Page 81 of Morally Gray Daddies

“Yes.”

“So, you’ll be gone all weekend?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Sonja shot her arm into the air. “Woohoo! Party!”

I snapped a glance at her. “Huh?”

She turned her gaze my way. “We’re going to have a fu—” She darted her eyes to her father. “A frickin’ Pee Eh Are Tee Why!”

“Oh, you think so, chica?” Mr. Delgado asked quietly.

“Uh… yes!” she answered with a broad grin.

Her father shot a faux surprised wide-eyed look back. “Uh… no!”

“Daddy!” she cried.

“Sonja… no.”

“But why?”

“Because I said no,” he answered firmly. “Not while there’s no one here to oversee.”

“Dad!”

“No.”

Sonja growled with frustration. “Have… Have Alex come over and watch us.”

“Oh, Alex, huh!” Mr. Delgado snorted. “That’d be the fox watching the henhouse.”

“Eww!” Sonja scrunched her nose. “Alex is my cousin; he’s not gonna try anything with me.”

Mr. Delgado looked in my direction. “It’s not you I’m worried about.”

Sonja followed his gaze. “Okay, still eww. He’s like eight years older than Aubrey.”

“Trust me, chica,” he replied quietly, “that doesn’t matter.”

I shivered, drawing in a tiny bit of my lower lip with my teeth. The corners of Mr. Delgado’s mouth ticked up, and I swore he must have seen what I’d done.

“I just don’t understand,” Sonja said, turning his gaze away from me, “why we can’t have a party. We’re both over twenty-one, and we can take care of ourselves. Plus, we’ve been to plenty of parties at school.”

“Oh, really? And would you care to tell me about these parties?”

Sonja gulped. “Yeah… no.”

“I didn’t think so.”

For a moment, the two stared at each other until finally Sonja heaved out a sigh.

“Daaaddyyyy…”

“No.”

“This is so not fair,” she huffed with a slump of her shoulders.

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