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I stuck my hand in front of her face and started counting. “One, I’m happy.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
I ignored her. “Two, I’m eating regularly.”
“I repeat, that’s a bad thing?”
“Three, Kat always wants to eat junk food after gym class. Ergo, all your fault.”
She sniffed and shoved my hand away. “You’re not gaining weight.”
“My shirt is too small.”
“No, it fits. You were skinny before. Now you have meat on top of the muscle.”
My brow puckered. “I wasn’t skinny.”
“You didn’t eat for hours,” she argued. “Then, you’d eat a steak and apple pie in ten minutes! That’s not healthy. That’s binge eating.”
“I take it back about liking Savannah. This is her fault, isn’t it?”
A soft laugh drifted from her. “No, it’s not actually, but she did make me realize you eat like a bougie college student. And when you’re hacking, you live off Coke and candy, Conor.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not cocaine. Anyway, you live off candy too.”
“I do. But I eat green things as side dishes.”
“Only because of Kat. She’d never let you get away with making her eat green things if you didn’t too.”
“Exactly. That’s the compromise of being a parent.”
I blinked. “Negotiation?”
“Yup. You’re still new to the game so you’re rusty. But you’ll get used to it.”
As Craig, one of my crew, drove us toward Fifth Avenue, I asked, “Okay, so when she wants hot dogs—”
“You make her drink water. Or milk. Or juice. No soda. And later, you make sure she eats something healthy.” She shrugged. “It’s not like you need to know this. I mean, I handle it.”
“No, I’m…” I coughed. “I mean, I want to know. I need to know. That’s what being a dad is, right? Being responsible?”
Her head tilted to the side and the lights from the traffic illuminated her expression. “She told me about your conversation.”
“Which one? We talk a lot.”
If I sounded proud, so be it. Much like her mother, Kat was a tough nut to crack, but I’d cracked that shell which meant I knew too much about Camden and the ins and outs of floor work in gymnastics.
“About wanting to call me Mom and, once we’re hitched, you Dad.”
“She hasn’t called you that yet, has she?”
“No.” She peeped at me. “Thank you for letting her open up with you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that,” I grumbled, unfastening my top button for good measure.
“I think you’ll find that I do. I never talked to you about being her father figure, just kind of threw you into the ring, and you’ve shown up more than I could have anticipated."
“I already told you that I knew you came as a package, Star, and I never wanted anything else.” I cleared my throat. “I couldn’t imagine myself having kids, so I feel pretty blessed, to be honest.”
