Page 52 of Out of Bounds
“Yesssss!” she drawled.
“Okay, good. Look behind me and tell me if your mom is watching.”
Aurora leaned her head to the side and nodded.
“Wanna play a trick on her?”
She smiled widely. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Aight. Get ready…” Standing, I brought her up and winked my eye at her before throwing her into the middle of the pool.
“Kreed Dolla!” Masai yelled. She was getting ready to fuss when Aurora swam to the surface. After she wiped the water from her face, she begged for me to do it again. Before she could swim over to the side of the pool, Masai was beside me, punching me in the side.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“She knows how to swim, Sai.” I laughed.
“I know that, Kreed, but they said it might be hard with that shit on.” Sighing dejectedly, she shook her head. “Just be careful, please.”
All of our kids had taken swimming lessons growing up. I paid an instructor good money to come by the crib a few days a week to work with them. Hell, Kree’s little ass was in swimming lessons, and he wasn’t two yet.
When we bought our first crib, it came with a pool, so I made sure to do my part as a father and make sure all of my kids could swim. I wasn’t trying to risk one of them accidentally falling intothe pool or no shit like that. Even with the amount of money I’d spent and the hours they trained, Masai still had anxiety when it came to them and pools.
“I got you. Buttercup, wanna go again?” I asked to fuck with Masai.
When she threw a punch my way, I dodged that shit and ran off laughing. The kids swam for a good little minute. When it was time to eat, Masai made their asses get out of the pool and sit under the tent. The photographer we’d hired took pictures of everyone and made sure to get a few shots of us as a family. We were big on capturing every moment we could with the kids. I felt like memories were sometimes all we had to hold onto.
As soon as the sun set, we sang happy birthday and fed the girl’s cake. Once the party wrapped, my baby girl told me this was the best birthday she’d ever had and thanked me for being the best daddy in the world. As long as she was happy, then Masai and I had done our job.
Shutting down my office computer,I pushed my chair back from my desk and stood. I had less than fifteen minutes to be out of the building and in the car to head to the kids’ school. Maddie Claire had a dance recital tonight, and Kreed was tasked with getting them to the school in time. This was the opening night for Maddie’s dance company, and I refused to miss her solo.
Swiping my purse and phone off the desk, I walked out of my office. “Hey, Daniel. I’m gone for the evening. I won’t be in tomorrow until after noon,” I said to my assistant.
“Okay. I’ll see you when you get in.”
“See you tomorrow.” I smiled and hopped on the elevator.
When I reached my truck, I slid in and pulled out of the parking lot. I purposely left the office early because I wanted to be able to see my baby before she went on. Hitting the button on my steering wheel, I answered the incoming call.
“Hello.”
“Sai, where you at?”
“On 285. I’ll be there in like fifteen minutes. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Kreed sighed. “Bug was wondering if you had made it yet.”
“Oh no. I’ll be there to see her before she goes on.”
“She’s uh…” He hesitated, then finished. “Having a makeup crisis.”
“Is my mom not there yet?”
On my way to work this morning, I ordered Maddie an arrangement of flowers and set it up so they would be delivered to the dressing room. I’d also had my mom stop by the mall and pick her up a gift. Being a working mom meant having to rely on my village to step in and help me out a lot. I was forever thankful, but that was another one of those things that would take some time getting used to.
“Nope, she’s running late.”
“Okay.” I inhaled and then exhaled. “I’m on the way. Tell her I will be there in a second.”
