“A what?”
“Agirldad. A dad with a daughter. You’re going to need to learn the names of spa treatments, though, at the bare minimum. We’ll work on the rest later.”
“Fine, but can you take her?” I repeat because she’s still not confirmed, then add “tomorrow,” so she understands the urgency.
“Tomorrow?”
“Do you have plans?”
It dawns on me that I’m actually not sure what Clementine does with her days. She graduated from university at the beginning of the summer and still hasn’t decided on her future.
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Good, so you’ll do it?” I plead once more. “I’ll owe you.”
“I’m happy to do it, anything for my favorite brother, right?”
I let out a sigh of relief, pull her into a hug, and plant a kiss on her cheek. “Exactly. Favorite brother.”
“Just don’t tell Miles.”
When I walkinto the house thirty minutes later after having grabbed some lunch for us from The Valentine Cook, I find Haven and Everly on the floor of the den where Everly is practicing her tummy time and staring at her reflection in a mirror. The smile I get from Haven is almost as good as the gurgle Everly lets out when she sees me.
But it’s only Everly I get to pick up and kiss.
In fact, I go out of my way to scoop her up at an angle that keeps me as far away from Haven as is possible in this situation. She’s lying on the floor in a pair of leggings that hugs her arse far too well, and I have to actively force myself not to stare.
I just wish my brain would stop reminding me what it felt like to hold in my hands, pulling her close enough for her legs to wrap around me, sweat dripping down our bodies.
Helpfully, Everly’s hand on my cheek halts my trip down memory lane.
“Are you the fairest of them all?” I ask, only for a spit bubble to be blown in my face.
Crouching down on the other side of the rug, I shift her into the position I know she loves and turn to Haven again. There’s something about the way she looks at me when I’m holding Everly that makes me feel like I’m ten feet tall, having summited Everest.
But it’s ruined by Hendricks’s voice in my ear about being weak.
Fucking Hendricks.
“How has your morning been?”
“It was good. We went for a little walk to the coffee shop and came back to read some books and have a nap.” She laughs. “Both of us. I really need to start packing things up, but it can wait until tomorrow I guess.”
I smile, even though the thought makes my brain hurt because I still haven’t decided whether asking her to stay for Christmas is a clever idea. Because it’ll mean I’ll be home in Valentine Nook for the first time in over a decade, but more importantly, I don’t want to risk anything with Everly. “Tomorrow, you have other plans. Clementine is taking you to the spa for a. ..um...massage, a wrap up. . . Things like that.”
Haven pauses, and her eyes widen, enough that it makes me worry I’ve fucked up somehow, but then an excited smile breaks across her face.
“Wow, really?”
I give myself an internal high five, feeling all kinds of smug, and peer at my daughter. “Really.”
That’s right, I’m not just a dad. I’m agirldad.
CHAPTER 13
Haven
“Ican’t believe the massage therapist had to wake me up.” My face falls in my hands. “That’s so embarrassing.”
