“That’s a good reason.”
She goes back to coloring, her tongue poking out the side of her mouth. A moment later she looks up again. “What about sparkles on the cookies?”
I try not to laugh. “Sparkles sound amazing.”
“Daddy doesn’t like sparkles.”
“I never said that,” Liam says as he walks over, drying his hands on a towel. He raises an eyebrow at her. “I said sparkles get everywhere.”
“That means you don’t like them,” Maisie says confidently.
He sighs like this is a familiar argument.
I grin. “I think sparkles could be fun.”
Maisie beams at me like I’ve just solved world peace. “See, Daddy?”
Liam gives her a look that is supposed to be stern but mostly turns into him trying not to smile. “Charlotte is being polite.”
“I am being honest,” I say.
He meets my eyes, and there’s a spark there that wasn’t there a moment ago.
Maisie taps her crayon on the table. “Can everyone get a cookie? So they feel good inside?”
My heart kicks. “That might be my favorite idea yet.”
Liam sits on the edge of the counter beside us, pretending he’s not listening closely. “Cookies for feelings,” he repeats. “That’s a new business model.”
“It would work,” Maisie says.
“It might,” I add.
He shakes his head, but there’s warmth in his expression. “You two are going to bankrupt me.”
Maisie giggles, and the sound fills the room in a way that makes everything feel lighter.
I go back to outlining the simple parts of the plan, and she keeps tossing in comments that have nothing to do with logistics but somehow make the whole conversation better. Liam chimesin now and then, mostly to correct something or add context, but he never shuts her down. He lets her be six. He lets her be involved. And he lets me sit here and enjoy it.
I don’t know what I expected coming into this bakery, but it wasn’t this. It wasn’t how easy this feels, nor was it how natural it is to talk to both of them at once.
And when I glance up and catch Liam watching me, something warm settles over me, I’ve no idea why I feel this way when I’m around him.
I lean toward Maisie. “Is he always this focused?” I whisper.
“Always,” she replies giggling.
I laugh before I can hold it back, and that’s the moment Liam walks in. He catches the end of it and gives me a look that makes me laugh even harder.
“Are you making fun of me?” he asks.
“No,” I say, even though I absolutely am. “Never.”
He narrows his eyes with zero heat in the expression. “Sure.”
Maisie taps her crayon on the table. “It does talk, Daddy. It goes mmmmmpphhhnnn.”
“That is not talking,” he says. “That is malfunctioning.”
