willa’s hand and offers it to me.
I have no choice but to take the fish from her, though I do so carefully. “My thanks.”