other time.”
“No. Movie tonight,” Willow protested.
“It’s bedtime and you’re sick,” Corey explained.
“But what if William doesn’t let us sleepover again? I want a movie on the big TV,” she whined.
She scrunched up her face and scowled at her dad, who was much better at resisting her than I was. It
only took a few seconds before she realized she was fighting a losing battle. Tears pooled along her
lower lashes and I held my breath, praying I hadn’t contributed to a meltdown.
“Be a good girl for your dad and maybe we can convince him to do movies tomorrow night,” I
promised. She probably wasn’t going to school again tomorrow from what I knew about policies
regarding kids with fevers, which meant I would spend the morning convincing Corey it was okay for
her to stay with me again. I was already thinking about what the two of us could do together, including
grocery shopping so we could make dinner for Corey, and maybe a bit of window shopping because I
wanted to make sure she felt at home here, too.
“We can stay here two nights?” She looked to Corey in disbelief. Who would have thought
something that simple could make her night? “Daddy, William’s the best!”
“Yeah, he is,” Corey agreed. “After you’re in your jammies, you can come out to give him hugs
and thank him for letting us spend the night.”
His gaze lingered as if he didn’t want to break the moment by walking away. I ran a hand down
his arm. “Go. Take care of her so you can get your surprise later.”
“Yes, Da—” He swallowed back the word; his eyes wide with embarrassment. Willow seemed to
be none the wiser.
“Go,” I encouraged him, ignoring the near slip. I kept my voice low enough I hoped Willow
wouldn’t hear. “I’ll go down to the car to get your bag so I can help you get ready for bed next.”
“Thank you.” My boy was wound tight as he disappeared into the bedroom. I quickly got to work
on my plan to help him relax so he could get some sleep, too. This might not have been the life I
planned on, but the complete one-eighty today was exactly what I needed.
22
COREY
FOR ALL THE PROTESTS THAT SHE WASN’T TIRED, WILLOW DIDN’T TAKE LONG TO FALL ASLEEP ONCE
she finally picked out a book for me to read. I hadn’t even realized her backpack could hold that many
