: Chapter 26

“What are you two up to in there?”

Charlie held out her hand. “You’re not allowed in here, Daddy.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re making a surprise!”

“But I’m the only one going to be surprised since the two of you are in on it?”

My daughter giggled. “Surprises can be for one person, Daddy.”

I caught Stella’s eye and winked. “Why don’t I put on some music while you guys work in the kitchen? Maybe some Katy Perry or Taylor Swift…”

As expected, Charlie jumped up and down. She pressed her palms together as if she needed to pray in order for me to do something she asked—as if I wouldn’t jump off a cliff to make her happy. “Can you put on Dolly?”

I chuckled. “Sure.”

I turned on the music, sat down in the living room, and put my feet up on the coffee table. Grabbing the TV remote, I flicked on ESPN with closed captioning and started to read the bottom of the screen. They were interviewing a new running back the Giants had drafted for the upcoming season. Big Blue was my team, so I was definitely interested, yet I couldn’t stay focused. Every few minutes, my eyes wandered back to the kitchen. I could see Stella and Charlie working away on whatever they were cooking. Stella stood, while my daughter sat on the counter mixing something. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I watched my daughter cover her mouth as she giggled. The smile on Stella’s face was pretty fucking fantastic, too.

Not to sound like a pussy, but I got this fullness in my chest that gave me a warm feeling. Ah…fuck it, who was I kidding? I didn’t give a shit if I sounded like a pussy. I was happy—really fucking happy. It had been years since I’d felt like I had a real family, and even though I’d only known Stella a few months, and this was the first time the three of us had hung out, my house felt like a home today.

I’d been looking toward the kitchen, but I must’ve zoned out while I was thinking, because when my eyes came into focus again, Stella was squinting at me. She smirked, as if to say, What’s going on in that head of yours?

She probably assumed I was picturing her naked in my kitchen or remembering all the places I’d fucked her in my house over the last week, rather than daydreaming about spending nights with my two ladies, playing board games and making a fire for them this winter in the fireplace I never used.

A half hour later, the table was set, and I was finally allowed to see what the two of them had been concocting.

Stella set a towel-covered casserole dish on the table, and Charlie leaned across, looking at Stella, who gave her a nod.

“Ta-da!” My daughter ripped the towel off.

“Macaroni and cheese? You two find a new box to try out?”

Charlie shook her head. “We made it from itch!”

Stella smiled. “That’s scratch, sweetie. We made it from scratch.”

“It looks delicious.” I looked around the table theatrically. “But where are yours? That one is just for me, right?”

Charlie giggled. “We have to share it, Daddy. There’s enough for all of us.”

I salivated as Stella dished each of us a heaping plate of my favorite food. I couldn’t wait to dig in.

“This is really good,” I said a few moments later.

“Thanks. I…called my mom for her recipe today.”

I hadn’t expected her to say that, and I didn’t want to mention anything around Charlie, so I spoke cryptically. “How did that go?”

Stella shrugged. “It was pleasant, I guess.”

I nodded. “Well, thank you. It really is delicious.”

She smiled. “It was time.”

Oblivious to my meaningful exchange with Stella, my daughter spoke with her mouth full. “Daddy, after dinner can we have ice cream and play secrets?”

I pointed to her dish with my fork. “You’re not even halfway done with what’s in front of you, and you’re worried about dessert? Maybe you’ll be too full for ice cream.”

Charlie snickered as if I’d just told a joke. “There’s always room for ice cream, Daddy. It melts once it’s in your belly, so it’s not even really food.”

“What’s the secrets game?” Stella asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever played before.”

“It’s not really a game. We just eat ice cream and take turns telling each other secrets.” I didn’t want to explain in front of Charlie that it was something my dad had done with my sister and me after our mom first got diagnosed with cancer. It was his way of teaching us that we could always confide in him—trust him to keep our secrets and tell us his.

“Can it be any secret?” Stella asked.

“Whatever you want,” I said.

She grinned. “I’m in.”

The macaroni and cheese left us all full, so we retreated to the couch after dinner to watch a movie. Charlie laid her head on my lap with her body spread out to my left, and Stella sat on my right. Halfway through Inside Out, Charlie was snoring. I couldn’t blame her. A nap sounded pretty good after that meal, and we’d watched this movie at least fifty times.

