How to count out ninety-nine kisses

[ohmyrichard]

Dear teachers,
Today, in the novel Bone, written by the Chinese American writer Fae Mynne Ng, I read the following paragraph:
Ona was a counter. She counted the one hundred and forty times our pet rooster crowed in his short life; she tried to keep count of the number of culottes Mah sewed one summer. She counted off the days till Leon(Ona's father) was coming home, and then she stood at the mouth of the alley, counting the cabs that went by. Every night that Leon was gone, she'd count out ninety-nine kisses to keep him safe, to bring him back.
I've got two questions about the underlined part of the paragraph:
1. Does "Every night that Leon was gone" mean "Every night when Leon was not at home"?
2. What does "count out ninety-nine kisses" mean? Is this an idiom?
Thanks.
Richard

[birdeen's call]

1. Yes.
2. You've already got your answer: count out ninety-nine kisses - WordReference Forums