What A Mess – Freddie POV
"Oh, c'mon Cece, just let me do it," I begged with a smile.
The little girl shook her head back and forth, quickly and repeatedly, laughing. I sighed and looked down at the hairbrush in his hands, with a bunch of copper red hairs in it from previous attempts.
"If you let me brush your hair, you can wrestle mommy for the last pieces of pizza," I persuaded.
Cece swirled around on the bed and looked me dead in the eye. "You better not be joking," she said.
I put my hands up in defeat. "I kid you not."
She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I want mommy to do it."
"No, Cece, mommy's out in the barn with Leo," I said sternly.
She stomped her foot on the ground, "But I want mommy to do it!" she yelled.
"Cece, if you whine one more time, I'm gonna call Santa and tell him all about it," I said as I pulled out my cell phone.
Cece's smirk disappeared from her face and her eyes got glassy. "Y-you wouldn't…" she said.
"I wouldn't? Well… It just so happens that I have the big guy on speed dial," I countered.
"But tomorrow's Christmas!" she complained on the verge of tears.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, I don't make the rules. That's just how it's been since I was a kid. Whiny girls and boys get coal in their stockings," I explained.
"I'm not whiny!" she, ironically, whined.
I held up the hairbrush to remind her that she did, in fact, whine.
Cece slumped her shoulders. "Oh." She turned her back to him on the bed and clamped her eyes shut. "Just get it over with then."
I smiled and rolled my eyes at the drama of it all caused by this six-year-old. I raised my arm and ran the purple brush through the first curly red tress.
"Ow!" Cece exclaimed.
"I'm not gonna do the whole thing, just enough to make you presentable," I said. We had church in a couple of hours. I just wanted to get her hair over with. It was worse than her mom's.
"You promise?" she questioned.
"I promise," I swore.
I ran the brush through another curl at the back of her head.
"Daddy, that hurts!" Cece yelled.
"I know, I'm sorry, princess," I said as I kissed the top of her head.
She huffed and slumped her shoulders.
"OW!" she screamed again.
"Cece, I didn't even touch you that time," I said with a smile.
Life only gets better.