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“Wait!” I say. “Let me smell both of them.”
“Grandpa put that nasty stuff in this one,” Mina insists.
I take a whiff and confirm that she’s correct.
“Just wait until you’re twenty-one. You won’t think Bailey's is gross. Trust me,” I say.
“Whatever you say.” Mina rolls her eyes at me.
“Here, try some.” I hand her my mug.
She looks at me in shock. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, why not? I’ve let you take sips of my wine before. As long as you’re with me, I don’t mind if you take little tastes. That’s not going to do anything. Plus, it’s not like you have your license and can drive somewhere.”
“You know I’d never drink and drive.” Mina looks at me with her serious hazel eyes, and I give her a small, sad smile. She’s such a good girl. I know she’d be careful, even if drunken driving hadn’t taken people from our family.
“Good girl,” I say. “Go on.”
She reluctantly takes the mug from my hands and sips it.
“Well?”
“Um…I guess it’s okay.” I know from her face that she likes it.
“See? I told you.”
“It kind of just tastes like normal cocoa but with a slight metallic taste.”
I laugh. “That’s probably the alcohol.”
She smacks her lips as if to taste it a little better. “Interesting.”
“Okay, now give it back.”
She does, and I take a much bigger gulp of it than she did. And then I start the movie.
“Big girls don’t cry. Big girls don’t cry. Big girls don’t cry-yi-yi. They don’t cry.” We sing along.
“Well, we know that isn’t true,” Mina says, after the song’s over.
“Hey!” I lightly shove her. “I couldn’t help it. I was shocked. What’re you going to do, sue me?”
“I know, I know, I was just playing around. It’s always okay to cry.”
“You’re absolutely right.” I give her my serious ‘Mom’ look.
“If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll stop hanging out with Dylan,” Mina says quietly.
I tuck a few pieces of her long, dark hair behind her ear.
“Oh, honey,” I say. “No. I don’t want this to have any impact on you whatsoever. I can tell the two of you get along really well.”
“We do, don’t we?” Mina smiles at me.
“Yeah.” I love the way she brightens up when she talks about him. It’s so adorable.
We continue watching the movie until Grandpa announces that dinner’s ready.
