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I’d been doing it for years, and now Seth was dangling it in front of my face. It was so hard to say no to. Especially because of the little girl twirling around between the twin brothers. So different, and so much the same. Even here, both of them were dressed for work and somehow were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
Seth with his laid back summer-weight blazer in a perfectly acceptable wheat color over dark jeans and white dress shirt sans tie. And then there was Oliver, who looked like he was about to head into the city for a meeting with people on Wall Street. His navy Seville Rowe suit, crisp and perfect even with the sun beating down on them.
The only thing that matched on the two men were the indulgent smiles for Seth’s daughter. She was full of happiness from the colorful purple and pink dress with butterflies dotting the hem, to her slightly crooked blond braids. Somehow Laurie had turned into a little girl instead of staying the baby I’d helped to raise. Even when I’d drifted away from them for a few months, she was so much mine in more ways than I ever wanted to face.
Why the hell couldn’t I just calm down about all of this? Let things happen as they happened.
Because you love him madly.
I slumped down in my seat and cursed when Laurie spotted me. No turning back now. I took a swig from my water to swallow the paste the crackers had become in my dry mouth.
I swung the door open and caught Laurie against my leg before she could knock me down. “Hiya, munchkin.”
“Yay, you came.”
“Of course I did. I wouldn’t miss it.” I crouched down in front of her and smoothed a flyaway blond curl around her ear. “I love your dress.”
“Daddy got it for me.”
“Did you guys go shopping together?”
“Yes.” She buried her face into my neck and looped her arms around my neck. “Do I have to go up there?”
I laughed and wobbled on my heels thanks to the gravel path. “No. You don’t have to. But don’t you want to go up there and show your dad what a big girl you are?”
She shook her head against my shoulder.
I swung her up into my arms. “Yes you do. You’ll be up there with all your friends. And you want to show off your pretty dress, right?”
“Yeah.” Her voice was small, but less scared.
“See? Oh, and you get a diploma. Just like the big girl you are.”
“Diploma?”
I shifted her onto my hip. “Yep. A paper that says you are a very important little girl. Even though we already know you are, right Dad?”
Seth’s eyebrows shot up behind his aviators. “Of course.” He gave his little girl a huge smile. “What are we doing?” he asked out of the side of his mouth.
“She’s a big girl now. She’s definitely going up on stage to get her diploma.”
“Oh, right. Definitely. I can’t wait to take a million pictures of you, munchkin.” He poked his finger into her side and she wiggled in my arms.
“No, Daddy.”
“Okay, maybe one hundred pictures?”
She giggled. “No. Ten is good.”
Seth laughed. “Ten, huh?”
“Yes. One for you, one for me, one for Grandpa, one for Ollie…” She put her hand against my cheek. “One for Ally. She’s just like a mama, right?”
I nearly dropped her.
Seth moved in close to me and slid his hand down my back. “Would you like that, baby girl?”
“Big girl,” Laurie said quickly.
