AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Happy Birthday, Daddy!”
All the air rushed out of Pres’ lungs as his daughter landed squarely on his stomach. She leaned forward to smother him in kisses and he wrinkled his nose, pretending not to enjoy every minute.
“What time is it?”
“I don’t know. I can’t tell the time.” Delilah shrugged.
“The clock in your room is numbers.” He was suspicious now. Mostly because he couldn’t see much light coming in through the curtains. “What did they say?”
Delilah pulled her lips in, like she was trying to stop herself from speaking.
“Delilah…” His voice was low. “Tell me the number.”
“I think I saw an eight,” she finally said.
“What was the first number?” he said, grabbing her waist and tickling her. It would be easy for him to roll over and grab his phone to check, but he was enjoying this.
Watching his daughter try – and fail – to lie was always funny.
“Five,” she admitted.
“So it’s five am.” He nodded slowly. “You know what that means?”
“Time for cake and milk?” she said hopefully, lifting her eyebrows. That’s what they had for breakfast on all of their birthdays. Sure, the cake was usually a little over dry because he wasn’t exactly the best baker. But mix it with a little milk like your mouth was a cement mixer and the result was pretty enjoyable.
“No. Time to go back to bed and let your father sleep.”
“But I can’t sleep,” she said. “It’s your birthday. I want you to open your gifts.”
“No gifts get opened before seven,” he reminded her. “That’s the rule.”
“Santa is no fun.” She pouted.
“What’s Santa got to do with it?” he asked, confused.
“That’s what you told me last Christmas,” she reminded him. “That Santa says nobody can open gifts before seven. Birthdays and Holidays.”
He’d said that? Pres blinked. He must have been sleep deprived. Not that it was a terrible idea. In fact, he wanted to high five his former self.
“Santa’s the one in charge,” he told her. “We just have to do what he says.”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “We could have cake while we wait?” she said hopefully.
“We could,” he agreed solemnly. “But we won’t.” For a moment he wondered if it would be bad to tell her the Tooth Fairy forbade it. But yeah, lying to his kid was a bad idea.
Especially since he’d never be able to keep track of all the mistruths.
“Why don’t you go back to bed for an hour?” he suggested. “Then we can get up and have some breakfast.”
She pressed her lips together again, her eyes moving like she was thinking hard. And he knew she was trying to find another excuse to stay here and not have to go back to sleep.
He sighed, because that extra hour felt really enticing. The storm had caused some delays on the construction site, and they’d been set back by a few days, so they’d worked extra hours once things dried up to try to catch up. His whole body ached and all he wanted to do was sleep, spend some time with his family.
And spend some time with Cassie, too.
He lifted the coverlet. “You can stay here if you promise to sleep.”
Delilah’s face lit up. Mostly because he tried so hard to keep her in her own bed. Not because he didn’t love having her sleep with him. For those first few weeks after Jade died, he’d wanted his daughter with him constantly. Had panicked if he couldn’t see her at all times.
