XXIV.

Diana handed Smitty a bottle of beer. “So, did you think about it?”

“Yeah. All night.”

“So?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t made a decision,” he said. “What do you think?”

“It’s not the type of decision I can make for you.”

“I know.” Smitty drank the beer in one gulp. “But a squidfoot delivering Christmas presents? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“But it’s only for five years.”

“Ha! Only for five years,” Smitty said. He threw the beer bottle into the trash and started to pace back and forth.

“You like kids, don’t you? You always say you like seeing them happy?”

“Yeah__ ”

“Well then?”

Smitty sighed, his tentacles drooping to the floor. “But what if I’m no good at it? What if I ruin Christmas for everyone?”

Diana stood up and put her arms around him. She gestured to a large box in the middle of the room. “Then I’ll put you in my bitch-box.”

Smitty laughed and kissed her back. He put his face into her hair and inhaled her scent. His nose wiggled.

Diana had always smelled so nice, but there was something different this time. Was it a new shampoo? A new perfume? What was that smell?

Was that … peppermint?