Page 126 of Whisper Sweet Nothings
Time would pass in the blink of an eye, and they’d barely notice that I was gone.
thirty-three
. . .
Archer
Melody had askedme if we could host Easter this year, and Winnie was completely on board. She’d wanted to work on the Easter egg hunt, which she was taking to a whole new level. She’d spent hours finding hiding places out in the yard.
It would only be Melody and Cutler looking for eggs later, so it wasn’t like we’d have dozens of kids looking for them. But she insisted that was even more of a reason to take the time to hide them well.
Her father had arrived a few days ago. He’d been staying with us, which was awesome, because we got to spend a lot of time with him at the house. He was a great guy, and it was easy to see how close he and Winnie were.
He adored his daughter in a way I could relate to.
Not only because I loved her, but because I adored my own daughter the same way.
I recognized it.
The way he’d assessed me the first night he arrived, the instinctual need to protect her.
But what had really impressed the hell out of me was the way that he took to Melody. He got down on the floor to play withher and brought her a giant chocolate Easter Bunny, because his daughter loved my daughter—which meant he did, too.
I refilled his coffee. Melody was hanging out at my aunt and uncle’s house with Cutler this morning so we could get things set up here.
“She’s still got dozens of eggs to hide.” Sam chuckled from where he stood in the kitchen, glancing out the back door to the yard, where his daughter continued hiding eggs like it was an Olympic sport. “She just cares so damn much about doing things the right way. I’d have just rolled them in the bushes and all over the grass.”
I refilled my coffee and topped his off before we both moved to sit at the table.
“Same. Melody and Cutler won’t even know what to do now that they’ll actually have to search for the eggs. They also used to just be filled with jelly beans, but Winnie’s packed them with different candies, coins, dollar bills, erasers, key chains, and a bunch of other goodies.” I laughed.
“That’s my girl. She’s always been that way.” He shrugged as he took a sip of his coffee and then studied me for a few beats. “Thank you for being so good to her. She hasn’t been this happy in a very long time.”
“Neither have I. And there is nothing to thank me for. She’s changed my life and Melody’s life for the better.” I blew out a breath. “I think it’s easy to go through the motions and not even realize what you’re missing in life until you find it.”
I was madly in love with this woman.
I’d almost said it several times, but she was so nervous about leaving on this tour, and I didn’t want to do anything to complicate things for her.
So I tried every day to show how much I loved her with my actions, just not the actual words.
Hell, I’d only said it to one person in my life, and that hadn’t worked out.
So I didn’t want to do anything to make her feel pressured.
Her career was taking off, and she was about to leave on a three-week book tour.
I didn’t want to take away from this big moment, so I was waiting for the right time to say it.
Because I never thought I’d be saying those words to another woman.
And here I was feeling all of it.
“I understand that. I was very closed off after my wife left us when Winnie was young. I just poured myself into work and my daughter, and I didn’t have much of a life outside of that. And I’m not complaining, because that girl out there hiding every single egg like her life counts on it…” He paused to chuckle. “She’s my pride and joy. I’m sure you understand that.”
“I do.”
“So I came here, all ready to intimidate the shit out of you, throw out a couple threats to keep you in line.” A sinister grin spread across his face. “But, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that I don’t feel the need to do that.”
