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She’s smart and funny and sometimes it’s shocking to realize how wise she is. She doesn’t miss much.
There have been many times that I’ve wished her dad had even half of her intelligence.
“Yes, he did make me sad,” Marlow says. “I’m sad that you saw him acting like that in our house.”
Her eyes meet mine and the ache in my chest sharpens. Marlow doesn’t speak negatively about Cash to Dakota,ever, so for her to say this much, I know it was bad.
“That made me sad too,” Dakota says softly. She turns her head to look at me over her shoulder. “He yelled at us. He said,‘Get out!’” Her nose crinkles up. “And they didn’t have clothes. I saw Miss Maggie’s nibbles.”
It’s not the time to be glad that Dakota still calls nipplesnibbles, but it does cross my mind. And then I think about Maggie O’Leary and my eyes narrow with rage. It’s been nice to not have to think about her for a while. I should’ve known she wouldn’t stop being a horrible person just because I was gone.
Maggie’s dad owns the ranch I worked at with Cash and she was definitely the worst part of working there. My face flames, anger fueled all over again at the audacity of Maggie sleeping with Cash in Marlow’s house…in her bed.
Marlow’s jaw clenches as I cringe and exhale a long breath, shaking my head.
“I’m so sorry you both went through that.”
What do you even begin to say to a little girl who has seen her dad naked with another woman? I’m clueless on the protocol for this, and Marlow looks like she’s even more at a loss.
After a beat of silence, Marlow speaks up.
“You know what I’m happy about today?” she says, bopping Dakota’s nose. “I’m happy your fever isn’t as high as it was last night, and I’m happy we’re with our Sof in person and not looking at her on a screen.”
“Me too,” Dakota says, bopping her mom’s nose. She looks at me and makes a face. “I want to hug you, Auntie, but my body feels heavy.” The sneezes that follow seem to drain her of even more energy and it breaks my heart.
“Aw, my sweet peanut, we need to get you feeling better.” I sit up and put my feet on the floor, picking up my phone. “Oh wow, it’s so much later than I thought.”
“What time is it?” Marlow asks.
“It’s almost ten o’clock!” My eyes are wide as I glance back at them.
I look down at my phone again, smiling when I swipe on my screen and see I missed a call from Theo.
“What’s happening?”
“I kept trying to reach Theo yesterday and didn’t ever talk to him. I left a few messages and am just happy to see there’s a message from him.”
“Do you think he’s okay about you coming to get me?”
“Oh yeah, of course. He had an emergency call, so I felt bad that I didn’t get to tell him everything, but he’s going to love you and Dakota. I can’t wait for you to meet him…and for him to meet the two of you!”
Marlow’s smile reaches her eyes, something that’s been missing since I showed up at her house yesterday.
“Well, let’s get you home to him,” she says. “We got our showers last night…think we can be out of here in thirty?”
I nod, hopping up to get my clothes out of my backpack. I’ll call Theo back as soon as we’re on our way. “Definitely.”
We hustle and are on the road by ten thirty.
I can’t get home to Theo fast enough.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-EIGHT
SPOTTY SERVICE
THEO
On my way out to the Doherty farm, it’s like I can’t help myself.
