I start to move away, but Penelope clings to me tighter. “Haze, honey, we gotta talk.”
Chapter
Forty-Eight
Penelope
* * *
“Are you sure?” Decker whispers.
“It’s time.” I step away, keeping my hand in his. “Hazel, let’s sit.”
“Is this about Decker being my daddy?” Hazel runs into the living room and throws herself onto a chair.
I pause for a second but sit on the couch and tug Decker down next to me. I think he’s thrown. I probably should’ve given him a heads-up, but this is having kids. You do things on the fly sometimes.
“It’s not about Decker being your daddy.”
“It’s not?” Her face distorts with displeasure, and I rear back, surprised by her reaction. “They said it would work. That all I had to do was get you guys to spend time together, and he’d be my daddy.”
I glance at Decker. He told me about Henry Hensley’s son, Bodhi, and how he likes to interfere in couples’ relationships. He alluded that Bodhi might have had something to do with us.
“Hazel, who is they?”
She sinks into the chair, looking anywhere but us.
“Hazel.” I use my stern voice, and she peeks up, seeing that this conversation will not end until she tells us.
“The boys… Lincoln, Bodhi, and Micah. Bodhi and Micah said they got his parents together. That they just had to push them together. So…”
Decker hasn’t said anything yet, and I feel as if I’m in a dark room and feeling my way to the exit with this one. I definitely didn’t think this was what she was planning the entire time.
“How did you push us together?” I ask.
She glances at the door.
“Hazel.”
She blows out a big breath. “The hula hoop talent show. They all saw how good Decker was at the field day, and Monroe said how she overheard Hayes and Leighton talking about you and Decker. I like Decker. I want him to be my daddy.”
I turn to Decker, whose eyes are wide open.
“Would you excuse us for a minute?” I ask him. He doesn’t need to be here when I tell her she can’t just appoint someone to be her daddy.
“I’d rather stay if it’s okay with you.”
My eyebrows crinkle. “You would?”
“Yeah.” He nods.
“Okay…” I slide my hand from his and go over to Hazel, kneeling by her chair. “Listen, honey, I know you’ve been wondering a lot of things about having a daddy. And you like Decker, but you can’t just pick someone, then trick them?—”
“There wasn’t any tricking on my part,” Decker says.
I tilt my head and give him a look like I got this, just stay over there. “You lied and did things to have Decker take the time out of his schedule to teach you the hula hoop. And…”
I draw a blank, unsure how to even approach this the right way. It’s honestly brilliant that a group of elementary kids are such good matchmakers.
