Page 93 of Our Bender

I shrugged. “Yeah, go crazy.”

She paused for a beat, then a deep belly laugh bubbled out of her. “Wow. I’m sure glad you’re my dad!”

Pride bloomed in my chest, but Josie arched an amused eyebrow at me. I guess I was spoiling her, but I had a lot of time and birthdays to make up for, so I felt it could slide this once.

After ravaging through the school and clothes sections, Josie led us to the hair aisle.

“How about we do some headbands and scrunchies, yeah? Those are easier styles,” she said.

Stevie crossed her arms over her chest and her chin quivered a bit.

Shit.My feet practically froze to the white floor. I did not do well with kid tears. I never knew how to handle my nephews when they cried because they usually pushed me away and high-tailed it to their mom.

Josie immediately knelt down to comfort her and Stevie whispered into her ear. Josie hugged her against her shoulders and shot me an empathetic glance.

I swallowed hard, not knowing what the hell to say or do and feeling incredibly grateful that Josie was here with us.

Josie whispered into Stevie’s ear and suddenly, she was sniffling up her tears and standing straighter.

“So, it’s decided,” Josie said, “I’ll be teaching the dufus over there,” she hooked a thumb in my direction and smiled wryly, “how to braid hair, sound good? And I live just downstairs…” she trailed off and looked to me again for permission.

I gave her a desperate nod.

“And I live just downstairs,” she repeated more confidently, “so you could always come knock on my door and I will happily do your hair. Deal?”

Stevie’s little shoulders relaxed. “Deal.”

We were about to head to the checkout when I made one last turn down the sports aisle.

The girls chatted about the school’s lunch and recess schedule by the cart while I disappeared to pick out Crewmen jerseys– one child size one and women’s– both with my number and last name stitched to the back. This was yet another thing that the hockey romance book I was reading had exactly right. Guys went fucking feral for girls wearing our jerseys, and this was the perfect excuse to gift Josie one.

“For my girls,” I said, lumbering back holding them up with a grin.

“Wow, you must be a great hockey player,” Stevie said, gleefully grabbing the kid jersey.

Josie’s eyes flashed in a mischievous way as she bent down and whispered in her ear. Stevie covered her little mouth and giggled, and the way her blue eyes danced reminded me so damn much of Fiona’s back in high school.

“You better be telling her I’m the best,” I puffed out my chest a bit.

Stevie smacked a hand in front of her mouth to muffle another giggle. Josie looked down at her and put a warning finger to her lips.

Stevie rolled her lips between her teeth and eyed the two of us in indecision, then she whispered up to me, “She says you’re a bender.”

“What?!” I burst out, narrowing my eyes at them.

The two girls started cackling.

“Your words, not mine, Mr. Hot Shot,” Josie taunted.

Stevie reached out to squeeze my hand in her tiny one. “But it’s okay, because you’reourbender,” she implored… and my heart melted, but I knew I had to keep them laughing.

“Oh, you guys think that’s funny?” I challenged them.

Josie bit her bottle lip and poked my chest. “Yes.”

I looked her up and down, but she didn’t shrink away, she was waiting to see what I’d do about it. In one quick motion, I grabbed Josie, slid my hands up her large sweatshirt and tickle-attacked her sides, loving the excuse to touch her.

“Take it back,” I warned, continuing to tickle her until she was basically wheezing between laughs. But Stevie wasn’t about to lose this battle and she’d clearly chosen her alliance. She stomped on my foot, hard, pretty much knocking my breath out, and I briefly let up my hold on Josie.

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