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Her eyes light up. "She's a beautiful little girl, Nolan."
I was fishing for an 'I'm crazy about you too, Nolan,' but my apparently my bait game isn't strong enough.
"Do you need anything, sir," Tilde, one of May's nannies, comes out from the kitchen. "My shift ends in thirty minutes. I've prepped a bedtime snack for May. You'll find that in the refrigerator. She had tidied her room before you arrived home earlier. I think that's everything."
"You're free to go." I glance at Ellie before I turn back to Tilde. "I'm taking May to a museum tomorrow so I won't need you until four. You can let the staff know they have the morning off."
Ellie shifts uncomfortably in her seat. I was worried when she didn't arrive at five. By the time my watch signaled its daily alarm at five thirty I was convinced s
he wouldn't show. I was resigned to eating alone with May at six, as I do most days, but then the light tapping on the door erased all my doubt.
"Karen is here for the night." Tilde picks up an empty glass from the coffee table. "Enjoy your evening."
I watch Ellie as Tilde walks away. She follows her every step, not turning back to me until Tilde is out of sight.
"Tell me what you're thinking." I inch closer to her. "You look so serious. Something is going on in that head of yours."
She looks down at her hands in her lap. "It's a lot to take in. This apartment, your staff, May. It's so much, Nolan."
I know it is. Even though I was the one who cooked the pancakes, the chef I'd hired to prepare meals for May and I stood nearby. One of my housekeeping staff swooped in to clear the dishes even though I've asked them repeatedly not to do that. I want my daughter to take on more chores. Loading the dishes into the dishwasher is a task that May enjoys. The silverware is off limits for now, until she's old enough to understand safe handling of the forks and knives.
"It's just May and me that you need to worry about," I reassure her quietly. "You came here to see us. She's having a great time, Ellie. I want you to have fun too."
"I found some paper," May exclaims as she races around the corner from the hallway. "I'll draw you a picture of me that you can take home."
Ellie smiles as May climbs back into her lap. "That's the best gift in the world. I'll keep it forever."
***
"May will be asleep in a couple of hours, Ellie." I rest my hands on her shoulders. "I can give you the key for the shoebox and you can hang out there."
She looks over to where Dino is standing guard at his desk. "It's been a long day, Nolan. A great day but I'm exhausted. I think I should head home for the night."
I don’t want that. It's not just because I'm aching to be inside her again. I want time alone with her after what happened today. She met my daughter. She stepped willingly into my life and didn't run in the opposite direction.
She hugged May as she was leaving my apartment. May hugged her back, tightly. She kissed Ellie on the cheek and told her that she hoped they could be friends. Ellie nodded because the emotion she was feeling was too much. I saw the tears beading in the corners of her eyes. I saw her knees shake as she crouched down to hold May close.
"You can rest at the shoebox until I get there."
"Until you get there?" She grins. "What will happen when you get there?"
"I can draw you a picture on your hand." I whip a purple marker out of my back pocket. "May didn't touch your right hand, so there's plenty of room for me to draw my…"
"Dino will hear you if you say cock." She leans close, her voice no more than a whisper.
"Dino's hearing isn't what it used to be." I pull her to my chest. "Besides, you like talking about my cock."
"No," she says with a laugh. "You talk about it way more than I do."
"That might be true but you think about it more than I do."
"I thought about it this morning," she admits as she kisses my cheek. "I've come twice today already, so I'm good."
"My cock wasn't involved in either of those," I point out. "I want in, literally, Elle, I want in."
She taps her finger on her chin. "I suppose I could go over the practice interview for the NYPD I found online while I wait for you."
"There's that fucking spirit I was looking for."
