“Who’s your friend?” I asked, nodding at the girl who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
“Ah, that’s Jacinta. She’s with the team and assigned to sit up here and make sure I don’t do anything silly like give birth on the floor.”
“That’d be messy,” Luke suggested.
“You must be the luscious, Luke.” Hannah grinned, sticking out her hand for him to take.
“And you must be the troublemaker, Hannah,” Luke countered, not missing a beat.
I stood there with my mouth gaping. Luke fit so seamlessly with her if I didn’t know better, it’d be easy to believe he’d always been there.
“Charlotte, I like him,” Hannah told me pointedly as she rubbed her belly. It looked like she’d swallowed a basketball. She was all belly.
“I can leave you two to it if you like,” I teased as Hannah led us inside.
“That would be great actually. We need to have a chat,” Hannah replied.
“We do?” Luke sounded surprised.
“Of course. I want to know what your intentions are when it comes to my bestie Charlotte here. She’s kissed her fair share of frogs …”
“Hey!” I protested as I grabbed a couple of beers from the mini fridge, popping the cap and handing one to Luke before grabbing a lemonade for Hannah. She might not exactly be wrong, but I didn’t want it to sound like I went around just kissing people either.
Hannah waved off my protest. “So, I want to know, are you going to be her Prince Charming?”
12
LUKE
Princesses surrounded me.
It was a wet Sunday afternoon, and I was sitting on a cushion on the floor of Isla's room at her table with Harrison, her favorite teddy bear who was wearing a bright red bow tie, and Amanda who was possibly the ugliest doll ever made but Isla loved. Isla was pouring pretend cups of tea from her teapot with a tilted tiara on her head. We’d been playing for almost an hour, and so far we’d read books, practiced our dancing, and now we were having an all-important tea party.
“Daddy! You’re not listening,” Isla scolded, and I snapped out of my daydream and focused back on the princess in front of me.
“I apologize, your highness,” I conceded, only to earn me an innocent giggle.
“Would you like a cookie with your tea?” Isla offered, taking her role of hostess very seriously.
She may have been playing the role of the hired help, but the Cinderella dress and tiara she was wearing left no room for mistaken identity.
While Isla fussed and served everyone, I snuck a look at my phone wondering if I should try and get a hold of Charlotte again. It’d been almost ten days since we’d gone to the basketball, and I honestly couldn’t remember when I’d last had so much fun. Well other than the tea parties, obviously. Once we’d joined Hannah in the corporate box, we laughed, ate the most amazing food, and had a great time. Watching Charlotte interact with Hannah was intriguing. She was so carefree, and when she wasn’t watching, she let her guard down, and the woman hiding behind the suit of armor was captivating. And I should know, I was completely captivated.
The only problem was trying to find the time. Between crazy work schedules and real life, finding time to see each other was proving a challenge.
“Dad?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Will you take me to get my ears pierced?” Isla’s question threw me through a loop. It hadn’t been what I was expecting.
“Why do you want to get your ears pierced, Isla?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady when inside I was scrambling.
“Katie’s mom took her to get her ears pierced. She has pink earrings, Dad, and they look so pretty.”
Fucking Katie’s mom! The woman was killing me. How was I supposed to compete with that? Last week she’d made chocolate cupcakes with rainbow frosting for the entire class.
“I’m sure they do, sweetheart, but I think you’re a bit young to get yours pierced. Maybe when you’re older.”
