Me
They’re best friends. Why wouldn’t they be happy over this news?
Sophie
They were best friends with Abby with a Y, too, and look what happened there. She turned into a bully, and our kids hate her now. They’re kids, Colson. We can’t predict how they’re going to react. Now or in ten years.
Me
I fucking love when you go deep into the future with me.
Sophie
You’re not helping.
Me
Hey …
Sophie
Yeah?
Me
I love you.
Did that help?
Sophie
Yep. I just melted.
“Abbi, can you believe we’re going to see all the princesses in the whole world?” Ellie faced her best friend, her small hands pounding the air as the excitement moved through her tiny body. “They’re all coming to California, and they’re gonna be on the ice, and no one else is going to see princesses like we are ’cause they’re going to be with us!”
“Iknoooow!” Abbi squealed.
I laughed at the two little ones, who were still screaming in the third row of my SUV, their enthusiasm so over the top that I could almost use a set of earplugs.
And I reached across the seat, caressing the outside of Sophie’s hand as it lay flat against the leather. That little touch was all it took for her to glance at me.
From her texts earlier, I knew she was in her feelings about today. I understood the concern—Abbi never had to share her mother, whereas Ellie had already learned how to share hers—but I still didn’t think there was any reason to worry. The plan was to take the girls out to dinner and then to the princess show on ice, ending the night at my place, where we’d tell the girls we were dating.
When the princess show had been announced a few weeksago, a couple of days after Sophie and I returned from our boat trip, I’d brought up the idea to Sophie. Since The Weston Group owned a box at the arena, the rink where Beck’s NHL team played, I thought it would be the perfect place to take the little ones. They loved princesses; I knew they’d be enamored with the performance. Sophie agreed, and the countdown began. And during the wait, there had been two more sleepovers for the girls—one at Sophie’s place and one at mine. But even though the girls had spent time at each other’s houses and Sophie stopped in to have dinner with us when she picked up Abbi, and I did the same when I went to get Ellie, this was the first time the four of us were going out together.
It was getting harder to keep the secret; it was time to confess.
Now that we were only minutes from our first destination, I turned in my seat, facing our princesses. “Hey, Abbi.” I waited for them to calm down before I continued, “Did your mom tell you where we’re going for dinner?”
She shook her head, and little pieces of blonde hit the corners of her bright blue eyes. “Nope.”
“Do you want me to tell you, or do you want it to be a surprise?” I glanced at Sophie, and she was hiding her smile.
“Tell me!” both girls shouted simultaneously.
I chuckled. The amount of glitter between the two of them was next level. Abbi had pink sparkles under her eyes and across her nose, over the top of her hair, and even her earrings shimmered. Ellie had on just as much, if not more.
“Well, I heard you have a favorite food. Something you love more than anything in this world. Is that true?”
