Page 133 of Sloane

I wasn’t worried he’d hurt her, but I stayed on high alert, in case he decided he wanted to lick her, or suddenly got the zoomies again.

Softly stroking Millie’s belly, I told Tank, “This is Millie. You have to be gentle with her.”

He was painstakingly slow when he put his paw on her , so he was barely touching her, and looked at me again for approval.

“Good boy. Be gentle,” I reiterated, and petted her middle like I’d pet him.

He let out a whine and softly touched her again with his paw, then kissed her hand.

“Good boy, Tank,” Ashley cooed as she sat down next to me.

He dropped to his belly and rested his face on my daughter’s seat. When Stu came and sat on the other side of me and reached down to touch Millie’s little fingers, Tank nudged the man’s hand out of the way, as if to say, “My baby.”

Ashley and I exchanged a smile. I knew at that moment he’d always protect her.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Sloane

After we’d finished our therapy session on my third day at the beach house, I noticed Ashley come downstairs with Millie strapped to her front and a diaper bag on her arm.

Before I had a chance to inquire if she was going somewhere, she announced, “Okay, I’m off to the VA!”

Crash and Stu yelled, “Bye!” but I said, “Wait!”

She turned around with her head tilted.

“Do you need something before I go?”

“You’re taking Millie to the VA?”

“Yeah. She goes to the daycare there while I see my patients.”

“Isn’t she kind of little to be going there?”

“It’s only for three or four hours. I feed her first, then she usually conks out the whole time she’s there.”

“Do you want to leave her here?”

She studied my face, and I could tell she was considering it, but she said, “I need to talk to Travis, first. I don’t think he’d be okay with me leaving her for the residents to babysit.”

“Well, I’m not just any resident. I’m her dad.”

“Right, but you’d need Crash or Stu’s help with her. You couldn’t carry her.” Her voice became gentler when she added, “Not yet, anyway. You’ll get there.”

I was embarrassed because I knew she was right, and my ego hadn’t considered that I couldn’t carry my own six-week daughter. The best I could do was hold her while I sat on the couch supervised like I was a five-year-old.

My face must have given away my thoughts, because she touched my hand and softly said, “Give it time, Sloane.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said brusquely as I turned my walker toward the family room and said over my shoulder, “Drive safely.”

Another fucking thing I couldn’t do.

Around noon the guys announced they were going to attempt to make lunch.

“Just sandwiches and chips,” Crash declared as we headed into the kitchen. “We promised Ash we wouldn’t cook anything and risk burning the house down while she’s out.”

I opened a cupboard to find a shelf full of packages of the beef jerky brand Ashley used to send in her care packages to me. Just as I reached for a bag, Stu exclaimed, “Those are off-limits. Everything on the top two shelves in that cupboard are.”

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