Page 108 of DadBod

Elizabeth: Found her. She was waiting on my front stoop.

Seconds later…

Rome: Thank God. Tell her I’m on my way.

I show her the text. Shaking her head, she asks, “Can I sleep here tonight?”

Elizabeth: She wants to spend the night with me.

Rome: No.

Elizabeth: Yes. I’ll bring her by in the morning. I need to pick up a few things from your house anyway.

Rome: Fine.

“You can stay.”

Standing, I hold my hand out for Ryann. When she takes it, I suggest, “Should we order pizza?”

“Ugh. No Italian.”

“Chinese? There’s a good place down the street.” Except, I remember her saying she hated fried rice.

“How ’bout tacos?”

“I think I can make that happen. We’ll have to walk, though.”

“Fine,” she grumps. “You need a car.”

“No way. Chicago has the best transit system in the entire world.”

“The entire world?” Sarcasm drips from this kid.

“Yep.”

“And you’ve lived a lot of other places? You know firsthand about this transit stuff?”

“I read.”

And that’s when I hear her laugh. The best part? It was the first of many.

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