He knew the drill too. He opened the wrapping carefully and didn’t tilt it so the glitter wouldn’t drop in his lap. It wasn’t his first rodeo.
“Would you look at that.” He smiled at the photo of the two of them. I’d taken it when we’d been on one of our road trips. Lily was on Ash’s back and pretending to be an airplane while Ash ran around. “It’s us, princess.”
“Yup!”
“Thank you so much. I’mma keep it in my office.”
Hallie sat up straighter, with the sweetest smile on her face, and extended her gift next.
“Happy birthday, Daddy. I hope you’ll have the best day ever.”
I hid my grin by biting into a blueberry muffin. Hallie—our type A personality fighter—always wanted to give the bestgift. She succeeded most of the time too, but we weren’t sure she was doing it for the right reasons. The girl was incredibly competitive.
Dylan shook his head in amusement and focused on stuffing his face.
It was a wonderful gift, though.
Ash felt up the box and shook it. “A pair of socks?”
“You’re so funny, Daddy,” Hallie laughed.
Dylan and I exchanged a look.
She was laying it on thick. Ash ate it right up. But I was starting to wonder if Hallie was gearing up to ask for something. She didn’t play the Daddy card too often.
When Ash lifted the lid—and the tissue paper—and he saw the soft case Hallie had made for our National Parks Passport, she officially had him wrapped around her finger for the rest of the year.
“Goddamn, baby girl.” He brushed his fingers over the cross-stitch patterns.
She’d bought a regular toiletry case, a flat one in cotton. And then she’d used her cross-stitching skills to make it ours.The Riley Family’s Adventures. Embroidered stick figures from an old drawing of hers of the whole family, an RV, two road signs, and a bunch of little hearts. The passport would fit perfectly in there.
And we had more adventures to look forward to.
“I can’t thank you enough for this, Hallie,” Ash murmured. “We’re putting the passport in here today. Thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled brightly.
She’d been trying to nudge us back together all year. Considering my own gift to Ash, maybe she took after me…
“Does that mean it’s your turn now, honey?” Ash shot me a smirk.
“Actually, Dad’s gift wins,” Dylan chuckled.
Hallie looked miffed at that. “He’s a grown-up with a full-time career. He has all the money.”
Oof. No, I sure did not. What I did have was a credit card and lonely nights. Well, the latter was thankfully not true anymore—but the other day when I’d been up late, crying in my wineglass, I’d sure set my Visa on fire.
I’d be paying this gift off in six installments.
I dug out the envelope from under a stack of magazines on the table next to the bed.
Ash crammed more bacon into his mouth and made a gimme motion.
I suppressed a sigh. It wasn’t honestly bothering me, but he would certainly see through my original intentions with this gift. To lure him away from his new partners—or partner, as I’d figured at the time—and force him to spend time with me. Under the weak guise of it being a family trip.
Lily climbed up on my lap as Ash opened the envelope.
“Do I know what it is, Daddy?” she asked, cupping her hand around her mouth.
