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“Thank you for the cookies,” I blurt out, spying the tin still sitting on the side. I plate one for Phoenix and myself, and offer him one too.
“Welcome.” He smiles easily.
“Were you waiting long? Outside I mean,” I ask him.
“Since yesterday,” he replies.
“You sat out there all night?” I’m horrified.
“Not cold.” He shrugs.
“Ace! That’s not good for you. You didn’t need to do that.” I mildly scold him. “What did you want?”
“Check okay.”
I hesitate before answering.
“Not okay? House fine. I check.”
“No, it’s not that…”
Just then, Phoenix wanders into the room, looking for a snack. I show her the cookies and sit her up at the island on a stool. She happily munches through them, saying with her mouth half full that they’re really good.
“What’s this?” she asks, holding out Ace’s note to me.
“It’s a note. It came with the cookies,” I tell her.
“What does it say?”
“I don’t know. Ask Ace.”
“Ace, what does this say?”
He takes the note from her and reads it aloud in fluent Slovenian. Phoenix giggles.
“What does it mean?”
“Ah, you want know, you learn like your mum!”
“Will you teach me?”
“Absolutely.” He beams at her enthusiasm while she finishes off her cookie and then races back to play with the toys she’s missed.
“Phoenix great,” he tells me. “I don’t care.”
“Don’t care what?”
“Who father is. Love anyway.”
“Aljaž…” I try to warn him but he shakes his head at me.
“Yes. Always love. You. Phoenix.”
“But…” I try to argue but he’s having none of it.
“Nothing changing.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
