“Daddy,” Chloe whispers, as if speaking too loudly will shatter the moment. “Daddy,look.”
He does…and so do I.
But I’m not looking at the kitten.
I’m looking at Rhodes.
I watch as his whole face melts.
And I feel that in my soul.
He kneels beside Chloe and strokes one finger down the kitten’s back. “Hey there, pretty kitty.”
The other kitten jumps down and squeezes its way onto Chloe’s lap.
It’s peaceful and adorable…until a third mischief-maker decides that Rhodes’s back is an excellent substitute for a cat tree.
He lets out a startled curse.
I bite my lip to keep in my laughter. “Need some help?”
He looks up at me, one eyebrow lifting, but his mouth is tipped up on the edges. “This is amusing?”
“I mean…a big, tough hockey player felled by a kitten?” I tease, bending to unlatch the little troublemaker’s claws. “Kind of.”
Chloe’s gaze bounces between the two kittens, each clearly the love of her life. “Can we keep them?”
“Them?”Rhodes huffs out a laugh. “Absolutely not.”
“How many, then?”
“We can getonekitten, baby.”
She frowns but doesn’t get a chance to reply because Chrissy comes around the corner then, her face lighting up. “Oh, the sisters found you,” she says, moving close enough to scratch behind their little ears. “Those two are bonded.”
Chloe’s brow furrows. “What doesbondedmean?”
“It means they really love each other,” Chrissy tells her. “And that they’d be sad if they had to be apart.”
“Oh,” Chloe whispers. She studies them with immense seriousness. “But my dad said we can only get one kitten.”
“That’s okay, baby,” Chrissy says. “We have lots of kittens who need good homes.”
Chloe looks up at Rhodes.
And I watch the reality of the situation settle over him.
Because there’s no way we’re walking out of here withouttwokittens—specifically withoutthesetwo kittens.
“Daddy,” she says softly, “I think they picked me.”
Rhodes closes his eyes, sighs.
I cuddle the kitten in my arms and just…wait.
“Daddy?”
He opens his eyes and I see it in his face—he’s outnumbered, outmaneuvered…and he knows it.
