Page 94 of Shortcake
I’d accomplished a lot with this conversation. Maybe I should quit while I was ahead.
“Dad?”
“Hm?”
“I told Mom I’d facetime her before book club tonight.”
“Oh.” I glanced at my phone. It was nearing six-thirty and her book club started at seven.
Harper didn’t talk to her mom a whole lot. Once or twice a month, but I never wanted to get in the way of their relationship. Anything I could do to keep that line of communication open, I wanted to embrace.
Leaning in, I kissed Harper on the head. “Sorry I kept you, Turkey.”
She spun around fluffing a bunch of pillows behind her to lean on. “It’s okay.”
She wiggled against the pillows, holding her phone up. “Hey Dad,” she said, stopping me as I reached her bedroom door.
“Hm?”
“Thanks for that talk.”
Warmth encased my heart and unshed tears tingled in my sinuses. “Fishing next weekend? Maybe we’ll catch a turkeyfish!”
Laughing, she rolled her eyes. “You are such a goober.”
“I know, kid.”
I know.
* * *
Thirty minutes later,Harper was done chatting with her mom and was waiting for Adam to pick her up for book club. Even though it pained me, I had to admit, her having friends who could drive was certainly helpful. I just wished she would get more rides with the girls in book club than with Adam specifically.
The door to the basement swung open and Addy skipped through, making quite an entrance, beaming at me. She was positively glowing as she twirled at the top of the steps. Her stunning purple dress flaring out, revealing flashes of her tanned, muscled thigh. Her vibrant hair in long, cascading waves fanned out from her shoulders with the twirl.
“Oooooh, you look pretty!” Harper said, closing the fridge and taking a bite of her apple. “Hot date?” My daughter wiggled her brows as panic clamped in my chest.
I looked to Addy, eyes wide, trying to convey the message not to say a word.
But Addy giggled, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. “As a matter of fact, I doooo…”
She glanced at me just in time to see me shaking my head no. Her smile fumbled, twitching at the corners and her eyes hardened.
She added. “...not. I do not have a date.”
Harper looked at Addy like she was a little crazy, but still smiled. “Okay weirdo. Then where are you going?”
“Um, nowhere.”
“Nowhere? Dressed like that?” Harper looked at me for answers, but I merely gave my daughter an exaggerated shrug.
Addy coughed into her fist and then said, “Yeah,Nowhere. It’s the name of a new bar in Warconia Beach. Gotta check out the competition, you know?”
Harper nodded as though this was a notion she completely understood. “Dad! You should go with her.”
“I, um… yeah. Maybe I will.”
Outside, a horn beeped and Harper practically skipped toward the front door, calling over her shoulder, “Just change out of that stupid shirt first!”
