Page 62 of Game Changer

Her eyes grow comically large as they stay glued to mine.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone more committed to not checking out my … situation than you, Cupcake.” I chuckle. “Now, would you show me to the little flower?”

She shakes her head like she’s erasing a thought then moves around her island, and now I see the flowers I sent in vases.

“They’re beautiful. Lily loved them.”

“How about Sydney?” I ask as she rims amargarita glass with an orange.

“I couldn’t agree more,” she says as she pours orange liquid from the mason jar she filled last night. “Would you like orange or lemon?”

“Will mine come with tequila?”

Her lips twitch up. “Is it a tequila-at-noon kind of day?”

“I’m not sure yet,” I admit. “I’ll go with orange.”

With a glass in each hand, I follow Sydney Sparks through her sweet little place and up the stairs where my daughter is sitting on the cloud that is Sydney’s bed, surrounded by sparkles and wearing a crown.

“Look, Daddy, I’s Mommy’s prayer warrior princess.”

“It’s impossible not to fall ass over tea kettle for you, Cupcake,” I say quietly as I set the glasses down and grab up my girl.

“Is Mommy better, Daddy?” Lily asks, hugging me tight.

“She’s doing okay, Lily. We gotta have faith, you with me?”

“I’m always with you, Daddy, even when I gotta go with Mommy.”

“And your mommy knows you’re always with her, too.”

She pulls back and grabs my face. “Your whiskers got bigger.”

I smile. “We’re in playoffs, little flower; they’re gonna keep getting bigger.”

She steps back and plops down on her ass, and rhinestones go flying. “We been so busy making all the things. We made Mommy a crown, too. You gotta take her it.”

I look at Sydney. “She tweaking, or am I imagining shit?”

“This is Lily as her fever starts to rise.”

When she pouts out her lower lip like that, I wanna bite it, but also … “Shouldn’t we give her something?”

“Fevers are the body’s way of fighting a virus, so unless it gets into a high range, we try to let it do its job. And, in Lily’s case, it comes with high energy and adorable entertainment.” Shesmiles as she turns and looks at me. “Which is way better than the shits or vomiting.”

“Is it happy hours again?” Lily asks, pointing to the glasses.

“It sure is.” Sydney smiles as she grabs one of the cups and hands it to her.

“Syd, your bedding is white. If you want it to stay that way, I should grab one of the sippy cups from the bag I brought by last night. Want me to grab a sippy cup?” I ask.

“Daddy, sippy cups are for babies. Happy hour glasses are for big girls like me.”

“Sippies are for nap and nighttime, too, right?” Syd asks her.

“Oh yeah, Syd has big girl sippiess, Daddy.”

When Lily falls asleep, I tell Sydney everything that went down today, and when tears slide down her face, I wipe them away.

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