“Still, it might be better to wash it off.”
“But we want to surprise Daddy!” Alice’s lip was starting to tremble, and oh god, I couldn’t handle making her cry over this.
“Okay, okay.” I held up my hands in surrender. “You’re right. It’s a surprise. He’s going to love it.”
My words sounded much more confident than I felt.
The next fifteen minutes dragged. The girls positioned themselves behind the front door, practicing their scary faces and their swamp monster sounds. I tidied up the face paint supplies and tried to figure out what had gone wrong on that phone call.
The sound of his truck pulling into the driveway made my pulse jump. The girls squealed and crouched lower behind the door, hands over their mouths to muffle their giggles.
Heavy boots thudded against the porch steps, followed by the jingle of keys, then the door handle turning.
The second Cam stepped inside, both girls launched themselves at him with the most horrific growling, shrieking sounds I’d ever heard.
He jumped back, hand to his chest, eyes going comically wide. “Ah! Monsters!” He stumbled backward against the door. “Where are my daughters? What have you done with my daughters?”
“We ate them!” Alice declared, her arms wrapped around his knee.
“You ate them? That’s terrible!” He crouched down to their level, examining their faces with exaggerated concern. “Wait a minute. Audrey, is that you under all that swamp?”
“Maybe.” She was grinning so hard her face paint was starting to crack.
“And Alice?” He turned to his youngest. “You’re a very convincing monster.”
“Emily made us!”
His eyes found mine over the girls’ heads, and I braced myself. But instead of the anger I’d been expecting, his expression had softened. Relieved, maybe. His shoulders dropped slightly and he stood, ruffling both girls’ hair.
“You guys look great. Really scary.”
“Can we keep it on for dinner?” Audrey asked, bouncing on her toes.
“Sure. Why not?” He straightened up. “But you need to go wash your hands first. Both of you.”
They took off down the hallway, still making swamp monster noises, and suddenly it was just Cam and me standing in the entryway.
The echo of their giggles faded, leaving a silence that felt heavy enough to choke on. Cam didn’t move. He just stood there, staring down the hall, his broad shoulders rising and falling with a slow, deep breath that seemed to suck all the remaining air out of the small space. I twisted my hands together, the drying paint tacky against my skin, my mind racing through a dozen worst-case scenarios.
“I’m so sorry.” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. “It didn’t really occur to me that you would be upset at having their faces painted, but it should have, and I should have checked with you first. Again, I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
I finally had to stop and breathe, my heart thudding against my ribcage.
Cam stared at me, his expression unreadable. Then he dragged a hand through his hair and let out a long breath.
“No. I’m the one who should be sorry.” His voice was rough. “When Audrey said you did their makeup, I jumped to conclusions. I thought...” He trailed off, jaw working. “I thought you were putting real makeup on them. Lipstick, blush, all that shit. And I don’t want that for them, that’s all.”
“I get it.” And I did. More than he could know. “For what it’s worth, I’m not really into makeup myself. Never have been. So it wouldn’t even cross my mind to do that with them.”
His eyes searched my face, like he was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth. Like maybe he was seeing something he hadn’t noticed before.
The air between us felt charged.
Then the thunder of small feet in the hallway broke the moment.
“Daddy, look!” Alice held up her clean hands. “We washed them!”
He cleared his throat, dragging his gaze away from me. “Good job.”
