“Yes,” she says, like there was no question and it was dumb to even ask. God, I love this kid.
“Okay.” I look at Shelly. “I’ll be right back. Going to get her settled.”
She nods at me and then makes herself comfortable on my couch before I take Amber’s hand and walk her to her bedroom. I glance at my bedroom door as we walk past, silently pleading with Dakota to not be freaking out too much, but I need to get Amber and Shelly settled first.
Then, with any luck, he’ll let me hold him and soothe him back to sleep.
I take off Amber’s jacket, and thankfully, she’s still wearing pajamas, so I tuck her into her bed with her stuffy of choice. “Daddy, who is that man?”
I take a deep breath and let it out. Okay, so this isn’t exactly how I planned for my daughter to meet him, but I’m not as freaked out by the whole situation as I should be. Still, do I have an answer for that? “His name is Dakota, and uh...”
“Is he your boyfriend? Like Randy was to Mommy?”
“Would that be okay?” I check. Though if she said no, it wouldn’t be the end of the conversation. I love the hell out of my daughter, but I can’t let Dakota go. We’d just have to work through it. That’s all.
She frowns, and oh no. Is she going to have a problem with this? “He has a potty mouth.”
A startled laugh falls from my mouth, and I tussle her hair lovingly. “Not usually.”
She thinks about that for a minute. “Okay.”
“That’s it?” I watch her, waiting for more because my daughter always has a lot to say, and I’m always happy to listen.
She shrugs. “Do you looove him?” Her little voice is light and playful, a giggle falling from her mouth.
I know she’s teasing me, but the feeling in my chest at her question, this light, floating feeling—the same one I get every time I’m around Dakota... I lean down closer to her and whisper, “Can you keep a secret?”
She holds out her little pinky to me, and I smile, wrapping my pinky around hers as she nods.
“I think I do.”
She smiles and then yawns and settles back into her pillow. “Okay, but tell him we don’t kill spiders.”
I laugh. “I will. Would you like to meet him in the morning?” I ask cautiously. If she’s not ready for that, I understand. And if Dakota isn’t ready either, it’ll be a little disappointing, I can’t lie, but I’ll understand.
“Sure,” she says it so easily, and it makes me smile as I brush her hair out of her eyes, watching them fall closed.
“He makes really good blueberry pancakes. So he says. I haven’t tried them yet.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” she says, but her words are a little slurred because the kid is already almost all the way out.
I kiss her cheek and then leave her room, closing the door behind me softly and then heading into the living room.
I’m not sure how I feel as I walk to the couch Shelly is sitting on, waiting expectantly, and take a seat on the opposite side. “Go ahead.” Giving her permission to ask whatever she wants to.
I’m sure she has plenty of questions. I look down at the floor and see all of Dakota’s and my clothes from earlier lying around. Probably should get that cleaned up.
She doesn’t say anything for a really long time though, and I’m about to say something when she opens her mouth, an awkward laugh tumbling from her mouth. “I’m trying to find a way to not be offensive or rude...”
That makes me laugh, probably a little too loudly. “Shelly, we were married. You can’t offend me. I even watched you give birth to our daughter.”
She rolls her eyes and then tosses a throw pillow at my head. “You didn’t tell me you were dating someone. Are you dating?”
I grin. “Yeah.” I catch the pillow and situate it behind my back. “Yeah, I am.”
“O—kay...” She’s still being careful, which is so un-Shelly. “I’m sorry. I just... I’m taken off guard, I think. You fought me so hard about going to trivia night, but is that because you’re not into women?” Her eyes are wide, and I see all the questions floating in them.
“I didn’t want to be set up by my ex-wife,” I say. “Or anyone, for that matter.”