At one point, Stella got up to go to the bathroom, so I slipped out from under my daughter and carefully set her head down. Then I waited in the hall. When Stella opened the door, I grabbed her arm and yanked her into the adjoining guest bedroom.

She giggled, and I put my hand over her mouth. “Shhh…she has stealth hearing.” Stella nodded, so I took my hand away.

She whispered, “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to say thank you for dinner.”

“You already did.”

“I meant properly.”

Cupping the back of her neck, I sealed my lips over hers. “You always smell so damn good,” I groaned.

She sucked on my tongue. “You always taste so good.”

Fuck. This was probably a dumb idea. I could feel myself getting worked up already. But I hadn’t had a minute alone with her since she got here, and I needed it. Pressing her against the door, I took her mouth in a rough kiss. When I was done, we were both breathing heavy.

I wiped her bottom lip as I spoke. “You called your mother.”

Her face softened. “Yeah. I don’t think I’ll be going over there for dinner any time soon, but what you said really resonated with me. Life is short, and you never know what tomorrow is going to bring. I don’t want to have regrets, and I’m ready to move on.”

I looked back and forth between her eyes and cupped her cheek. “I’m glad.”

She turned her head and kissed my palm. “Do you think Charlie’s asleep for the night? Maybe I should get going.”

“Definitely not. She’s going to wake up and demand ice cream any minute now.”

Stella smiled. “And then I’ll get to hear one of your secrets. I was kind of looking forward to that.”

“Oh yeah?”

She nodded.

“Well, let me tell you one now.” I crooked my finger for her to come closer. When she did, I moved my mouth to her ear and whispered, “I’m fucking crazy about you, sweetheart.”

She looked at me and smiled. “I’m crazy about you, too.”

Sure enough, Charlie woke about ten minutes before the movie ended. She stretched her arms over her head. “Can we have ice cream now?”

I chuckled. “You’re barely awake.”

“I’m awake enough for ice cream.”

“Alright. Why don’t you two go sit at the table, and I’ll make us bowls. You want the works?”

Charlie nodded fast with a toothy smile.

I lifted my chin to Stella. “How about you?”

“What’s in the works?”

“Whipped cream, sprinkles, nuts, banana slices, and chocolate sauce.”

She licked her lips. “Definitely.”

In the kitchen, I whipped up three bowls. Setting them down at the table, I said, “Alright. Who wants to go first?”

Charlie pointed to Stella. “Stella! I want to know her secret.”

“Oh boy…” Stella said. “You need to give me a minute then so I can think of one.”

We shoveled ice cream into our mouths until eventually Stella raised her hand. “Thought of one!” She leaned over the table toward Charlie and lowered her voice. “No one knows this. Are you sure you can keep a secret?”

My daughter’s eyes were wide with mirth, and she nodded rapidly.

“Okay. Well, when I was about eight or nine—not too much older than you—I found this turtle at the park. It was only about this big.” Stella made a circle the size of a golf ball with her hands. “I brought it home and asked my parents if I could keep it, but they said no because they thought he belonged outside. So the next day, I went back to the park and tried to set him free. I put him back in the area of the grass where I’d found him, but he blended in so well that at least a half-dozen kids almost squished him while they were running around playing. I just knew if I left him there, he’d get hurt. So that night, I snuck him back into the house and kept him in a drawer in my room. A week later, my mom found him when she was in my room putting away laundry. She made me go put him back again. I did, but every chance I got, I’d go check on him. I tried putting him in a corner of the park that was safer, but he would find his way back to areas where kids ran around. I worried about him a lot. A few weeks later, my family was going to Florida for vacation—to Disney and SeaWorld. So I tucked the turtle into my backpack, snuck him into SeaWorld, and set him free inside the turtle exhibit. I figured he’d be safe there.”

I raised a brow. “You smuggled an animal into SeaWorld?”

Stella nodded. “I like to think of it as helping him get asylum, but yes.”

“Daddy, can we go to SeaWorld? Maybe we’ll see the turtle Stella saved.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her the thing was likely long dead. “Maybe someday.”

Charlie shoveled a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. “Your turn, Daddy.”

I admitted that I’d never been to SeaWorld, and then gave the floor to my daughter.

