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“The day you gave notice.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. But after refusing to hire her to be my dog-walker, I offered to give her a ride home so she didn’t have to walk all that way.” I rub a hand on the back of my neck, still regretting how I handled myself that day. “Anyway, we got talking in the car and Emma mentioned that you were still struggling with the bills, and I mentioned how you wouldn’t let anyone help you.”
I talk faster to stop Sophie from interjecting. “We started brainstorming ways I could maybe make your life a little easier, without you knowing it.”
“The GrubHub gift card that she ‘won’?”
“It counts. I ‘won’ it from Teddy in a game of Uno.” Emma calls from her hiding place in the kitchen.
I grin. “She won it from me fair and square.”
“The spending money that Lauren gave you?” Sophie glares through the wall to the kitchen.
“That actually was from Lauren. But Teddy also paid me for walking Max that day.”
“So you really have been walking his dog?” Sophie glares at me now.
I rub my beard to hide my smile. “She’s been an excellent employee.”
“What about the manicure-pedicure certificate that Lauren just happened to have?” Sophie asks, examining her bright pink nails.
“I decided that all of the freelance writing staff deserved a treat.” I shrug. Lauren hadn’t been hard to win over, once she knew I was serious.
“Have you all been in…?” Sophie struggles for a word. I wait, watching her face change as she works out the tiny ways I’ve been smoothing her path over the last few weeks. “The free Starbucks? But that wasn't your car in front of me…”
“I was three cars ahead. I paid for all of the cars between us as well.” I shrug, Emma had been texting me her and Sophie’s locations whenever they went out and I’d managed to find ways of being there.
“You’re telling me you’ve been in...been in cahoots with Emma and Lauren this whole time and I had no idea?” Sophie hops to her feet, pacing back and forth in front of me. “Okay, but this.” She waves towards the kitchen. “This is too much, Teddy. You couldn’t have known that today would happen.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Emma sneaks into her room, making a show of putting in her earbuds as she goes. I smile. She’s a good kid. And she’s been surprisingly fun to hang out with when she brings Max home from his walks. The slobbery mutt is besotted with her.
I grab Sophie’s hand and pull her down next to me. Taking her by the hands, I look into those bright blue eyes I adore so much. “I didn’t know, you’re right. That wasn’t the point. I was prepared to do this for as long as it took for you to let down your guard and let me back in.”
A strand of her corn silk hair falls in front of her eyes and I reach up to smooth it back. “All I want is to make your life better, Sunshine. No, what I need is to know that your life is good. Whether or not I’m in it, I want you to be able to enjoy it. To have the comfort of an ice-cold coffee on a scorching Saturday afternoon, or a nice meal cooked at home after a long day at work.”
Her eyes go glassy, but there’s a tiny smile creeping around the edges of her mouth, so I keep talking. “I know you could do this on your own. Nothing I’ve done is taking that away from you, Sunshine. I just want to be part of it—that’s all I’m asking. Let me in. Let me be part of your life.”
“Didn’t we already discuss this?” There’s a teasing note to her voice. “What did I tell you earlier?”
“That you were in it with me.” Now there’s tears in my own eyes. The broken pieces of my heart fuse together in the light of her smile. “Are you really? You didn’t spend the afternoon at work talking yourself out of it?”
“I didn’t and I am. For as long as you’re in it.”
I reach over and pull Sophie onto my lap, letting the weight of her ground me in this moment. “And if I say forever?”
Sophie sighs, her breath dancing along my lips as she leans close. “Then forever it is.”
I pull her close, needing her sweetness and light, pressing my lips to hers in an unspoken promise to be everything she needs and more, just like she is for me.
The click of Emma’s bedroom door opening and closing again has me cracking one eye open. “Ugh, gross. This is what I’m going to have to live with now?”
Sophie explodes into giggles, ducking her head into my chest. I throw my head back and laugh with her, the usual weight of being Theodore Sutton floating away on the wings of her laughter. Emma stands by the door watching us, head cocked. “Bella’s on her way over. Are you guys going to stay here and be gross, or what?”
I help Sophie off my lap then stand up beside her. “Nope, I’m taking your mom out for dinner. You can order whatever you want to eat, my treat.” I pull out my phone to tap a few buttons before nodding to my pint-sized partner in crime.
“Don’t keep her out too late.” Emma winks at me before giving her mom a hug. “Now go away, I can’t stomach your…” she waves her hand at the pair of us. “This.”
