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Victoria rested her elbow on the counter and propped her chin on her fingers. Then she batted her lashes. “How about dinner?”
“How about you eat your breakfast?” I pointed to the food in front of her. “I’m sure your stomach could do with something to soak up the alcohol you consumed last night.”
“Hmm, you’re probably right.”
I reached for a loaf of bread and unwound the tie. “Who wants toast?”
“Too many carbs,” Leslie said, and I frowned.
“Didn’t you just ask for French toast?”
She laughed and reached for a handful of grapes from the fruit platter. “Oh yeah. Fine, give me all the toast.”
As the others began to give her hell about not being able to make up her mind—with foodorguys, apparently—I shook my head and popped a couple slices in the toaster. I couldn’t begin to imagine how parents with more than one child navigated things, because girls were a handful. Maybe boys too, but I didn’t have experience with that. On one hand, it was entertaining being a fly on the wall while they gossiped. On the other, when it got a little TMI, it made me want to start drinking early.
“Anyone care for some coffee?” I asked, tossing the toast slices onto the girls’ plates.
When they all answered in the affirmative, I grabbed three oversized mugs and a container of Serena’s favorite peppermint mocha creamer from the fridge.
She smiled and poured herself a generous helping into her mug. “You’re the best.”
I winked at her, but…was I? Lately, I didn’t feel that way. I felt stretched too thin between work, the Elysium, and the distraction that was Preston. Not that I was complaining about the last. It was all I could do to not text him right now.
I’d promised Serena no visitors, though, and I wasn’t sure how long the girls would be staying.
I wiped my hands on a dishtowel and rested my hip against the counter. “So, any word on the state of your apartment?Leslie’s folks said they already had a team in there to fix it before you left.”
“Thank God for connections,” Serena said, and Victoria added, “And a huge bank account.”Serena cracked a grin. “That too. Nothing was ruined, so that’s a good thing, but they’ll need us out of the way for a couple more days to reinforce the rest of the pipes and send in a cleaning crew.”
“You don’t mind us crashing until then, do you?” Leslie asked. “We’ll even spring for dinner.”
“That won’t be necessary. You’re all welcome to stay as long as you need to.”
Victoria began to dance in her seat to some silent beat the rest of us couldn’t hear. “Hell yes. Hey, we should totally do girls’ night. Skip the bar scene, bring in someone to do mani/pedis, order takeout, and watch the Eras tour.” She spun around to face me. “Hey, Mr. C, you like mani/pedis, right?”
Oh sweet fuck.It was one thing to host this trio; it was another thing to be “one of the girls.” Especially when they began to dance and sing at the top of their lungs to Taylor Swift.
“Actually, you know what? I have a very busy week coming up at work and with the Elysium, so I think I might leave you ladies the house and maybe check in somewhere. That way you can have free rein.”
A worried expression crossed Serena’s face. “I don’t want to push you out of the house, Dad.”
“Oh, you won’t be. You know I have a million points to use up, and this way I won’t feel like the old guy asking you to keep it down every five minutes.”
Serena bit down into her lip, her consternation obvious.“Are yousure?”
“Of course.” I came around the counter and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You moved out for some space. Somefreedom from your dad. You don’t need me hovering around when you want to have fun.”
Serena looked up at me, narrowing her eyes a fraction. “Plus it’ll give you time alone to…work.”
The insinuation was loud and clear—to me. But in all honesty, I hadn’t even thought of that possibility. Of being free to call up Preston. Now that she’d put the idea in my head, though, I had to admit it was a good one.
“It will. So you ladies settle in and stay as long as you need. I’m going to go and organize myself a room.”
“Thanks, Mr. C. You’re the best,” Leslie and Victoria said around bites of food.
“The absolute best.” Serena punctuated her words with a kiss on my cheek, then whispered by my ear, “Tell him I said hi.”
Not quite sure how to respond to that, I kissed the top of her head and made my goodbyes as I headed upstairs to my bedroom.
