Page 63 of Deception

Everleigh broke the silence when she came back into the room. “You guys ready for dinner?”

Jumping up, Sofie grinned at her. “Will you sit next to me?”

“Of course,” Everleigh responded, waiting for me to join her. “I’d love to.”

I took her hand, her touch a lifeline.

“How did it go?” she asked, walking slowly to put more distance between us and Sofie.

“I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive me. Maybe I broke more between us than I’ll be able to fix.”

Stopping me with a tug on my arm, Everleigh scowled at me. “Your daughter loves you. She just needs some time.”

Leaning down, pressing my lips to hers in a soft kiss, I took a deep breath. “Maybe.”

We continued our way into the dining room, taking a seat at the table.

“Who wants spaghetti?” Carter asked, scooping pasta and sauce into bowls.

Dinner went surprisingly well, Santino keeping the scowls to a minimum. Sofie even warmed up to him, offering him a room in Carter’s house.

“If Tino wants to stay, he can too.”

Once she’d gotten used to Santino, she’d given him the nickname, declaring it was perfect. He, surprisingly, didn’t seem to mind.

“This is Carter’s house, preciosa. I don’t think we can all stay here,” I said, already dreading the moment I had to leave her, if only for a night.

Carter pushed his plate away, leaning back with a sigh. “Stay the night and then decide what to do tomorrow. Like Sofie said, I have plenty of room. And it might make the transition easier.”

“Are you sure? I understand if you don’t want me here.”

He waved me off. “Gunner is the only stubborn poop shoot around these parts. He’s too hardheaded to see past his pride. But he’ll come around.”

I raised a brow at him, and he laughed. “Yeah, you’re right, he probably won’t,” he agreed. “He’s not big on forgiveness.”

“Guess we’re staying the night, then.”

Jumping up, Sofie brought her plate into the kitchen. “Can we play more Uno?”

Grinning, Everleigh pointed to the cake sitting on the table. “Sounds good. But don’t you want to eat your cake first?”

Sofie shook her head, sending her lopsided pigtails flying. “Nah. Carter burned it again. I tried putting sugar over it, but it still tastes bad.”

Carter narrowed his eyes at her. “That’s the last time I’ll bake anything with you.”

Giggling, Sofie avoided his attempts to lift her up. “That’s okay. I bet Ever knows how to bake.”

After playing a few rounds of Uno we all sat in the living room, watching a movie. Sofie had chosen the seat next to me, making a hopeful spark flicker to live that Everleigh was right and all she needed was time.

When Carter declared it was bedtime—taking care of my daughter in my place—the pressure on my chest at hearing his words made hard to breathe. But then a small hand on my arm sent air rushing back in. “Will you read me a story?”

“Of course,” I whispered, afraid to talk to loudly and scare her away. We stood up, Sofie taking my hand, not realizing how much it meant to me.

“Want me to come tuck you in?” Carter asked, watching us walk out of the room.

“That’s okay, daddy can do it,” my daughter responded, then picked four books.

And for the first time since seeing her, I had hope that we’d be okay.

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