Page 57 of Moose

I smiled up at him and then smiled at the kids.

“I love it. Count me in.”

I leaned back as we watched morning cartoons. As the day went on, Nova helped me make lunch before I painted her nails. Maddox taught me how to play his video games and Moose laughed as I tried.

Dinner time came around and we were all sitting down eating when Nova looked up from her plate.

“Daddy?”

Moose looked across to her. “Yeah, baby?”

“Is Miss Lily your girlfriend cause you can only kiss like that if you’re dating. Do you really like her, Daddy?”

Moose’s face went white, and I choked on my glass of wine. Maddox shook his head while Moose composed himself.

“Well... uhm.”

I cleared my throat, “Your daddy and I like each other very much.”

Nova tilted her head. “Did he ask you to be his girlfriend?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

Winking at Moose, he laughed.

“Miss Lily, will you be my girlfriend?”

I laughed as he reached across and took my hand in his.

“I would love to be your girlfriend.”

Nova clapped and even Maddox smiled.

“Is she gonna have another sleepover? Is she gonna stay in your room since you like her so much?”

I once again choked on my wine and looked at Moose to see his reaction. He dropped his face into his hands and shook his head.

“Well, she has her own room to sleep in. So... uh let’s just eat now.”

“Daddy…”

He sighed and looked at Nova. “Baby girl. Those are adult questions. Miss Lily has her own room to stay in and we’re leaving it at that.”

Nova seemed to accept that answer and got up to put her plate in the sink. Maddox followed suit, and they both went upstairs to get ready for bed.

I dropped my head to the table and groaned.

“Oh god. I need to find a new place to stay. She saw us kiss! Fuck.”

Moose laughed and scooted his chair closer to mine, tilting my chin up.

“Princess. Everything is fine. You stay as long as you want, okay? They love you. You heard them both this morning. Do you not want this?”

I sighed, “I do. I’m scared. So fucking scared, Moose. But I’m willing to take this leap with you.”

“Then that’s settled.” He kissed me and then stood to clean up. “Go take a shower and relax. Everything is fine, I promise.”

I nodded and headed up to my room. As soon as I shut the door, my phone rang. Looking down, it said an unknown caller. I shrugged and answered anyway.

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