Joey looked toward Axel, and he’d reached for the alarm clock and gritted his teeth.“I, uh, I kind of turned it off and went back to sleep,” he said.
They had agreed for him to set it at five.It meant he could sneak out of the house, and Joey intended to see him out of the house and just get ready for work, so she was composed for her daughter being awake.
“It’s fine.Maybe she will be busy and you can sneak out,” Joey said.
She had a feeling Axel would be uncomfortable.
“Wouldn’t that look kind of strange?”he asked.
Joey climbed out of bed and turned to look at Axel.They were both still very much naked from the sex they had shared last night.It had been incredible, there was no denying it.
“Do you want to meet my daughter?”Joey asked.
She had a sneaking suspicion it would be a hard no.
“Sure, why not?”he asked.
This surprised her.
“I thought you didn’t want to meet her.”
“I never actually said that, and I don’t see this ending between the two of us, so why not go and meet her?”
Joey knew her mouth had fallen open.She didn’t know exactly what this was, but Axel leaving her house at the same time as her, would get the town talking.What did it matter?The town could talk.She didn’t care about gossip, and although it was fun to listen from time to time, it wasn’t like she paid it much attention.
“Uh, sure.Let me just use the bathroom and get ready.”What was she going to say to Adeline?She had no idea what to say or do.This was not something she had ever done.
She didn’t bring a string of boyfriends through the door.This was the first time in her life.She wanted to call her big sister, but instead she used the toilet, washed her hands, brushed her teeth, and ran a comb through her hair.It was as good as it was going to get.
In the next moment, she made her way out, and Axel was already there, waiting, and before she passed him, he captured her and kissed her.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning.”
Her stomach had butterflies, and her heart pounded just a little.“I’m going to get dressed and head downstairs,” she said.“You can come down whenever you’re ready.”
“Sure thing.”And he kissed her again.
Joey was nervous, and making her way down toward the kitchen, she found Adeline sitting at the kitchen counter.At nine years old, she was growing up every day, and she loved and hated it.She never wanted to miss a moment.
“Where’s Princess?”Joey asked.
“Out in the backyard.She is doing her business and wouldn’t come back in.”Adeline took a drink of milk.
“So, do you want to come to the coffee shop today?”
“Grandpa left a text saying they are going to be out of town, so I got this.”Adeline lifted a large book, and it seemed to be one of the classics.Her little girl loved to read.In the past couple of years, Adeline had said when she grew up, she wanted to be a writer.That hadn’t changed.Although, there had also been a wish to be a surgeon, a forensic scientist, an astronaut.She wanted to be pretty much anything she had seen in a movie or television show, that was a real job.No vampires, werewolves, or witches for her girl.
“You’re coming to the coffee shop with me?”Joey asked.There was a time when she was younger and used day care, but Adeline had hated it.She also didn’t like babysitters, and asked if she could she stay at the shop if she couldn’t hang out with grandparents.Joey didn’t like to see her sad, so she would be staying at the shop with her.
“So, there’s something I’ve got to tell you, and I don’t want you to be worried, or freak out, or anything like that, okay?”Joey asked.
“What is it, Mommy?”
MomandMommy, she loved when Adeline called her that.
“You know how some people have ...friends that come to sleep over?”Joey asked.She had no idea if she should call Axel a boyfriend.No one in their right mind would ever refer to Axel as boyfriend material.It was ludicrous to even think it.She didn’t want to call him a lover, so “friend” it was.
