Page 73 of Smitty

A smile tugged at his lips as he said, “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

“I’m good.” I nestled a little closer. “I’m more than good.”

“You should know something.”

“Okay…”

“Misunderstanding or not, I let you go once. It nearly broke me… I don’t have it in me to do it again.”

“I don’t have it in me either. But I’m going to need a little time to sort things out with Ryan.”

“And you’ve got it. All I’m asking is for a chance to spend as much time with you and my daughter as I possibly can.”

“Okay. I’m good with that.”

“Hope you mean that, because I’m gonna want to see you both a lot. We lost a lot of years, only to find out that life got in the way. I’m not going to let that happen again.”

“I won’t either.”

I rested my head down on the pillow and pulled up the covers as I curled up next to him. We lay there quietly for several minutes, and everything around us stilled. I was beginning to think Brayden had drifted off to sleep, until he asked, “You asleep?”

“No.”

“As much as I don’t want to, I think I should go.”

“Why? Ryan wouldn’t come back without telling me first.”

“Not worried about him.” He inched up on his elbow as he said, “I’m thinking about Anslee… I don’t think I should be here when she wakes up.”

“She’s just a baby.”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t want to confuse her.” He sounded truly concerned as he said, “One minute I’m a complete stranger, playing blocks on the floor, and the next, I’m staying the night in her mother’s bed.”

“I understand, but you don’t have to leave.” I didn’t want him to go, so I said, “You can stay here, and when she gets up in the morning, you can slip out without her ever knowing you stayed.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Okay, but as soon as she’s up, I’m heading out.”

“Fair enough.” I let out a little giggle. “You’re going to be such a good daddy.”

“Daddy? Aw, hell. You’re killing me, woman.”

“Well, you are.”

“If you say so.” He leaned down, kissed me on the forehead, and said, “Get some sleep. I know how grumpy you can be when you don’t get enough sleep.”

“I’m not that grumpy.”

“Don’t even try denying it. Hell, I still remember that day you scared the hell out of that old lady trying to….”

“We do not need to rehash that story.”

“You sure? Because I remember it like it was yesterday.”

“I thought you said we were going to sleep.”