“And you had sex with your date?” she asked slowly, drawing out the words like she was waiting for me to deny it.
I shrugged and stole one of the pieces of toast she had sitting on the plate beside her hip. The food would go cold soon, and I wasn’t letting it go to waste. Taking a huge bite, I chewed to give myself time to think. “It happened naturally.”
“I don’t believe you.” She huffed and pouted, and that was Addy’s favorite face to make at me, too. Sometimes I wondered if we’d ever had a boy, if he would have taken after me, because the girls were so much like Liv.
I was saved by Addy dragging herself down the stairs and into the dining room, her short brown hair—something shehadinherited from me—looking like a crow’s nest. She still wore her favorite pajamas, the Avengers short and shirt set my mom had bought her, and she blinked at us with sleepy eyes, as though she’d only just woken up.
I checked my watch: 7:30 a.m. gleamed back at me. “Aren’t you supposed to be ready for camp?”
She froze on the way to the fridge and glanced at Liv for help.
Liv cleared her throat, and I braced myself for whatever was coming. “So, I haven’t told you yet….”
“What?” I asked, afraid I didn’t want to know. Addy was a rowdy child for seven years old, and we’d been called into the principal’s office from the moment she hit school. It wasn’t a shock summer camp wasn’t working out any differently. A lot of the issues were little things, like she refused to come in from recess when the bell had rung, and how she’d rather read a book she’d brought to school than listen to the teacher. Numerous times we’d only get warnings, but I thought that had something to do with Liv flirting with the principal. I’d wondered if something was going on there for the last year because each time we entered that small room with achievement awards placed on the back of the wall behind his desk, their flirting intensified. Even I could admit Mr. Evans was fuckable, although not my type. Definitely Liv’s. But there was no sexy principal to flirt with at camp.
“Here’s the thing….” Liv straightened and grabbed Addy’s shoulder, dragging her close.
She nudged her shoulder, and Addy glanced up at her for a moment before opening her mouth and going “Oh.” Then the pouting came, and I snorted. They had this act down pat, and I didn’t stand a chance.
“What happened?” I asked, trying for gruff. I couldn’t stop the gentle smile from crossing my face.
“Addy is on a two-day time-out.” Liv patted Addy on the back, and Addy’s mouth dipped sadly, her pout deepening.
“It wasn’t my fault, Daddy. Iswear.”
I grunted and crossed my arms over my work clothes—a red plaid flannel and gray T-shirt. I wasn’t one of those types who wore suits, and I never would be. My company had offered me a position in the office coordinating build sites, but that had never been my thing, so I’d stayed as a construction foreman. I hated those office types, except Mark. He was different, and I barely knew him. But he had my cock threatening to harden every time I thought about Saturday night. He’d made the prettiest noises I’d ever fucked out of a man, and I wanted him again, and again, and again….
“What happened, Adelaide Meredith?” I asked, focusing on the topic at hand. I’d chase Mark down later. I held up my finger when she cleared her throat, exactly like Liv had done, and prepared for a full, dramatic production. “The truth. No waterworks. No hysterics. I just want to know what happened.”
She sighed and patted Liv on the arm. “We tried, Mommy.” When she turned back to me, the smile she had on her face said she didn’t regret whatever she’d done in the least. “I punched Mitch Hopper in the eye.”
I groaned and stared at Liv, whose mouth was pressed so tightly together to stop herself from laughing that her lips had turned red. “Do I want to know why?”
Addy waved her fist and grinned. “He deserved it, Daddy. He was making fun of Henry, and I whacked him one like you taught me, then I kneed him in the privates.”
I cringed in sympathetic pain. Kneeling so I was at her height, I shook my head. I touched her shoulders and squeezed them, and she continued grinning, proud of herself. “Adelaide, we taught you self-defense to protect you from people trying to abduct you, sweetheart, not to hurt schoolyard bullies.”
She rolled her eyes. “I knowthat, but he deserved it. You said if someone deserves it, then do it. So I did it.” She nodded in time with her words before her eyebrows dipped in thought. “Though, now Henry says he doesn’t want me to punch his tooth out. I scared him off. It’s why I needed to kiss Wayland for luck. We need that money.”
“Okay, stop.” I gave her a look, the kind I knew would shut her mouth, and it worked. “What did Mitch Hopper say to deserve being punched and kicked?”
She glared, and I assumed it wasn’t at me but at the thought of the bully. “He said the F-word. The really bad F-word for gay men.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “And how do you know about that word, sweet Adelaide?”
“Mom told me it was a bad word.” She went back to pouting. “Not cool, Daddy. Not cool at all.”
I held back a smile and let go of her shoulders. I stood, crossing my arms again, and stared down at her carefully. “And now you’re out of camp for two days, angel, and that’s punishment for you, not him. Violence against bullies is not the answer.”
She sighed loudly. “Well, damn.”
Liv smothered a smile behind her hand and turned her back on us, grabbing toast to shove into her mouth.
“What am I going to do with you?” I asked, more to myself than Addy. Shaking my head, I smoothed a hand over her messy hair. “No more fights. If you have a problem with what someone at camp says, you take it to the counselor, am I clear? Or whatever they call the teenagers keeping everyone in line.”
“They’re helpers. But Miss Jenkins is in charge!” She nodded and turned to head back to the fridge, yanking it open and pulling out a small bottle of chocolate milk.
“This isn’t a day off,” Liv said when she’d finally swallowed her food. She pointed at Addy. “You’re grounded, and I expect to find you in your room, practicing your guitar. Am I clear?”
