Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“Okay, Pigeon. Let’s see your moves.”
My daughter lit up like I’d never seen in my life for the next twenty minutes or so, batting that rumpled-up paper towel across our kitchen and dining area and scoring on me every time.
Not that I was trying very hard to block her.
Mostly, I was trying to breathe past the knot in my chest at the sight of her having fun, of the way her face looked entirely different when she sported a toothy grin.
After her fifth celly dance — which consisted of her holding the stick above her head and doing some weird wiggle maneuver with her legs — I slung her up over my shoulder and pretended like I was going to toss her into the pool.
“No, Daddy! You’ll ruin my outfit!”
All the playfulness left her at the thought of that atrocity, and I slung her back over my shoulder and carried her inside, setting her down just a few feet in front of Chloe.
“Did you tell Miss Knott thank you?”
“A bajillion times,” Ava assured me. But then, she turned and wrapped her arms around Chloe’s legs, squeezing as tight as she could with all the padding. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“You’re so welcome, my little angel bug,” Chloe said, hugging her in return. Then, she bent down and looked Ava in the eyes. “How about we go hang this up so it doesn’t get wrinkly, and get you in the tub.”
“Can I play with my toys?”
“Well, I don’t see how we can leave the story of Princess Unicorn and Prince Duck untold after that major cliffhanger last night.”
Ava scrunched her nose. “What’s a cliffhanger?”
“I’ll explain upstairs. Go ahead. Leave this all on your bed and I’ll take care of it before I come in.”
“Okay!”
Ava ran up the stairs as best she could in her padding, and Chloe stood, smiling at her the entire way before she slowly turned to face me.
“You made that?” I asked, and damn if that knot wasn’t still tight in my throat.
Chloe shrugged, folding her arms over her middle. She was dressed in an oversized knit sweater that hung off one shoulder, her leggings covered in cat hair.
And yet, I’d never wanted to strip a woman bare so badly in my life.
“I needed a project,” she said, as if it wasn’t a big deal, as if she hadn’t just made my daughter’s entire life with that fucking outfit.
“She was smiling.”
That made a grin bloom on Chloe’s lips, her cheeks turning a delicate shade of pink. “She was, wasn’t she?” Then, she threw her fist into the air and jerked it back down by her side, shimmying her hips in her own little celly dance. “Mission one accomplished.”
“Mission one?”
“Well, mission two is to make you smile,” she said, poking her finger into my chest.
I had to fight against the urge to capture her hand in mine and pull her into me, to feel that soft body of hers pressed against me, to slide my hands into her hair and show her how much what she’d done meant to me.
“And then mission three is to make both of you laugh.”
“I smile,” I said defensively.
Chloe flattened her lips, crossing her arms again. “That little centimeter curve of the right side of your mouth doesn’t count.”
I scowled. “Who made you the smile police?”
Before she could answer, Ava was calling for her from upstairs, and I could hear the bathwater running.
Chloe shook her head at me on a grin, pointing at the kitchen. “Not sure if you already ate, but there’s leftover chicken zoodle stir fry in the fridge.”
“Zoodle?”
“You know, like noodles but made with zucchini.”
My eyebrows inched into my hairline. “You got my daughter to eat zucchini?”
Chloe grinned, satisfied with herself as she shimmied up to me. “Every bite.”
It was a miracle, and I knew my face said as much.
“You didn’t need to cook,” I said. “When Chef Patel takes off, we usually just order in.”
“I’m perfectly capable of making a well-balanced meal, Mr. Perry.”
“I wasn’t doubting you.”
“Mm-hmm.”
She gave me a sassy look over her shoulder before walking up the stairs. She was halfway up when I called out, “Thank you.”
“Ah, so he does still have manners.”
She winked at me, and then disappeared up the banister.
And I stood there in my kitchen with one hand scrubbing over my jaw, wondering how the hell I was supposed to resist that woman when she did shit like this.
• • •
After bath time, I relieved Chloe of her duty, taking over and reading Ava a book.
Of course, I didn’t get far into it before she was begging me to join a hockey team, saying she was ready and that Axel Swann in her class was on a hockey team and why couldn’t she be, too?
I promised her I’d look into it with my heart squeezing painfully in my chest. One, because I had no idea if I could find a league of girls, or one that would allow a co-ed situation. And two, because the thought of her getting hurt was enough to make me want to lock her in this bedroom of safety until she was twenty.