Page 118 of The Twelve Months of Christmas
“Not much. How about you take Bella to dinner tomorrow night while I’m out planning our next party.”
His eyebrow shot up. “Take her out?”
“Yeah. To someplace nice, like Anthony’s.”
“Anthony’s! Wait a minute. I’m going to take my bratty daughter out to dinner at a pricey seafood restaurant.”
Sunny grinned. “Yep.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. Why? Tell me why I’m rewarding her for being a brat.”
“Because I think she needs it.”
“Wait a minute. Is this the same woman that was telling me only a couple of weeks ago not to give Bella power over us? This looks like sucking up to me.”
“I think it’s more like healing a hurt.”
“You’re the one who’s been hurt in all of this,” he said.
“So has she. Remember Will’s mom’s speech at the wedding?”
“Vaguely.”
“Well, listening to her, I realized it’s not so much that Bella hates me. It’s that she’s worried she’ll lose you. And I think all this time we’ve been feeding that worry.”
He made a face. “Oh, come on.”
“No, really. We keep doing all these things as a family.”
“Which is what we’re supposed to be.”
“And she keeps seeing you happy with me.”
“Which I am.”
“And where does that leave her?”
Travis rubbed his eyes. “I’m lost here.”
“She’s jealous. You’re the number one man in her life and she thinks she’s losing you. I don’t know why I didn’t see it earlier. Here I’ve been trying to make her like me instead of seeing myself through her eyes.”
“She should like you. You’ve been nothing but good to her.”
“Maybe she will like me once she knows how much you still love her.”
“Of course, I love her, even if I want to throttle her.” He scrubbed his face. “Girls. Who can figure them out?”
“Fathers who care,” Sunny said. “Call her.”
He did, and Sunny could hear his end of the conversation as he paced around the living room. “Hey, cupcake, it’s Dad. How about you and me going out to dinner tomorrow?... Yeah, just us. Thought I’d take you to Anthony’s. Tell your mom I’ll have you back in plenty of time to get your homework done. Okay?... Okay.” He was smiling when he ended the call. “You’d think I’d asked her if she wanted to go to Disney World.”
“Getting her dad all to herself? It’s even better. Pick up a wrist corsage at Flowers D’Amour before you go.”
“What is this, prom night?”
“Sort of,” Sunny said with a smile. Who knew whether or not her idea would work but it was sure worth a try.
“Very insightful,” Molly approved when the women met to finalize the plans for their Christmas-in-August celebration.
