Living on Love

One

"Who's reading, Daddy?"

"Mommy said I am," Mac said sitting on the couch.

"No wait, I wanna do it now," Ariana said, climbing over the back of the couch to sit in his lap.

"I was gonna sit there!" Their three year old son said.

"You snooze you lose, hush up," she said, taking the book from him.

"Hey!"

"Shhh."

"Daddy!"

"Come on, why you gotta annoy him?" Mac asked.

"Just hush and let me read. Junior, stop pouting. It'll be the best book ever I swear," Ariana said.

"I like it when Daddy reads it better," Junior said.

"You haven't even heard me read it yet you little shit."

"You said a bad word."

"I know now hush."

"Just read," Mac said.

"Alright alright," she said, opening the book. "'Twas the nizzle before christmizzle when all through the hizzle--"

"No."

"Come on!"

"Read it."

Ariana sighed. "'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the hood, ain't shit that was stirring, nope it was all good, the stocking was hung on my big fat dic--"

"You're done," Mac said taking the book as Ariana laughed and slid to the floor.

"Come on, that's the best Christmas song."

"It's inappropriate."

"Tell me just when the fuck have we ever been appropriate, even in front of Malcolm?"

"Not as inappropriate as Snoop."

"You literally have a song about performing oral on me and he knows every word but that's not as inappropriate as Snoop?"

"Are we gonna read this or not?"

"He's already asleep," Ariana said nodding towards their son.

Mac looked at him and rolled his eyes. "Just like his lazy ass momma."

"Excuse me for catching up on the eleven months of sleep I lost when he was born."

"You act like Stella sleeps all night."

"She wakes up at midnight to nurse and she goes right back to sleep... speaking of her, where the hell is she?"

"I thought you were putting her to sleep."

"No, I left her in here in her play pen."

They looked at each other for a few seconds and both sighed before getting up.

"I'll check upstairs," Mac said.

"Stella Joan! Where are you, Monkey?" Ariana called out as she walked into the dining room.

After ten minutes of searching, Ariana finally found the nine month old curled up asleep in the theater room with her mother. She smiled and took a quick picture before posting it on Instagram with the caption 'Joan and Joan doing what Joans do best'.

She made her way over to them and tapped her mother lightly. "Mommy."

"Hm," Joan said opening her eyes.

"I'm gonna put her to bed."

As Joan nodded, Ariana took the baby and patted her diaper as she started stirring.

As soon as she got upstairs she laid the little girl down and made sure she was still asleep before closing the door and walking out to the hall, only to be greeted by Mac.

"I can't find her anywhere," he said.

"She was with Mom. She's in her room now, I just put her down."

"How did she get out of her playpen?"

"I guess she climbed out unless Malcolm took her out. We should probably check on him though."

"What you don't trust him?"

"He humps the dogs, Malcolm."

Mac laughed. "No way."

"Yes way, apparently he saw us  a few weeks ago and his argument was 'well daddy did it to you'."

"We should probably break him of that habit. We don't want a weirdo."

"Exactly. Especially since I'm our weirdo. But I don't hump animals.