Page 89 of Accidental Mile High Daddy
“In the Mesozoic Era? That’s impressive,” I smirked.
Sienna exaggeratedly mouthed,Don’t question it.
I chuckled and ruffled the top of Zach’s hair. “How about you go tell Margot all about it? I need a minute with Sienna.”
Zach nodded, already wiggling to get down, and the second I let his feet hit the floor, he bolted with a,“Margooooot!”
Sienna rolled her eyes as I climbed onto the bed. “Did you eat your lunch today?”
“Idid,” I grinned, shifting until I was beside her, taking Zach’s spot, leaning back against the headboard shoulder-to-shoulder with her. “No need to blackmail me.”
“I wouldn’thaveto if you just ate your lunches with a normal regularity?—”
“So, you admit to blackmail?Tsk tsk,” I teased. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer, Ms. James.”
Her eyes narrowed. I kissed her on the forehead, right where her brows had scrunched.
“How was today?” I asked softly.
“Oh, you know,soeventful,” she grumbled. “Finished another show that I barely remember half of. Started another book for myself, then Zach got home. Yours?”
“Better, now.” My fingers caught a lock of her hair, hooking it behind her ear gently. “You’re antsy.”
“Of course, I am.” Her head slumped forward onto my shoulder, her hand fisting in the fabric of my dress shirt. “I did need to talk to you, though.”
My brow rose. “Shoot.”
“I’m not trying to overstep,” she said carefully, picking her head up just enough to look at me. “But I used to work with kids around Zach’s age when I was a teacher’s assistant, and… I learned how to pick up on certain things.”
I shifted, a little more alert. “What kind of things?”
She rolled her lips between her teeth. “I’ve been helping him a lot more with his homework,” she said. Her eyes flicked between mine, a little uncertain. “And we’ve been reading books, obviously. He’s smart, Matt. Seriously smart, especially for his age. But he gets… stuck, in weird places. Swaps letters sometimes, guesses words instead of sounding them out. He hides it really well, especially when he’s reading out loud, but I’ve time to really sit with him?—”
“You think he’s dyslexic?” I asked. The words slipped out, easy, calm, unsurprised. But a pang of guilt hit me —I should have noticed that.
“…Yeah,” she breathed. “That doesn’t mean he isn’t?—”
“I know.” I cupped her cheek, stroking her skin gently with my thumb. “I’m dyslexic, too.”
She went utterly still.
“Wasn’t diagnosed until I was ten. Think it’s one of the reasons my parents were so uninterested in me,” I said, my jaw tightening for just a second before calming. “I’d been branded as the kid who didn’t try hard enough before a teacher caught it. Too lazy, too distracted, toodifficult.”
She didn’t say anything for a second, just watched me, her gaze softening. “Zach’s not difficult. Neither were you.”
“I know.” I sighed, running a hand down my face. “Fuck, I should have caught this.”
She shook her head. “No—no. Do not blame yourself. I’ve been here forweekswith him, and I only just caught it today, and I know what to look for.”
“Surely, I should too,” I said, huffing out a weak laugh that I didn’t mean. “I’ve lived it.”
“Yeah,forty-oddyears ago before you got help.”
My lips quirked upward. “Donot?—”
“You’re a good dad, Matt,” she said, grinning softly, her provocation left to the wayside. “A great one. Don’t doubt yourself on that. Zach’s lucky to have you, and the girls are too.”
I looked at her,reallylooked—tired eyes, bare face, swollen belly, still fucking beautiful—and before I could even think twice, the words slipped out of me. “Yeah, well, they’re all lucky to have you as their mom.”
