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“I know.” Then to Rae again, “Okay, girlfriend, you ready? I think it’s about time for you to go!”
‘Ready’is an understatement. The kid is overflowing with excitement. She doesn’t even just step into the hallway with Liv, shedancesout.
Liv and I both laugh about it.
“I’ll walk you guys down,” she says as she shuts and locks the door. “Need to get the booster seat out of my car.”
Awesome. As much as I’m looking forward to my evening with Rae, I’m seriously dying for more time with her aunt.
It ends quickly, of course. We’re out in the cool early-evening air in just a minute, and before I know it, Rae is buckled safely into my backseat. Liv exchanges affectionate goodbyes with her.
And then the back door is shut and Liv is—oh, man, she’s looking right at me again and,fuck, the smile is in her eyes now, just like I love so—
“I want to tell you,” she says softly, haltingly, “that I love my flower and that you, uh…you look really…”
I hold my breath.
How do I look to her? Different? Nice? Good?
“…gor-gorgeous,” she finishes in a stammer.
I try to exhale slowly and get a new breath, but my lungs don’t really work all of a sudden.
“Youlook gorgeous,” I manage to say back.
Tucking her bottom lip into her mouth, she shakes her head. Then she slips the ends of her long white sleeves over her hands and crosses her arms. “Mmm, no. Princess Rae has me beat.”
A light breeze blows at the wisps of hair hanging loose near her temples, and I wish I could touch them.
I shake my head, too. “Not even she has you beat, Liv.”
It feels so good to say her name like this, to her face, with this compliment. And I swear on all things that are holy, the breath she’s drawing is unsteady because it feels good for her to hear it, too.
Still smiling at me with her eyes and still wreaking havoc on how my lungs are supposed to function, she says, “Well, thank you.” Then, “Please be careful and let me know if you need anything.”
Clearing my throat, I nod. “Absolutely.”
She nods, too, and the smile in her eyes brightens so much italmostreaches her lips. “Have a cookie-bakin’ good time.”
That gets a happy grin out of me. “Oh, now that you’ve settled my nerves, I fully plan on having a cookie-bakin’, picture-colorin’, dino-mask-wearin’, Super Fun Sunday kind of good time.”
And there it is: a full smile aimed right at me, just for me, because of me.
She owns every fucking bit of the man I am.
Jesus, yes, I’m in love with her.
Once again worried about what’s going to come out of my mouth—and, now, what my body might do—if I don’t distract myself, I say, “So, yeah, all right, we gotta go. We’ll be back in two hours, okay?”
“Okay.”
She peers into the backseat and blows Rae a kiss, smiles in a much more maternal way. Then she goes back to the building and I get behind the wheel, my ears picking up on Rae apparently singing to herself.
I take a second to grip the steering wheel and breathe in and out slowly. Then I laugh as I realize Rae is singing about how hungry she is.
Turning to look at her, I say, “Hey, angel! You’re hungry, huh?”
“Yes! Annie said there will be snacks at the dance!”
