“She will try to get her own way in everything.” I’ve spent years loving and hating the fact that little girl is smart enough to try to work things into happening the way she wants them to.
“I’m aware.” A corner of his mouth lifts. He enjoys her antics.
Fiona’s right. This kid doesn’t just want a childhood fling. He wants her for more than forever. “She’s still a child.”
“That fact hasn’t gone unnoticed.”
“It will be a long while before she grows up.” Why am I even saying this when all I want is to kill him and move on?
“Waiting is an honor.”
I really want to hate him. “Then I’m going to go get Dash and leave her in your care.”
He nods. “I shall see her home safely.”
That I don’t doubt.
Now, to tell my daughter that I’m in love. Most parents worry about their children disliking their new significant others. My only concern is that she’ll be upset that her matchmaking plans were thwarted.
She’ll just have to deal with the fact that Fiona and Gabe would never have worked. They weren’t meant for each other.
As I step into the kitchen, the room gets quiet, and all eyes turn to me.
“Dad.” Hope squeals and runs towards me. “It finally happened!” She flings herself at me.
Careful not to smush Dash between us, I hug her. “What happened?”
“You and Fea. Bisnonna called me. We were working so hard, but I was starting to lose hope that you two would get together. Bisnonna told me not to worry, but I couldn’t help it.”
What? “You were trying to get her and Gabe to fall in love.”
“Nah. That was just so you wouldn’t take forever figuring things out. I’ve been waiting for you to find someone for years. You’re old. You don’t have any more time to waste. Bisnonna said I should expect my second sibling within the year. Just so you know, I’ll be the best babysitter.”
My head hurts. It’s definitely an aneurysm building up in my brain.
***
“Does that kid really need to be here while we’re working?” Everett glares at Dash.
“Yeah, I have him for the rest of the afternoon, but we’ve wasted enough time. We need to get some work done.” And I want to spend every minute with Fiona that I can. “Do you want to build the virus or the code to make you two disappear?”
“Wait. You’re asking me to build a virus.”
“How else are we going to keep you two safe? And I don’t want a virus. I want you to build THE virus. One that spreads globally and is completely invisible. While you do that, I’ll add the code that removes all references to you and Mom permanently. It’ll be like the two of you never existed.” The only time I did anything similar to this before was removing images of Hope from the internet. I spent months on that after Hope was born to assure her privacy.
“You know, people are usually discouraged from building viruses.” Everett stares at the laptop I just handed him.
“And?”
“It isn’t usually safe to do them on a laptop in case they escape before they’re ready.”
Like I don’t know that. “You do know I created some of the first viruses ever coded.”
“Brag, old man. That just means you’re getting closer to being obsolete.”
A smile spreads across my face. “You wish.” I pull two more computers out of my bag.
“Why two? With those hands, I doubt you’ll be able to type fast enough on the one.”
