“No,” she said. “But I get the feeling your father will continue to remind you when you feel those memories are dimming.”
“Thank you,” Seth mouthed to her while he was starting to braid his daughter’s hair again.
After the third time, Adele’s hair was pretty perfect. “I’d say you mastered it and can now style your daughter’s hair anytime she wants it.”
Adele jumped down. “I’m getting my dolls. Can you show me how to do it next?”
“I don’t think we should make Ava spend the whole time teaching us how to braid hair, and the pizza will be here any minute,” Seth said.
“If we have time before the food gets here, I’ll do it,” she said.
Adele ran out of the room. “Thanks,” Seth said to her. “I appreciate you spending your afternoon here doing this when I’m sure you probably have better things to do.”
“I’m right where I want to be,” she said honestly. “And I wanted to thank you again for all your help with my...issue.”
“How is that going?” he asked. Adele ran back in with three dolls. “Maybe another time for that conversation.”
“I’d like that,” she said smiling. “You’ve got my number to reach out when you’re ready.”
His smile dropped, but he nodded. She turned to help Adele with one of her dolls and the doorbell rang two minutes later.
The three of them sat at the island and ate their pizza and talked about Adele’s school and friends. She found out all of Adele’s favorite things—and there were a lot—and then she took her leave.
Seth stopped her at the door while Adele stayed in the kitchen. “I really do appreciate you doing this.”
“My pleasure. Again, you’ve got my number if you want to reach out again.” She put her hand on his and felt a heat sprint up her arm. She wouldn’t push or beg, but she hoped he accepted her offer. He looked like he needed it maybe as much as she did. “No pressure.”
9
Ready To Move On
“Daddy!” Seth grunted when he felt the small body of his daughter jump on the bed and hit him in the shoulder. “I want to find the eggs.”
“I’m getting up,” he said. “Or I will if you let me.”
Adele moved off the bed, then ran out of the room. He threw the covers back and stood up. Long gone were the days he slept in his underwear, knowing his daughter could do exactly what she did. He’d had pajama pants on when he got in bed last night, but he was hot and sweaty thinking of the day with Ava.
When he pitched a solid tent and there were no signs of it going down on its own, he reached under the covers and did what he’d been doing for too long.
Longer than he wanted and his body was just screaming for a release with a woman. He’d dated someone a year ago for a few months. Not long enough to introduce her to his daughter, but plenty of time to see her naked when he had daycare and could get out.
The connection just wasn’t there for long term and Michaela got fed up with what she considered him dragging his feet. When it came down to it, he did not like the way Michaela would brush Adele off and wasn’t ready to move on because of that.
And when Ava made the comment last night to call when he was ready, he realized that maybe he finally was.
He went into his bathroom and did his business, then brushed his teeth fast. There was no time for a shower yet, as he was lucky that Adele was giving him time to empty his bladder.
When he got in the hall she was standing at the top of the steps dancing in place. “I didn’t want to go down without you because I know you don’t like that.”
He didn’t like her going downstairs in the morning before he was up. She had a TV in her room and if she woke before him she could turn it on to entertain herself. It was not that he slept late, but on the weekends, he liked to sleep later than five and his active daughter could hit the floor running.
Most kids couldn’t get out of bed, but Adele just wanted to go and go. On school days she was hard to get up, on the weekends, it’s like her internal clock was reversed.
“Good girl,” he said. “Now let’s go see what the Bunny left you.”
She raced down the stairs like he fully expected and went into the family room first, looking for her basket that was always left on the coffee table. “Chocolate,” she screeched.
Of course there was chocolate in it. What Easter basket wouldn’t be complete without chocolate and jelly beans? But there wasn’t much of it because like normal it was the first thing his daughter saw and wanted. She was hyper enough without the sugar rush.
“There is more than chocolate in there,” he pointed out when he got to the room.
She removed the clear wrapper and then reached in. “Crayons, and coloring books. A Barbie.” There was a victory dance over that. It was getting harder and harder to remember which ones she had and didn’t. “Nail polish and bracelets. Daddy, the Bunny got me more stuff for my hair.”
“He did.”
“The Bunny is a boy?” Adele asked.
Oh man, here we go again. His daughter questioned so many things that he wasn’t sure he had the answers for. “It’s a figure of speech. I’m not sure if the Bunny is a boy or girl. Does it matter? Just like Santa, I bet the Bunny has helpers so it can get everything done for all the boys and girls on the same night.”
“That’s true. And the Bunny knows me so well. It’s all my favorites.”
He laughed, thinking of how Adele told Ava all her favorites yesterday. A list a mile long
