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“I wanted to talk to you about something, Pickle.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead and rubbed her back.
“Am I in trouble?”
I laughed. “No, not at all. I just wanted to talk to you about Lark. It’s nice having her around, don’t you think?”
“Usually, but I’m mad at her right now.”
Taken aback, I considered my words. “Mad at her? What happened?”
“She tattled on me about Cheeto getting out.”
“Oh, babe. She didn’t tattle—that’s when you tell on someone just to get them into trouble. She was sharing about the day, and your name didn’t come up once.”
“So she didn’t tell you that I was the one who left the door to his cage open?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Now I feel bad. I was just having bad thoughts about her.”
“Oh, Pickle. You are a sweet girl. Maybe you can be extra kind to her tomorrow, since we both like having her around.”
“Are you going to get married?”
My mouth dropped. “Um, no. I like Lark, and she likes me. I want to take her out to eat and hold her hand sometimes. That’s all.”
For now.
I pushed away the errant thought.
“With me too?”
I nodded. “Sometimes. But sometimes I would like to take her out just the two of us. Like a date.”
“Could I hang out with Uncle Lee when you do that?”
I laughed. Penny was so smitten with her fun-loving uncle. “I’m sure he would love that.”
“Lark likes it when you leave the flowers for her.”
I paused the back scratches. “Oh yeah?”
“She always puts them in a little cup of water and smiles a lot when you do that.”
I kissed her on the top of her head as I stood. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“One more, Dad.” She was nearly asleep, and love for her rushed through me. Our lives were finally feeling settled. Lark had had a huge part in that.
When I clicked the door to Penny’s bedroom closed, I walked down the hallway. Whispers coming from the kitchen caught my attention, so I headed that way.
Lark was pacing the floor. Sitting at the table, Michael was shirtless and icing his side, while Kevin looked down at his hands and Joey scrolled on his phone.
When I walked into the room, the hushed whispers stopped, and they all stared at me.
“What the hell is going on?”
Lark stepped forward when Kevin spoke up. “I got into a fight and was arrested.”
The roar of blood rushing to my head was deafening.
