Andrew Talks To Rose

"Hi Dad...ling. Darling. Hi darling."

I don't think my daughter was aware that I knew exactly how she saw me, and so it was fairly easy to play the part of a dopey Dad. I frowned at my iPad as I continued to pretend to read the daily news, and waited for her to try again.

"Good morning darling!"

"Oh, hello honey," I said, looking up and overplaying my absent-mindedness. Yes, I can be a little absent-minded at times, and yes, I know it drives my daughter crazy.

For once, it was something I could use to my advantage. It'd give me a chance to let Belle grow comfortable with her role as her own mother; I could pretend not to notice anything unusual about her behaviour.

"Oh, honey," I said without looking up. "That leak still isn't fixed - you might have to sleep in the study for a few more nights. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No!"

I couldn't resist - I looked up at her excited response, peering over my glasses with an amused smile on my face.

"Oh?"

"I mean, uh...I'm going to miss you, sweetums."

"You too, pork chop."

I pretended not to notice the look of disgust on my daughter's face as I turned back to the newspaper app. 'Pork chop' may have been pushing it...but in all fairness, Mary and I had never, ever called each other "sweetums".