Page 85 of Fierce-Dane

“I can ask anything?” Tiffani asked.

“You can,” he said. “I’ll try to answer as best as I can.”

“Does she cook for you?” Tiffani asked.

“She does,” he said. “But I cook for her too. We share those things.”

“Mom does everything for Ethan,” Tyler said. “All he does is take her out to eat at times, but he never cooks or helps to clean up. We have to do it after dinner. How come he doesn’t?”

“It’s not the time to talk about that,” his mother said. “This is about your father and him having someone else in his life. Like Aunt Chloe and Uncle Royce have each other too.”

“Are you going to get married like them?” Tiffani asked.

“No,” he said. “We are dating. We have been for a few months. I’d never want to bring anyone into your life that I didn’t think would be around for a while, but that doesn’t mean anything more than what it is right now.”

Tiffani put her head down and continued to eat. When she didn’t ask anything else, he did the same and then Tyler started to talk about school and he knew that was the end of it.

“How did it go?” Sloane asked him hours later. The kids were both in bed and sleeping and he’d snuck downstairs to call her now that he knew she was home from work.

“Better than I thought it would. I guess fate played a part in it with my mother picking them up for me.”

He told her how it went and his mother’s words about her.

“That was nice of her,” she said. “A good way to bring me into it.”

“I wouldn’t have thought to do that. I think Tiffani wastorn. She knows who you are and she knows Chloe likes you. That went a long way.”

“It’s almost like I’m not a complete stranger.”

“Exactly,” he said. “She’s going to let me know when she’s ready. I’m not sure when it will be.”

“Take your time, Dane. This is on you and not me. I’m good with whatever you’re good with.”

“Thanks for that,” he said. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me feel. I think you and Tiffani will get along well, but I want her to be able to take those steps.”

He talked for a few more minutes and hung up.

When he turned, Tiffani was standing there. He hadn’t heard her come down the stairs.

“Does Sloane really make you happy?” Tiffani asked.

“She does,” he said.

“You’re smiling,” Tiffani said, sniffling a little. He wasn’t sure what was going on and thought maybe they’d get to the drama part of the night.

“I didn’t know I was. Why are you upset?”

“Because you only smile like that when you talk to me. Mom says it all the time. That you never smiled at her like that.”

What shitty petty words to put on a child.

He hadn’t realized any of that. “I’ll always smile like that around you.” He wouldn’t address Mel's words.

“I want you happy, but I don’t want to not have you be there for me.”

A tear rolled down Tiffani’s cheek. “Come here, honey.” He opened his arms and Tiffani ran into them. “I’ll always be there for you and you know it. Mommy is there for you and she has a boyfriend. Adults need to have companionship too. Just like you’ve got friends and when you’re thirty you’ll have your first boyfriend.”

His daughter giggled. “Not that long.”

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