I felt her touch my arm, but I kept my eyes closed. I couldn’t unsee it. Ever.
“We’re both dressed. Come on, tell us about your day.”
Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and turned back around, wary that my friend would think it funny to still be naked, but Mai was covered up in a familiar gray tank top and her favorite blue sweatpants. Hob was in jeans and a t-shirt and looked almost as mortified as I was. The poor guy grimaced and avoided my eyes, his raven-black hair still sporting that ‘just fucked’ look.
“It was,” I said, “it was nice. They gave me some cake.”
“I know, Jie Instagrammed it. So cute!”
Jie was Mai’s second-to-last brother and another MT at the parlor.
“Hope you brought some home for us,” Hob said, chuckling awkwardly.
I laughed a little and shook my head, let the awkwardness diffuse. “I decided not to go out since I didn’t get a chance to get much prep work done last night.”
“That’s totally my fault,” Mai said, a sheepish smile on her face. “Sorry again. I owe you big time.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “But I really need to get started. We can get drinks next weekend, okay?”
“It’s a date,” Mai said.
A date.
I thought about Alec again and wondered just how screwed I was.
Six
Alec
“What’s wrong, Daddy?”The question came out of the blue as I tucked Evanne into bed. She always came up with the best questions at bedtime.
At eight years old, she was wise beyond her years, and I hoped that it wasn’t due to anything her mother and I had done, or hadn’t done, for that matter. Keli had primary custody, and I had enough visitation that I’d always had a relationship with my daughter, but I’d always felt like I was responsible for her missing out on something.
I blinked at her. “What do you mean,mo chride?”
Her blue eyes lit up at the familiar term of endearment, but then they faded again as she answered my question. “You seem weird.”
“Maybe I’m the normal one, and it’s you who’s the wee odd one,” I suggested, letting my accent regress to my childhood simply because it made her burst into the sweetest giggles I’d ever heard. I’d been a serious child, and it took a lot for me to shake that off and give Evanne a father she would be comfortable talking to. For her, though, I’d do anything.
“I am not weird,” she said indignantly, after regaining her composure. If she’d been standing, she’d have had her hands on her hips, giving me the best glare she could muster.
I gave her a hard look, tapping my finger on my chin. “I think I may need to test that theory.”
I made my hands into claws and leaned over her, earning a squeak and then a shriek. I tickled her until she squealed and laughed, tucking her elbows in to trap my hands. Before she could get overheated, I stopped and let her catch her breath.
“Well, youseemnormal enough,” I said, kissing her on the forehead. “Only weird people aren’t ticklish.”
“You never laugh when I tickle your feet,” she pointed out.
The bottoms of my feet weren’t that sensitive, it was true. “I suppose that means I amthe weird one after all. Think you can keep my secret,mo chride?”
She nodded emphatically, her long braid of dark brown curls bouncing against her back. My own fair hair had lightened Keli’s ebony hair into something that wasn’t quite black but was far from my own golden blond. Her features were the sort of combination that made people see either parent in her face, and I couldn’t help but be glad that she wouldn’t grow up the mirror image of either Keli or me.
“But, Daddy, you’re not sad, are you?”
Shit. I was always surprised at how she could see right through me. “Not sad,mo chride,” I explained. “Only embarrassed.”
“Because you had a crappy date last night?”
