“That liquid escaping from your eyes says otherwise.”
“I hate crying.”
“Baby, you’re borrowing trouble. Everything’s going to be okay, and we’re gonna get married and fuck like rabbits until we make babies.”
She sniffed. “Well, I hope we’ll fuck like rabbitsafterwe make babies as well.”
“Absolutely.”
“I made my dad distrust you and I’m so unbelievably sorry about that,” she whispered.
“We need a moratorium on apologies, Tate,” I said. “Because we’re done with you saying sorry. Got it?”
She wrinkled her nose, her eyes alit with irritation. “Well, I’m sorry I’m saying sorry too much, Mr. Perfect Pants.”
I smiled. “Is your dad a reasonable person?”
“Yes. Of course, he is.”
“It’s totally normal and appropriate for him not to trust me completely, honey. I’m a man who’s going to take his little girl away from him. But I like your dad, and I know he likes me, so there’s no reason to believe he’ll be anything other than fair when he and I talk.”
She nodded.
“I’m gonna fix it with your dad, Tate. Cross my heart and swear at God.” He dropped his head back and said to the sky, “Asshole.”
She bit out a laugh. “I can’t believe you remember that!”
“I remember everything,” I said. “You’ve always had my back, now let me have yours.”
I pulled her onto my lap, and she buried her face in my neck. “Okay.”
“You never did tell me how you got my bike back from Scott Benson.”
“How did you know it was me that got it back?”
“You’re the only one who knew about it. We swore at God, and I knew you’d never break your promise,” I said. “How did you get it back?”
She bit her lip and then took a deep breath. “Technically, I didn’t.”
“Huh?”
“I bargained with Ronan to do it,” she admitted. “Traded him a whole month of my dessert for him to get the bike back and keep it secret from Mom and Dad.”
“No shit?”
“No shit. Are you mad?”
“Why would I be mad?” I asked.
“Because I didn’t keep our pact.”
“The pact was you not telling anyone about me being bullied. You did that.”
“I’m pretty sure Ronan figured it out.”
I shrugged. “Did he tell anyone?”
“Nope. He totally didn’t.”
