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I opened the window above the bath for ventilation and handed Bow the smallest brush that I barely dipped into the gray paint. “Here you go. Only paint on the wall, ok. Not on yourself or the tub.”
“I know, Daddy. I’m a big girl.”
I laughed at the exasperation I heard in her voice as she started to pain the wall in random streaks of gray paint. “I know. You’re getting so big.”
“Can we invite my friend Olivia over?”
“I don’t know, Bow. We still have a lot of stuff to do around this place. Plus with Samantha sick right now, I’m not sure it’s the best time.”
Bow was quiet for a minute. When I looked over at her, I saw her bottom lip poking out and water in her eyes. “It’s not a no, Little Bow Peep, it’s a we’ll see. We may have to do a play date at the park or something.”
She was quiet and thoughtful as a tear slid down her cheek. “Is Samantha going to live in heaven?”
I dropped the paintbrush and pulled Bow into my lap. “No, Bow. What made you think that?”
“She’s really sick, and Mommy was sick so she had to go to live in heaven.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, pulling Bow into a tight hug. “Your mommy was a different type of sick, Bow. Samantha just has a flu, like you had. She’ll get better in a few days.”
“Really?”
“I’m feeling better already.” I met Samantha’s eyes over the top of Bow’s head. She looked pale, but the flush of fever was gone from her cheeks and her eyes weren’t so glassy.
“Samantha.” Bow’s smile brightened as she launched herself from my arms and into Sam’s.
“Hey, Sweetie.” She gave Bow a smile and a big hug before setting her down. “When I get sick, it’s typically pretty bad, especially when a fever is involved.”
“You were kind of out of it,” I said, wondering if she remembered the words she had spoken to me.
“I know. I don’t remember much, but I do remember you taking care of me. Thank you. It’s been a long time since someone has done that for me when I got sick.”
“Yeah, you said Josh was an asshole when it came to taking care of you.”
“Daddy, that’s not a nice word.” Bow turned to look up at me, her face showing her disapproval of my use of a bad word. For the most part, I tried to watch my language when she was around. Occasionally I failed.
“I know, Baby Girl, but it fit the situation.” I looked back at Samantha, who had a small smile on her face. She looked ragged, and still fucking beautiful. “Why don’t you go get a bath downstairs? Bow and I will head to the kitchen to make you some dinner. You have to be hungry since you haven’t eaten much in the last two days.”
“That sounds good. I feel like death warmed over, and I am starving.”
“Go get a bath then. We’ll meet you downstairs and have a movie night after dinner.”
“Movie!” Bow jumped up and down, excited that we were going to watch a movie together as if she and I hadn’t been reading books, playing games, and watching cartoons for the past few days.
“Go get a stuffed animal to watch the movie with us.”
She took off running to her room, leaving Samantha and I standing in the closed confines of the bathroom. “You’re almost done in here.”
I looked around at the room that was more than halfway done. “Yeah, with the holiday coming up, I figured there would be time for me to finish it.”
“You’re a jack of all trades, aren’t you?”
“I guess. I remodeled my home back in Washington before we moved here.”
“You lived in DC?”
“No. We moved here from Washington State.”
“That’s a long way from home,” she hedged, her eyes questioning, but she was hesitant to ask.
“Yeah.” I pushed off the counter, not wanting to go into detail about my past. “I’m going to get dinner ready. After Bow goes to sleep, we need to talk.”
I ignored the curious and hurt look that crossed her face. I needed to put distance between us before it went too far. The pull between us had been strong before we had sex—after, it felt like gravity. I wanted her so much it hurt, and if I didn’t put that distance between us, I would start to need her. After Rayne, I swore to myself nobody would ever get that close to me again. No woman would ever get under my skin like that, and Samantha was there. She had to go.
