I kill the lights, start the movie, and crawl in after them. Penelope immediately makes another executive decision.
“I want Carly.”
I pause halfway down onto one elbow. “Excuse me?”
“For snuggles,” she says, like I’m the unreasonable one here. “You’re too big.”
Carly laughs softly beside me. “That is kind of true.”
“Wow.” I settle onto the floor anyway, stretching my legs out under the blankets. “Good to know where I stand.”
Penelope is already curled into Carly’s side, one little arm slung across her middle like she’s claimed her.
Carly so easily accepts it. She tucks the blanket around Penelope, smooths her hair back, presses a kiss to the top of her head so absentmindedly it feels like something private I shouldn’t be watching.
Except I can’t stop watching.
The movie plays. It's some new animated one from Disney that I vaguely recognize from posters. Penelope makes it maybe thirty minutes before she starts fading, her blinks slower and slower, her body going heavy where it’s tucked into Carly.
Carly looks over at me once, like she knows I’m staring.
I don't bother looking away, even though I know I should.
My daughter is asleep against her and Carly's expression has gone soft in the dim light from the TV, one hand resting on Pen's back, her fingers moving in slow little circles like it's second nature.
And I know, without a doubt, that I am in so much fucking trouble.
This is what I was trying not to let happen.
More than the sex, more than the attraction, this was what I was worried about. Because I want to keep looking, want this exact picture burned into my head forever, want more if it.
She's so good with her.
When the movie takes a dramatically cringy turn, I check if Penny is definitely asleep before switching the movie off. Carly carefully shifts, and Penelope stirs but doesn’t wake, just mumbles something into Carly’s shirt and nestles deeper.
“I'll take her to bed,” I whisper, already carefully trying to sit up without knocking down the fort.
Carly shakes her head. “It’s okay. I've got it.” She sits up slowly and gathers Penelope into her arms, and my daughter barely notices, limp and trusting and fully asleep as Carly slips out of the fort without her waking. She stands, and Penny's head shifts to her shoulder like it belongs there.
It's too easy.
I follow them upstairs a step behind, every instinct in me going strange and quiet.
Carly carries Pen to her room, bends, and lays her down with so much care it almost hurts to watch. She tucks the blanket up under her chin, brushes the hair off her forehead, and waits a second just to make sure she stays asleep.
From the doorway, I say nothing. I don’t trust what might come out if I do.
Carly turns, meeting my eyes in the low glow of the night-light and the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling and walls.
And all at once I know I’m losing this fight.
Fast.
Chapter 26
Carly
Seven Weeks
