Page 66 of The Rules of Dating

She shook her head.

Billie took out her phone. “You wanna take some pictures, Saylor?”

I held out my hand and winked. “I’ll be happy to take your phone and snap them.”

“You won’t be going anywhere near my phone, Lennon.”

I loved messing with her. I hoped she knew I was kidding about the naked photos. Okay, maybe I’m not. I definitely want to see them.

Billie spent the next several minutes taking photo after photo of Saylor and her tiger face. My daughter insisted on changing in and out of several of her dresses for this photo shoot. It was adorable to watch. I also couldn’t ignore the fact that Billie seemed so comfortable around Saylor. My kid was generally an easy sell, but not everyone had this kind of spark with my daughter. It took patience to keep up with her—patience that sometimes even the most well-intentioned people didn’t have. Billie might not have been sure she wanted kids, but she was a natural.

After their photoshoot ended, I asked, “Who wants dessert?”

“Me!” Saylor yelled.

“I made brownies.”

Billie arched a brow. “Oooh…spinach brownies?”

“Shh...” I winked. “Yeah.”

“She still doesn’t know?” Billie whispered.

“Nope.” I laughed. “That’s the beauty of it.”

“Whoops.”

Billie and Saylor each noshed on one of my brownies while I sat back with a beer and kicked up my feet.

Billie ended up hanging out with us all afternoon. Since we were still pretty full from lunch, I cut up some fruit and cheese and got out crackers as a light dinner.

After we ate, Billie gave me yet another surprise.

“Saylor, why don’t you go pick out your jammies?” she suggested. “I’ll help you get all this paint washed off. I have a special soap for it.”

With Saylor out of the room, Billie sauntered over to me. “You wanna know something, Colby Lennon?”

“What?”

“You are such a great father. I hope you know that. I’ve watched you all day, and you don’t miss a beat with her. She’s very lucky to have you.”

“Why, thank you. I appreciate the kind words, beautiful.”

“And you know what else I think?”

I caressed her cheek. “What?”

“I think you deserve some daddy alone time. Self-care.”

“I don’t need to be alone when you’re around.”

“I think you’ll prefer this alone time.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What are you up to?”

She whispered in my ear, “I’ll handle getting Saylor ready for bed. You stay here and relax.”

Billie walked over to the refrigerator, grabbed another beer, and popped it open before handing it to me. She then took out her phone and scrolled through her photos.