“Next?” I cock an eyebrow at her. “I know what I’d like to do next.”
“And what’s that?”
“I want to kiss you again.”
“You do?” she asks, like she can’t believe I’m saying it.
“Yes. I’ve thought about that kiss every day.”
“Me too,” Harper confesses.
A smile spreads across my face. I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to. And I don’t. I want Harper to know exactly how I’m feeling. I don’t want to play any games. Something tells me Harper wouldn’t appreciate them.
“What does that mean for us?”
“It means?—”
“Daddy, look.” Sadie comes running back over. “We each got one!”
They’re holding up a plastic container with the lids off. Each has a pink ring on their index finger. “I loved these rings when I was little,” Harper tells them.
“We got a third for you.” Sadie holds out the small yellow container and pops the lid off for her.
“You did?” Harper looks touched as a pink ring of her own spills into her awaiting palm. “Thank you.”
She slides it down over her pinky, and it brings back memories of when I slid another ring down her finger.
“We match.” Harper wiggles her fingers for the girls to see.
“That was nice of you girls,” I tell the twins. “I think it’s time to head home. Bath before bed.”
“Can Harper come next time?”
“We’ll see,” I answer them as I drop a few twenties on the table and wave my goodbyes to Paul. When we’re outside, I click the fob and let the girls say their goodbyes to Harper before I double-check their seatbelts.
“Hey.” I grab Harper’s elbow before she can scurry off.
“Yeah?” It doesn’t take much to stop her. There’s a warmth in her eyes that settles something in me. Somelong-lost part of me that I didn’t really like to think was missing but actually was.
“Thanks for staying tonight.”
Harper looks at the girls through the car window before turning her attention back to me. “You’re really good with them.”
I squeeze the back of my neck. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You are their entire world.”
I blow out a deep breath. One I didn’t even realize I was holding. “I try. I try really hard to give them the best life they can have. Everything I do is for them.”
“I know,” Harper agrees, squeezing my bicep. “Trust me, I know better than anyone.”
There’s a million apologies I could give her, but I don’t know how far it’ll get me with her. She only needs one.
And I’m not quite sure how to word it to her.
“Look, Harper?—”
“Take me out.”
