Pen jumps out of bed and begins pulling on her clothes. When she’s dressed, she leans over the bed and drops a kiss on my lips.
“Call me later.”
“So, you’re leaving me to handle this?” I say.
“It’s probably for the best.”
“Chicken,” I say, making her smile.
“Totally. Call me if you need me.”
Pen makes a speedy exit.
I get up slowly, taking my time to pull on my clothes as I try to decide what I’m going to say to Lottie.
When I come out of the bedroom, I pull up short.
Pen is sitting at the island, drinking coffee with Lottie.
“I can’t believe you were going to sneak out. Aunty Pen, that’s a real dick move.”
“Language, Lottie,” Pen says, making my daughter roll her eyes.
“You were really going to let Dad fumble his way through, telling me you two are an item? Now that’s just cruel.”
I can just make out the smirk on my daughter’s face.
I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. I cough, letting them know I’ve arrived.
“Fumble?” I say when Lottie looks up.
“I’m not sure what you’re smirking about, Dad. I at least expected you to act like responsible adults and face me together. Instead, I catch Aunty Pen trying to sneak out the front door and then you skulking in the background.”
“I wasn’t skulking. I was putting on some clothes.”
Lottie holds up a hand and turns her head away, her expression one of sucking on a lemon.
“Stop,” Lottie says, waving her hands in the air. “T.M.I. Way too much information.”
“Pen was going to give us time to talk,” I say, stepping closer and pulling up a stool opposite the two women in my life.
“If she and you are an item, then don’t you think she should be here forthat talk?” Lottie says, pushing a mug of coffee across the countertop towards me.
She’s clearly notthatmad.
I look at Pen, who’s staring at Lottie. She turns to me and shrugs.
“She has a point,” I say to Pen.
“Okay, so I shouldn’t have tried to sneak out,” Pen admits to Lottie. “My bad.”
“That was very teenager-ish of you,” Lottie says.
“What would you know about sneaking out?”
“Dad, I’m fourteen, nearly fifteen, not four. I listen to the conversations that go on with my friends, most of who have older brothers and sisters. Claire’s Mum found Teddy’s girlfriend hiding in the wardrobe when she came home.”
I groan. I don’t want to know about Teddy’s girlfriend hiding in a cupboard or that my daughter knows why she was probably there.
