Page 95 of Shortcake
Confused, I glanced down at my white polo shirt. “What’s wrong with my shirt?”
Harper rolled her eyes and sent Addy a look before she said, “I don’t have the time to explain all the ways that shirt is lame, Dad. Just trust me. Addy is way too cool to be seen at a new bar with a guy wearing a dingy polo shirt from Target.”
“Butyougot me this shirt three years ago for Father’s Day.”
“That’s how I know how cheap and old it is!” she yelled out. Waving goodbye with her half-eaten apple over her shoulder, she then shut the door behind her and was gone.
“The shirt’s really that bad?” I asked, pouting to Addy.
“Not if you’re a missionary selling bibles door to door.”
Ouch. In that case, I wasn’t wasting time. Gripping the bottom of the shirt, I yanked it over my head.
Before I knew what was happening, two fingers clamped onto my nipple, pinching hard. “Ow!” I cried out, bucking against the assault. But I was stuck in a cotton prison, barely able to get my arms and head out as she pinched me again, harder this time.
“I thought you were going to tell her,” Addy hissed just as I managed to free myself from the shackles of my polo shirt.
I sighed heavily and tossed the shirt aside. “I tried, I swear,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “But then she started talking to me. Really talking to me. Like she used to before my mom got sick. And in some ways, it felt like the perfect time to come clean about you and me, but in other ways, it was the worst. There she was baring her soul to me and I could hear your voice in my head, telling me to play it cool. Telling me about that manicure date thing you and your mom had and how it was a free zone.”
Addy blinked, her rage-filled face softening. “You remembered that?”
“Not only remembered. I implemented it. With Harper. We’re going to go fishing a couple times a month and she knows it’ll be the time she can tell me anything without getting in trouble.”
“I–I don’t know what to say. I guess I’m speechless.”
“Say you forgive me?”
On a half-laugh, half-sigh, she fell into my arms, leaning her cheek against my bare chest. “I guess we’ll just have to go to dinneroutsideof Maple Grove tonight.”
She didn’t exactly sound mad. Just sort of wistful. Sad, maybe.
Gently, I wrapped my fingers around her shoulders and pulled back to look into the jade depths of her eyes. “Iwilltell her. I promise.”
She smiled, but only one side of her mouth curved with the movement. “I know you will. When the time’s right. I just hope it’s right sooner rather than later.”
“Me too.”
I didn’t like this version of Addy I was seeing.
Defeated. She seemed defeated. And I did that to her. By forcing her to sneak around and lie about us to people she loved.
“I really am sorry, Addy.
“I’m fine. Really.”
Before I could say anything else, she pushed onto her toes and brushed her lips softly to mine. “I only get you to myself one night a week. Let’s not waste it talking about things that can’t be changed,” she whispered as the kiss ended. “Now go put on a button-down shirt and get some food in me.”
She was smiling again, thank God for that. And as I turned to head upstairs to grab a shirt, she smacked my ass, eyes twinkling.
For a second, I felt better. It was back to normal. Addy was playful. I was reticent. Our normal roles were resumed. But when I peeked over the banister to catch her eyes once more, she was sitting at my table, eyes cast down, her sad face illuminated by her phone. She nibbled on her thumbnail.
She didn’tseemfine.
She didn’t seem fine at all.
ChapterEighteen
Addy
