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As Gaylen pretended not to hear, I whispered back. “Shh, don’t tell, but they’re Daddy snacks… and we have mac and cheese.”
The good kind.
He’d tried to buy low-fat vegan mac and cheese.
Where in God’s name had our relationship gone so wrong that he thought I would buy that for my sweet girl?
Hell, why had he thoughtIwould eat it?
Grumpy Poppy was trying to kill us both.
He definitely needed some Dom time with our girl to turn his mood around. It might’ve made me a bad person, but I was hoping that they’d both have a very healthy relationship day so we could keep moving forward.
Not rushing… just heading in the right direction.
“Which one should we color first?” As Tabitha made thinking sounds and started sorting through all the different options, including the plain white paper I’d made sure to have available, Gaylen and Ender slowly moved toward the front door.
“Oh, puppies, Daddy.” Her awed tone and the fact that I’d gotten more than a one-word answer said she’d fallen in love.
“I think that’s a wonderful idea.” As we navigated the Tabitha rules for coloring, number one being that we both had to color on the same page, I tuned out most of the quiet conversation Gaylen and Ender were still having.
That might not have been the best idea because one of the only lines I heard clearly was from Ender as he headed out the front door. “I’m the keeper of the nerds.”
I was hoping the missing context would make that sound much more rational but I wasn’t going to hold my breath.
Gaylen was chuckling as he came toward us, so whatever I’d missed, he thought it was funny, not worrying. He mouthed a quicklaterbefore settling down beside us on the floor. He was leaning back against the couch, in no hurry to color, but he was smiling and looking more at ease than I’d seen in a while.
He’d tried to hide it from me but I knew he’d been worried about how everything was going with Tabitha and if she really wanted to be with us. I probably should’ve butted in more but I hadn’t been sure what would be best for him.
My husband had a lot of wonderful qualities but he was a Grade A control freak when it came to problems. I wasn’t sure the decision to let him handle the conversations with Ender had been the right move, but he’d gone to such lengths to protect me, I’d decided just to go with it.
For the time being, I was going to let him think his sneaky calls had gone under the radar and I was going to enjoy being with two special people… and I was going to keep an eye on Gaylen to make sure he didn’t worry himself into an ulcer.
“Cuddle.” Tabitha sat up like she’d thought of a way to solve world peace, and before I could figure out what that meant, she’d started pushing everything on the table toward Gaylen.
But being the smart Daddy that I was, I obeyed and shifted everything closer to the skeptical-looking Dom.
Tabitha just giggled and crawled around the table to plop herself down on his lap.
Cuddle.
Well, she was smart enough to understand Gaylen was not the coloring type. It wasn’t that he had an issue with playing. No, he just hated coloring. He said it was stressful. I thought that was insane but to each their own.
But cuddling was the perfect way to make sure he had fun with us.
As we played, he stroked her hair and made her laugh as he tried to braid it. We colored, working our way through several pictures before watching cartoons took over as the most fun thing to do.
When it seemed like snack time was getting closer, I paused the cartoon we’d been watching just as it ended. “Potty time. Then we’ll get a snack before we decide what to do next.”
As I stood up and took her hand, she hopped right up, so I knew it’d been the right thing to suggest. “Let’s go. Then I’ll help you wash your hands.”
Gaylen took his time following us toward the small hall bath, so she’d bounced into the bathroom and shut the door before he came up behind me. As we heard her start humming to herself, he kissed my neck and whispered to me. “How is the sexy Daddy doing?”
He was ridiculous.
“I think everything is going great.” He scoffed softly, kissing me again and whispering even lower.
“No, I asked howyouwere doing.” He was stubborn enough that I knew he’d keep pushing, so I leaned back into him and thought about it.
