Page 49 of Kiss Kiss Bang
He pretended to be shocked. “The lights turn on when you move. That is not boring.”
She seemed to be thinking about that, because she didn’t say anything for a while and kept drinking.
“My friend Samantha, she didn’t have a daddy either, and then her mommy moved to her new daddy’s house and she had to change schools. Do I have to go to a new school now?”
Where was Olivia? This was a landmine.
He cleared his throat. “You don’t have to change schools, Soph. You’ll be back home very soon and you can come visit and get in the pool any time you want.”
“Why can’t we all live in the same house, like Samantha and like Peppa Pig? You can be the daddy.”
Holy shit.
He almost choked on his drink and his heart began to pound, wildly.
“Are you giving my daughter more sugar?” Olivia grabbed a napkin and wiped Sophie’s mouth.
Now she decided to come down!
He shook his head and placed his drink on the table. “I’m going to put on my swimsuit. Be right back, meet you in the pool.” He said it quickly and in one long breath.
“Pool. Pool. Pool.” Sophie chanted. She was literally running in place with energy.
“Did I thank you for feeding my kid sugar?”
He smiled, not really feeling humorous. “You may have grumbled something.”
“You okay?” Olivia asked.
“Fine. Fine. Be right back.”
He jogged up, taking two stairs at a time. Once he got to his room he shut the door behind him and leaned against it, taking gulps of air into his lungs.
You can be the daddy.
Shit. That’s what Olivia had been trying to tell him but he hadn’t fully understood. This was confusing for Sophie. Of course it was, how could it not be? He was the first man who’d come into her life, since she’d never met her father.
He breathed in and out and thought it through like he did everything in his life.
She was great. Cute, energetic, funny, and so smart. She questioned everything and thought things out, even though she was only five. She was also unique, which he adored. Was he ready to take on this daddy role?
It was too soon. Way too soon.
But did it scare him? The thought of being in this little person’s life? Catching lizards, showing her how to dive, coloring unicorns . . .
No. It didn’t scare him.
In fact, he could clearly see a future where he woke up and sat on a sofa eating Cheerios with Sophie. And it wasn’t scary at all.
What was scary was that he would get attached and her mother would push him away. That suddenly became scary.
But at least he’d come to terms with one thing . . . he didn’t just need to win Olivia over, he wanted to win Olivia and Sophie over.
By the time he walked outside he felt better about his revelation and smiled when he saw Sophie was doing cannonballs into the pool.
“Be careful, Soph. Don’t run,” her mother yelled.
But Sophie was already running, and Olivia was sitting on a lounge chair with his robe wrapped around her.
