"Which one?" Jess asks.
"Carrot," says Willa, and grabs the biggest strawberry from the plate.
"That's a strawberry," Jess says.
"Carrot," Willa says stubbornly, and takes a big bite.
"Okay," Jess says, and sets the plate aside, "we'll work on that. How about the color? What color is it?"
"Carrot," Willa says.
"Red," Jess says. "Strawberries are red. Right? Like apples, and raspberries, and - "
"Carrots," Willa says.
"You're doing this on purpose now," Jess says. Willa grins at him. "Be real with me now, come on. This is serious stuff."
Willa gnaws on the strawberry some more, and then carefully places the remnants of the fruit on the side of her dinner tray. She looks up at Jess expectantly, her eyes wide.
"You want another one? Gotta ask me for it." Jess squints at her. "I know you know the right word. Come on, honey."
"Hmm," Willa says, "honey?"
"That's you, you're honey," Jess says, reaching out and tickling her neck a little. She squirms and laughs, flapping her hands at him. "It's also a condiment, but we haven't gotten that far yet. Come on, which one do you want? Strawberry or grape?"
"Gape," Willa says, pointing at a strawberry.
Jess stubbornly hands her a grape. Willa frowns, and throws it on the floor. "No, hey, don't throw food. Listen, you asked me for it, what do you want from me? Huh? You can't get mad at me for giving you what you asked for." Willa scrunches up her face in irritation and points insistently at the plate of strawberries. "Say it out loud, baby. Which one?"
"Daddy," Willa says, and scowls at him. He waits patiently, unmoving, until her face collapses and her eyes go teary.
"Damn it," Jess says, and drags the strawberries over. He's a sucker.
"Honey," Willa says happily, and digs in.
"Don't try to sweet talk me now, you little punk," Jess says. Willa holds out a strawberry for him placatingly, and Jess leans in and takes a bite. "Okay, fine, they're better than grapes. You win."
"Spaghetti," Willa says, clean as a bell, and shoves the rest of the strawberry in her mouth.
Jess stares at her. "What?"
"Spaghetti," Willa repeats, with a distinct air of wariness, like Jess is the one who's being weird.
"Okay, sure, whatever," Jess says. "It's a good thing I can't afford to home school you; you'd flunk all your classes just to spite me. Huh? Right?"
Willa smiles happily and tries to hand him another strawberry.
"No thanks, I don't like spaghetti," Jess says, gently pushing her hand away.
"No," Willa says, "carrot."
"You're a real comedian," Jess tells her, and Willa laughs uproariously and takes another bite.