Page 95 of The Dating Pact

No, but maybe a few beers would help.

As soon as I stepped into the house, Amelia tore down the hall. “Daddy!”

“Hey, Lu.” I swung her up into my arms and kissed her temple. “What are you doing?”

“Un-uncle Nate lemme do his makeup.”

“Makeup?” I carried her to the living room, where Nate sat with his back to me. “Where’d you get makeup?”

That was when he faced me, his cheeks covered in what I could only guess was red marker. Shapes drawn on his face in thick blue lines.

I tickled my daughter’s side. “What did you do?”

She shrieked in laughter. “Makeup!”

Nate held up one of the markers. “Says it’s washable.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “But it’ll take a whole lot of scrubbing.”

I put Amelia down with a pat to her butt. “Go get your iPad. You can go on it in the kitchen while you have a snack.”

“Ice cream sandwich?” she asked in her cutest squeaky voice.

“Yes. You can have an ice cream sandwich.”

“Yes!” She ran off to help herself to an ice cream sandwich from the freezer with the stool I kept specifically for her.

I plopped onto the sofa with a groan and rubbed my hands over my face. “I’m exhausted.”

Nate leaned forward to take his cell phone from the coffee table, tapping on it for a minute.

I apologized. “I’m sorry, man. I’m sure I ruined your plans for the day.”

“Nah.” He kept his focus on his phone as he texted. “You know I’m always here for you. Tabitha’s got the bar covered.”

“I suspect she got her raise?”

“Yeah.” He huffed a laugh, an odd, almost wondrous smile on his face.

“What?”

He shook his head, and for a moment, I thought he wouldn’t tell me. But this was Nate. He wore all his emotions on his sleeve and had no problem talking about them either. “We were closing the other night. Just me and her, and I asked why I never see her drink or hang out with anybody there. I’ve never met any of her friends. She said Walt’s not her scene.”

“Funny since she’s been working there for a decade.”

He raised his palm. “That’s exactly what I said.”

“What is her scene?”

“I asked her that, and she said someplace quieter where she could have a glass of wine and eat a nice dinner.”

I crossed my arms, giving in to a smile. “So why do you look like that?”

“I don’t know. Got me thinking, I guess.”

“About what?”

“Walt’s has done good business for me, but I’m not a young buck anymore.”

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