Page 21 of The Rules of Dating

“I’ll try to stop by. The alarm company is calling me in the morning to give me a four-hour window that day, so I’m not positive I’ll make it, but I’ll try.”

I rubbed my chin. “So when my daughter invites you, you’ll come. But not when I invite you to do something with me?”

“Don’t be offended, Big Daddy. Saylor doesn’t have that thing I’ve recently determined I’m allergic to.”

I shook my head. “What thing?”

“A penis.” She winked. “Nighty-night, Colby.”

***

Saturday afternoon, I got excited every time someone knocked at my apartment door. But by seven thirty, it had become apparent that Billie wasn’t going to make it. Most of the guests who had come to help Saylor celebrate her fourth birthday had already left, and it was only Owen, Holden, and me still sitting around drinking beer when there was a knock at the door. I hadn’t told the guys I’d invited Billie, because once they caught on that you liked a woman, the ball busting never stopped.

So I pretended to be surprised when I opened the door and Billie was on the other side. She held a couple of wrapped gifts in her hands.

“Hey. It’s good to see you,” I said.

She looked around me and into my apartment. “Am I too late? The alarm company took hours to install the system. I locked up as soon as they left.”

Saylor came running from behind me. “Billie! You came!”

Billie bent down, and my daughter threw her arms around her neck.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I came as soon as I could.”

“It’s okay. You got here just in time. Uncle Holden is going to sing me a special song. He wrote it just for my birthday.”

“Did he? Wow, no one has ever written a song for me.” Billie tapped Saylor’s little nose with her pointer. “You must be super special.”

We were still in the doorway, so I nodded toward the inside of my apartment. “Come on in. I still have a ton of food, and there’s cake, too.”

The guys said hello, shooting me questioning looks. I ignored them.

“Are you hungry?” I asked Billie. “It’ll take two seconds to heat something up. We had all of Saylor’s favorites: baked ziti, chicken fingers, and peanut butter and banana sandwiches.”

“Oooh…peanut butter and banana sandwiches sound delicious. But I just ate at the shop a little while ago. I ordered in while they were working. I thought I might starve to death if I didn’t.”

“How about some cake then?”

Saylor jumped up and down. “Daddy made it himself.”

Billie raised her eyebrows. “You baked a cake?”

“Don’t get too excited. It’s from a box, lopsided, and I didn’t wait long enough for it to cool before frosting it, so the top is sort of icing mixed with cake bits. But if you close your eyes, it tastes pretty damn good.”

She smiled. “Maybe just a little piece.”

“You got it.”

While I cut a slice of cake, Billie gave Saylor the gifts she’d brought.

“Daddy, can I open them, pleeeeeaaasssseeeee.” She said it like I was physically capable of denying her anything in this world.

“Sure, sweetheart. Go ahead.”

The first present she unwrapped was an art set. It looked like a pretty nice one, too—not a typical kids’ set. Billie pointed to it. “This was the first set of paint markers I ever had. I was about your age when I got them. Once I started to draw with those, no one could stop me. I fell in love with art.”

Saylor held them to her chest. “I can’t wait to draw with them!”