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I had planned on spending time with him after the recital, and going by the way Sean was looking at me, he’d been banking on that too, but hey, I could still do that. It would just be later than I’d originally hoped for. This would allow Sean and his girls some alone time, and that could never be a bad thing.
Decision made, I smiled at Val and nodded firmly, telling her, “I’m in.”
Val hugged me. Bridgett gave me a high-five. Caroline was still jumping around and chanting.
Sean stared at me like I’d just agreed to commit a double murder or something, until I winked at him.
Then I knew he had his own list going inside his head of things I did that drove him absolutely wild, based on the way his eyes heated and his body grew taut.
I had plans on exploring that list thoroughly very, very soon.
But first, girls’ night with Sean’s ex and her stripper sister.
You couldn’t make this shit up.Chapter SixteenSEANHow’s it going over there?
I read Shayla’s text while Caroline tied another bracelet around my wrist, this one yellow. The one before that had been purple.
You need more colors, Daddy, she’d explained.
Using my left hand, I typed out a response.
Good. Girls are having fun. U?
I still thought it was weird the three of them were hanging out, but as long as I wasn’t getting a call to bust Shayla out of jail for assaulting Bridgett, I didn’t care.
Still would’ve preferred her here, though.
I just rode a mechanical bull and DIDN’T fall off. So, I’m kind of a big deal now. Spread the word.
Not surprised.
No?
Didn’t fall off me the other night.
A bunch of cartoon faces with open mouths came through.
Are you flirting with me again? I LOVE THIS. Keep going.
Get over here and I will.
We’re almost done. I think we’re leaving soon.
“Daddy, can you paint my toes?” Fiona asked, climbing up onto the couch and holding out a tiny bottle of pink polish.
The girls’ sleepover bags included a duffle stuffed full of makeup, jewelry, dress-up dresses, and other shit I now had spread out all over my house. Caroline’s bracelet making kit was shoved in the duffle too.
I was beginning to think Val let the girls bring over every fucking thing they owned.
“In a minute,” I told her, then I glanced back at the phone when it vibrated.
I’m on video duty. See you soon! xoxo
“How about a blue one next, Daddy.” Caroline rummaged in her kit on the cushion next to me. “Or red. Which one do you want?”
“Whatever you wanna give me, baby girl.”
“I think blue.”
She got to work on sizing the string and cutting it the length she needed while Fiona knelt in front of the couch and colored a design on my knee with markers.
She always drew on me, and anything she put on my skin, she thought I’d get permanent.
Fiona had reason to think that, considering the designs I’d gotten made permanent over the years.
Since the girls were both occupied, I opened that stupid fucking snap app and checked it for pictures of Shayla, wanting to see her.
She’d changed her username to HairByShayla a couple weeks back. Changed the sign hanging on that door too.
Every time I saw it, I grinned.
Clicking on her name, I got into what she’d posted.
I shook my head at the images of her with that weird shit on her face that made her look different, and the ones she took with Val and Bridgett, posing together, looking friendly like they’d all known each other for years…I didn’t know what the fuck to think about those.
Then I smiled because that was just her—Shayla being Shayla. She could push her way into any group, onto any person, and make them want to hold onto her. Even a group including my ex and her sometimes pain-in-the-ass sister, someone Shayla did not have a good first impression of. But that was just how Shayla was. She had a light that people wanted to be around, and once she found something good about you, you didn’t have to work at getting her to be on your side. She was already on it.
Looks like what I told her about Bridgett finally penetrated.
“Daddy, you got Snapchat?” Caroline asked, putting her weight on my chest and trying to grab my phone.
I looked at her while keeping my arm outstretched. “You know what that is?”
How the fuck?
“Mommy has that,” Fiona explained, getting up onto the couch now too and trying to get at my phone. “Can we play it?”
“Daddy, we wanna see the filters!” Caroline cried.
“I wanna be a cat!” Fiona yelled.
“I wanna be the princess first, then the puppy, and then the cat!” Caroline informed me, planting her knees in my lap and reaching out while holding onto her sister for balance.
“Ow, Care!” Fiona hollered when Caroline pushed into her too hard. “Stop!”
