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“Yes, Daddy.” Studying the way his knuckles looked against mine, I nodded and tried to remember what we’d been talking about. Oh yes, my family. “They’re a bit much sometimes and my mother wants me to be nice. That’s exhausting.”
Daddy snorted. “If she wants you to be nice, she should come to the fucking parties too.”
I liked that logic.
But I was going to let Daddy handle that conversation because I had to remember how his hand looked and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t do both.
Having a Daddy was wonderful.
Chapter Nineteen
Gray
“I just…” Camden frowned, looking between his picture and his half-finished sandwich and then up at me. “I think I might be tired.”
Oh yeah.
But since that wouldn’t be a very nice response, I knelt down beside his chair at the table. “How about I get you a bottle and we go cuddle in your playroom bed?”
He’d done so well at the party but it’d been emotionally exhausting. I wasn’t sure how he dealt with them when I wasn’t there, but when we’d finally left, the grown-up part of him had checked out completely. Most of the time his little side was chatty and cheerful and silly, but now he was quiet and confused and almost pouty.
This was definitely a younger side than I’d seen before, so the bottle seemed more appropriate than it usually did. But I knew that no matter how he was feeling, there were some things that he would always love. “I’ll read you the Pooh book again.”
He could have me read him that book a thousand times and never get bored of it.
Just thinking about the story had him yawning again, the jaw-cracking sound making me fight the urge to smile. His head was barely staying up, but he’d told me several times already that he couldn’t be tired. It seemed like nearly falling face-first into his sandwich had changed his mind.
“I like bottles. I like books.” The simple sentences seemed to be all his brain could focus on at the moment before he went back to looking at the sketches he’d been working on as I made second lunch…or maybe it was third. “I like hands, Daddy.”
Nodding, I reached up and ran my fingers over his head. “You’re doing an amazing job, cutie. But think about how much easier it will be after a nap.”
Just the weight of my hand on the back of his neck had him leaning over like he was going to fall into the table. That definitely wouldn’t be good. When he didn’t argue right away, I took his hand and gave him my best relaxed, confident tone. “Help me pick out which bottle you should use.”
Having a simple order to obey made everything easier for him. “I have a bear one, Daddy. Like my jammies.”
As he rose, he looked down at his clothes. “I’m not wearing jammies, Daddy.”
That didn’t tell me as much as he thought it did, so I tried to keep my response vague as we walked over to get the bottle from its spot in the cabinet over the fridge. It was definitely a good place for putting things away that he didn’t want nosy relatives to find, but with the way he left shit all over the house, I wasn’t sure how his family hadn’t figured it out sooner.
“Do you need jammies to cuddle up with me and take a nap?” Filling his bottle with the last of the milk, I didn’t bother pointing out the fact that he hadn’t gone grocery shopping again. There were only so many times I would make the mistake of asking a stupid question.
We were just going to go together tomorrow.
It took him a few seconds to shrug, which actually gave me a bit more to work with. Since it seemed like he didn’t have a strong opinion, I gave him another option.
“How about we find a stuffed animal for you to cuddle as we read the book?” Kissing his head, I took his hand again and started leading him through the house. “And maybe we find you some playclothes to wear while you nap?”
He looked attractive but not terribly comfortable, so it was probably something we needed to address before he couldn’t stay on his feet.
Nodding, he stuck his thumb in his mouth and just looked at me.
Okay.
“Good boy.” Kissing his head, I led him through the house and to his playroom. As I set the bottle on his dresser, I kept up a random one-sided conversation to keep him awake. “Since your bottle has the bears on it, let’s find your bear shirt.”
His eyes watched everything but from a slightly droopy perspective. His lids kept dropping lower and it was clear his brain had shut down from overload.
“You were so good today.” Trading his thumb for his binkie, I carefully took off his shirt and slipped on his bear T-shirt. “You looked so nice in your grown-up clothes and you were polite and funny when people asked silly questions.”
