Page 69 of If This Was a Movie

That seems to appease her as she turns back to the movie.

It doesn’t take long before her breathing evens out and she falls asleep in my lap. But her words never stop swirling around my head. And the scariest part isn’t that she said it out loud; it’s that I think I’d like to be a part of this family too much.

TWENTY-SEVEN

JULES

Sophie is still asleep in my lap when Nate walks in an hour later, looking exhausted. He smiles at me with tired eyes as I put a finger to my lips and then look at her.

“She looks like she had a lot of fun,” he says quietly with a smile.

“She did. She’s shot, but she had fun. Gotta warn you, though, she may want a cat sooner than later. She was really good with Peach.”

He shakes his head, a small smile on his lips as he moves closer to sit on the couch next to me. His hand reaches out, brushing Sophie's hair back, and in her sleep, her lips tip up like she knows her dad is near, making my heart nearly explode.

“Yeah, I think I can handle her.”

I snort out a quiet laugh because I listened to her spend an hour with Ava, planning on how to convince Nate to let her get a kitten. Ava gave her advice based on her own experience of forcing Jaime to fall for Princess Peach.

“Sure, bud,” I say before we fall into a comfortable silence, watching a grown-ass man throw snowballs at children on television.

“What are you guys watching?” he asks.

“Elf.”

“God, she conned you into that? That one’s the worst.” He says it with a wide smile, and I feel around gently for a pillow to smack him with. He laughs quietly, and I reach for another to launch at him, hitting him square in the face this time. “Okay, okay!” he says, hands raised. “I surrender.”

“Elfis a classic, and I will not hear you dishonor its name like that.”

“It’s not a rom-com, though,” he says.

“Are you kidding me? It’s totally a rom-com.”

“SoTop Gunisn’t a romance, butElfis? Isn’t it about a guy who finds his dad?”

“For one, no one tragically dies inElf. Yes, he goes to New York to meet his dad, but then he also meets Jovie, who doesn’t like Christmas and convinces her it’s the best thing with the ultimate Christmas date,” I inform him, feeling self-righteous. “It’s definitely in the top five Christmas romantic comedies.”

“That high, huh?”

“Oh, for sure. It goesLove Actually,Serendipity,Elf, thenThe Holiday.Four Christmasescomes in there too, depending on my mood, but a relationship in distress isn’t my favorite, so I have to be in the mood.”

“Noted. I’ve only seen two of those.”

“Let me guess, I’m the one who made you watch them?” He smiles, and I roll my eyes. “I’m so sorry I subjected you to my girly trash.”

He reaches over, grabbing my hand, and suddenly, his face is less joking.

“It’s not trash, Jules. You like it, so I like it. That’s how this works. If it means I get to spend a few hours on the couch with you, I’ll choose it every time.” I still do not know how to reply when Nate looks at me like he means every word he’s saying, but I don’t have to respond as Sophie shifts in my lap.

“Hey, Soph,” Nate says.

“Tired,” she replies, rubbing her face further into my lap.

“All right, honey, let’s get you to bed,” he says, standing and scooping his daughter up from my lap and starting to move away.

“No, no,” she mumbles into her dad’s neck. “Jules.”

“Sophie, we?—”

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