Page 132 of Not Your Little Girl Anymore

Jules clears her throat. “She’s upstairs. If you could excuse me for a moment.”

She closes the door, but not all the way. I’ve begun to bite my tongue hard, hoping that the pain will take away the fact that my heart is beating excessively fast.

I take a step forward to listen carefully through the door. I’m able to hear her footsteps climb up the stairs, but they fade the further up she is. I wish I could hear more than that, but the door blocks all sounds that come from upstairs. For now, I’m left twirling my thumbs.

A squeal pulls my attention away from my hands. A large crease forms between my eyebrows as I listen to small footsteps run down the stairs, and the door flies open.

“Alec! Alec!” Callie shouts, hopping on her tiptoes. “Auntie said I can go with you!”

Oh?

This was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

I smile, crouching down to her level. “Hey, pumpkin.” When I take her hands into mine, she stops jumping and stares at me with big eyes, waiting for me to say more. “Have you ever been bowling before?”

Callie starts to hop on her toes again and shakes her head at the same time. “No, but I want to go! I want to go!” she shouts. She lets go of my hands and turns around to Jules standing behind her. Callie locks her fingers together. “Can I go? Please. Please. I want to go so bad!” she begs.

I look up to Jules, her expression unreadable. Jules sighs, places a hand on Callie’s shoulder, and gives her a soft smile. “I said you can go.”

Callie’s eyes light up and she leaps into my arms. I give her a tight squeeze not wanting to let go of her because this moment I’ve waited for a very long time. But when she’s had enough, her arms drop to her sides, and I have no other choice but to let go.

I take her hands back into mine. Her smile spreads widely across her delicate, tanned cheeks. “Why don’t you go grab a bottle of water and put your shoes on? I’ll be right here waiting.”

Her eyebrows narrow, and it pains me that she’s worried I won’t be. “You promise?”

My lips curl upward. “I promise. Have I ever broken a promise?”

She shakes her head. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere!”

She skips her way back into the house, through the living room, and into the kitchen.

I breathe out, looking at Jules. It’s clear she is anything but happy. “Look, Jules. I know your feelings about me haven’t changed. And hell, I never know if they will, but that little girl is the only reason I’m even alive. She means more to me than anyone else in the universe. I can assure you that the only person she’s safer with than you is me. You have nothing to worry about.”

Jules doesn’t respond for a few beats, and it sends something souring in my stomach, but then she shakes her head. “I know.” Jules turns and walks to a small end table by the window. I follow slightly but stay in the doorway, not wanting to invade the space of her home. I watch her fumble in the drawer and grab a paper and pen. She writes something down before putting the pen back where it was.

“This is my phone number. If anything happens… anything at all. You call.” She passes me the paper. I look down at it for a second before my eyes move back to hers.

“I won’t hesitate to call you.”

Callie skips back over with a mermaid thermostat in her hand. I glance down, noticing her shoes are on the wrong feet. I’m left chuckling, grabbing her hand and taking her to the top step. “Take a seat for a minute so we can fix those shoes of yours.”

Callie looks down at her feet and wiggles them horizontally. “Auntie says my toes will grow in the opposite direction if I keep putting them on the wrong feet, but I know she’s joking me, so I do it on purpose.”

I take both of her shoes off and put them onto the right feet. “Well, I think Auntie is clever to remind you of such a thing. You don’t want to walk like you have two left feet and trip over everything, do you?”

Callie rolls her eyes, popping the lip to her thermostat and taking a sip of her water. “You’re joking me, too.”

I chuckle. “You’re pretty clever. You know that?”

Callie smiles and stands. Jules pivots our way and bends down to give Callie a hug goodbye. “Have fun, OK?”

“I will!” Callie yells, letting go of Jules and wrapping her arms around me before she slips her hand into mine.

I walk down the steps, and Callie hops onto each one.

“Oh, Alec…” I turn back around, hearing Jules call out. “The car is unlocked. Her booster is on the back. She knows how to buckle herself.”

I nudge my head as a thank you and grab Callie’s seat from Jules’s car, placing it into my back seat. I wait to hear the seatbelt click into place before starting the car and driving straight to the Midnight Spare across town, where Summer is waiting.

---