Page 47 of Untamed
Birdie smiles so hard her whole face scrunches up as she enthusiastically nods her head and signs yes.
“She says that, but she’s turned her cute little nose up at everything I packed her.” Ruth digs around the diaper bag I carried in this morning. “Do you want some Cheerios?”
“No.” It’s one of the words the toddler says perfectly.
Not shocking.
Ruth lifts her brows at me. “See?”
I straighten. “Luckily, I happen to know where we can find a whole room full of snacks to choose from.” I lookover the three women scattered around my office before stopping on Ruth. “I can take her to the break room to get something.”
As the words come out of my mouth, an unfortunate realization hits me. Ruth and I covered how we would interact with each other today, but we haven’t discussed what she is and isn’t comfortable with where Birdie is concerned. And while I recognize it’s important that everyone believes she trusts me with her daughter, I would never push her to pretend something like that. We can do plenty of other things to convince my family we are an actual couple.
I hold Ruth’s eyes, hoping she hears what I can’t say. “Would you like to come?”
Ruth barely hesitates. No one else would recognize the beat of silence for what it is, but I can almost see what she’s thinking move across her face. It’s similar to what just went through my head, and it involves whether or not she trusts me. And what Brooke will think if she doesn’t allow me to take Birdie on my own.
I’m not gonna leave her hanging. I’m not gonna let her be stressed over this. Not when she has so much to be worried about as it is. So I hold my hand out. “Come on. You could probably use a snack too.”
Ruth hesitates another second, but then a smile that appears both surprised and a little relieved lifts her lips. “I’m okay. Just bring something back for me.”
Something weird hits me in my already tight chest. Warm and solid as it spreads behind my ribs and ripples down my arms. I know Titus and Mariah trust me with their twins, but my brother has known me forever. He knows I’m responsible. He knows I would protect those kids' lives with my own.
Ruth hasn’t known me forever. Having her trust hits me hard. Satisfies me in a way nothing has lately.
I slowly straighten, the little girl I’m already attached to at myfeet when I say, “What do you think, Little Bird? You want to go with me to get a snack?”
“Snack.” She yells the single word she can say from that sentence, chubby little fingers reaching for me as they open and close with excitement.
I quickly glance at Ruth, hoping no one notices the permission I seek. Her soft smile from earlier holds and she gives me the barest of nods.
Without hesitation—to reduce any chance Maren and Brooke start getting suspicious—I scoop the toddler up, resting her on one hip. Technically, I’ve held Birdie before, but that was when Ruth was right there with us, ready to momma bear me if I made any wrong moves. And knowing I’ve shown Ruth I can be trusted unsupervised with the person most important to her has my chest puffing as Birdie and I navigate the halls of McKinley Security Systems.
I take her to the largest of the break rooms because it has the most snack options, and we spend almost twenty minutes going through everything there is to choose from. At one point, she’s collected so much I have to go in search of a bag and end up dutifully following behind the curly headed little girl as she peruses everything from fruit-filled pastries to ramen noodle bowls. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even know what half the things she’s adding are and is throwing in items simply because they seem colorful and interesting, but I don’t give a shit. Even if she opens every one of them and just dumps the contents onto my office floor, it will give her something to do. I’ll give my cleaning crew a little bonus, and everyone will be happy.
We’re on the last cabinet when Walker strides in, his steel-toed boots stopping with a heavy thump when he sees me crouched next to Birdie.
“Where in the hell did you find a baby?”
“She’s not a baby, she’s a toddler.” I gesture atBirdie with one hand as she literally toddles from the cabinet to her bag of goodies. “And this is Birdie.” I give the little girl a smile when she recognizes her name and looks at me. “She’s my girlfriend’s daughter.” The words flow easily out of my mouth. Likely because I’ve been repeating them in my brain over and over since I’ve never said anything like them in my life.
They’ve never applied to me before and they will never apply to me again. They don’t technically apply to me now, but no one’s going to know that.
“Bullshit.”
And maybe Walker knows that.
My cousin crosses both arms over his chest, shaking his head. “No fucking way do you have a girlfriend.”
I know I shouldn’t be offended. I’ve gone to great lengths for his words to be true. But it rankles a little bit this morning.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but lots of women have wanted to be my girlfriend.”
He snorts, a sharp chuckle following it. “Oh, I’ve heard. Everyone has heard.” He stabs an accusing finger at me. “You’re the one who doesn’t want them.”
“I changed my mind.”
Technically, it’s the truth. Makes it easier to say. Because I did change my mind. I do want a girlfriend.