She tapped her pointer to her lips as the wheels in her head turned. “Can mine just be a secret that Stella doesn’t know? I can’t think of anything you don’t know, Daddy.”

“Sure.”

Charlie leaned toward Stella, mimicking what Stella had done earlier. She cupped both hands around her mouth and whispered, “My name isn’t really Charlie.”

“Wow. Okay. That is a pretty big secret. I had no idea.” Stella’s eyes flickered to mine, and I nodded confirmation before her attention returned to my daughter.

“Is Charlie short for something?” she asked.

My daughter shook her head. “I was named after my grandmas. My middle name is Charlotte, like Daddy’s mom was.”

“So Charlie is short for Charlotte, which is your middle name? But then what’s your first name?”

“My mommy’s mom’s name—Laken.”

“Laken?” Stella’s brows drew together. “So your name is Laken Charlotte?”

Charlie nodded. “Daddy, can I have more whipped cream on my ice cream?” She tilted her bowl toward me and frowned. “Mine’s all gone.”

“That’s because you ate it. But I guess so. Go grab the can from the fridge, okay?”

Charlie hopped off her chair, already done with the secrets game and moving on, but Stella looked confused.

“Her name is Laken Charlotte? That can’t be a common name combination.”

I shrugged. “Probably not. My ex-wife’s mom passed away a few months before Charlie was born. She wanted to name her after her mom, so we combined our mother’s names to honor them both. But after Charlie was born, Lexi had a little postpartum depression, and every time she called the baby Laken, it made her emotional and upset. So we started calling her by her middle name—Charlotte, but shortened it to Charlie. It stuck. By the time she was a month or two old, Charlie was Charlie, and calling her anything else didn’t feel right.”

“Laken Charlotte,” Stella repeated. It seemed like it bothered her for some reason.

“It’s not something I think about, because she’s just Charlie to me. Are you upset I didn’t mention that?”

Stella shook her head. “No…it’s not that. I just…”

I waited for her to say more, but she just stared off, her head somewhere else. “Is Lexi short for something?”

My brows drew together. “Lexi as in my ex-wife?”

Stella nodded.

“Her full name is Alexandria, but everyone calls her Lexi. Why?”

Stella went pale and her eyes grew wide. She looked freaked out.

“Is something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No. No, I…I just have a headache.”

“A headache?” I frowned. “When did it come on?”

“Uuuhhh…just now.”

My gut told me she was full of shit, but Charlie came back to the table with the can of whipped cream and shoved her bowl in front of me. I sprayed more than I should’ve and slid it back to her before returning my attention to Stella.

“You want some Tylenol?”

“No. Actually…I think I’m just going to get going.”

Something was definitely off. “You didn’t even finish your ice cream.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She stood and walked her bowl into the kitchen.

I followed, speaking quietly so Charlie wouldn’t hear. “Is something else bothering you? Why do I feel like we just did something to upset you?”

Stella smiled, but it was clearly forced. “You didn’t. I just…need to lie down, I think.”

I looked back and forth between her eyes, then nodded. “Alright. Well, let me call you an Uber.”

“I can take the train.”

“No, I’ll call you an Uber. You’re not feeling well.” I pulled the phone from my pocket and opened the app. Punching in Stella’s address, the screen flashed that the driver would be arriving pretty damn fast. I turned the screen and showed it to her. “Four minutes.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Stella spent a minute collecting her things and said goodnight to Charlie, who gave her a big hug.

“I’ll be back in one second,” I said to my daughter. “You finish up your ice cream while I walk Stella out.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

At the front door, I stepped outside with Stella and pulled it partially closed behind me. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m positive.” She looked down. “Sometimes a headache can make me nauseous, so I just think it’s better if I get home.”

Again, I wasn’t buying it, but I nodded anyway. “Okay.”

A car that matched the description of the Uber pulled up at the curb, so I cupped Stella’s face and kissed her lips softly. “Check the license plate before you get in. It should end in six-F-E. And text me when you get home.”

She nodded. “Goodnight.”

I watched as Stella walked around the car and read the back plate, then climbed into the backseat. She spoke to the driver, and I waited for her to look back and wave goodbye one last time. But she never did. The car simply pulled away from the curb.

Something was definitely off, and my gut told me it had nothing to do with a headache.