Page 30 of Clean Slade
I shrugged.
“Don’t know. Usually, men our age don’t pay attention.”
Slade narrowed his gaze and took his cup.
“Are you calling me old? No, let me correct that. Are you calling us old?”
I laughed. “You said it.”
“I’m deeply offended for the both of us.”
“Oh, shut up. You know what I mean. People don’t expect men to know these things. Especially military men.”
I knew it sounded bad, but it was the reality of our world.
“Daddy, that’s sexist,” Mac chimed in from the couch where she was trying to make the teddy bears kiss. “I think.”
Slade laughed and pointed at her. “That’s right, Mac. It is!”
The proud look on my daughter’s face made me feel betrayed. She should be on my side, damn it.
I put my hands up in surrender and reached for the bread box.
“Who wants PB&J?”
“Is that your bribe?” he asked as Mac cheered.
“Maybe…oh shoot. We’re almost out of bread.”
“It’s okay. I can go to the store later and top up.”
I nodded and prepared a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches under Slade’s watchful eye.
“Santiago messaged me today,” I whispered, trying to find a distraction from the temperature in my body rising to uncomfortable levels.
“Is he okay?”
I nodded. “Just checking in on me. He wanted to know if I could make it today. We were supposed to spend New Year’s Eve together.”
Slade stepped forward and put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
I huffed. This was supposed to be a distraction, not an excuse for him to get closer.
His hand burned a hole through my sweater. Or may as well have because I was literally about to explode.
“It’s not your fault,” I said.
“You keep saying that, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be sorry for what’s happening to you.”
He was right, of course, but I couldn’t admit that without risking revealing just how much I appreciated him and everything he’d done for my daughter and me.
I simply gave him the plate, and he took it to Mac, grabbing a seat next to her.
“So, it’s New Year’s Eve today. What do you guys want to do?”
I grabbed my coffee and approached them both. “Well, I was thinking champagne and caviar. Mac, what do you think? Maybe some sparkling apple juice for you.”
“Yes please, Daddy. But…I don’t know what caviar is.”
