Page 71 of Love Lessons: Expanded Edition

She pressed one quick little butterfly wing of a kiss to his cheek before dancing off with her presents.

He waved broadly to get her attention. Stay in the living room or the kitchen where I can keep an eye on you.

I need a mirror!

Bring the mirror in here.

Lena shuffled her feet down the hallway, but she didn’t really mind getting the mirror. It was nice to be close to Daddy.

When she settled down at the table and opened the lipstick, it was pinker and shinier than the natural shades that she usually wore. It still suited her complexion, but it reminded her of bubble gum and glitter.

She wiped off the old color and applied the new one. She rubbed her lips together. It definitely made her look younger and cuter.

She decided to put her hair up in a ponytail. Not the usual one she wore at the nape of her neck, but piled on top of her head.

In the edge of the mirror, she could see Daddy leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen and watching her. He probably didn’t know that she could see, so she was basically like a spy.

She tilted the mirror to see his face. He looked adoring and happy. In fact, she didn’t think she’d ever seen him so relaxed as he stood lounging there.

She got an idea and added another coat of lip gloss.

Then she turned and swooped up to him, feeling daring and flirty. She left a pink kiss mark right on his cheek and ran away before he could react.

She grabbed the brown bag with her new books from the table and raced to the couch. Only after a few minutes of intensely studying the covers did she look up at him.

He was putting something in the fridge, but once he looked up, he smiled at her indulgently. She looked quickly down at her books. Daddy was intense!

She couldn’t choose between the two books and wanted to savor them, so she first read the backs and studied the covers. There were author’s notes in each one, so she read those, too. She loved knowing about who wrote the books she read.

In between all that, she kept looking up to check what Daddy was doing. He wiped down the table and threw away the trash. He started the dishwasher. He even wiped down the kitchen counter from the crumbs she’d probably left there earlier when she’d made toast.

But he was totally watching her, too. It was a heady feeling.

He came over to the couch, lifted her legs up, and slipped in to sit beneath them. It made her feel cozy and special.

Can’t decide what to read?

I was reading about the authors and illustrators first. And I want to make the books last.

He gave her an indulgent smile. We can get more when you finish these. Why don’t you get started? You have an hour of reading time.

She made a face. An hour?

He nodded solemnly. She noticed that he still had a pink smudge on his cheek, and it made her feel warm inside.

She chose Ms. Marvel and started reading, slowly losing herself in the story of another teen girl trying to figure out her identity. Lena, of course, wasn’t trying to figure out her family, religion, and superpowers all at the same time, but she felt like Kamala Khan was someone she could identify with. She was fierce even when she was feeling insecure, and she wanted to do the right thing even when she wasn’t sure what it was.

It was nice, relaxing even. She could just give up everything and focus on someone else’s problems, while Daddy read on his tablet and mindlessly rubbed her feet.

And when she looked up, he was sitting there, just being close to her. But there was something exciting about that. Like he was a little larger than life. Almost mythic. A hero. Daddy.

She kept reading, getting sucked into the plot, but knowing that he was there, too. It was a type of security she felt deep in her core.

She was just starting a new issue when Daddy tapped her leg. How’s the book?

She bubbled over and started telling him all about it, only to realize that he’d read it, too! She shared her favorite parts and asked all sorts of questions, but he wouldn’t tell her what was coming next.

Because he was mean. And boring.