Page 27 of Of Course, Cutie
“Stop telling me I don’t have to come. You’re going to make me think I’m not wanted, Burke.” Her eyes sparkled, and her hand was still on my arm.
“You’re wanted, Charlie.”
“Good.”
We weren’t talking about cookies anymore.
Charlie slid off the bar and flashed me one of her brightest, cutest smiles. “I’m going to head out and do a few homework assignments so that I don’t waste my tuition money. See you, Burke.”
“Bye, cutie.”
???
Charlie’s nose and cheeks were dotted with flour, but she kept pretending they weren’t while Tess laughed her little head off.
“Right there! On your nose!” Tess wheezed.
“Where?” Charlie laughed and wiped another stripe of flour across her forehead. “Right here?”
“No!” Tess collapsed in a fit of giggles. “Your nose!” Tess climbed up onto the counter and wiped the flour off of Charlie’s nose herself.
“Oh! Thank you! I forgot where my nose was for a minute.”
I watched them with a smile and almost didn’t hear the oven timer when it beeped.
“Daddy!” Tess groaned. “It beeped! Don’t burn the cookies!”
“All right, all right.” I laughed and turned to pull the tray from the oven. “Tess, sweetheart, go wash your hands and face in the bathroom while these are cooling.”
Tess hopped down from the counter and headed for the bathroom. “Don’t start the frosting without me!” she yelled over her shoulder.
Charlie grabbed a paper towel and blotted at her face to clean it off. I was overtaken by an uncontrollable urge to put my hands on her. “You missed some of the flour, cutie.” I backed Charlie up against the kitchen counter, pressing myself into her and swiping my thumbs down her cheeks.
She closed her eyes and leaned into my touch. “Thank you.” Her eyes fluttered open when I slid my hands down to her shoulders.
I grinned back at her. “Of course, cutie.”
“I like you, Burke.”
Her words took me by surprise, and I backed away. Tess saved me from answering by rushing into the kitchen. “I’m going to do a tree cookie first with pink frosting!”
“A pink Christmas tree, huh?” I tore my eyes away from Charlie and smiled at my daughter. When I glanced back at Charlie, her eyes were downcast, and her arms were folded tightly across her chest.
Shit. I hurt her feelings.
Tess and I carried plates of cookies to the table, but Charlie stayed put, chewing on her bottom lip. When I headed back into the kitchen for the frosting, I couldn’t stand the sad look on her face. I caught Charlie’s hand and tugged it toward me, forcing her to unfold her arms. “Hey,” I kept my voice low so that Tess wouldn’t overhear. “I like you, too, but I shouldn’t.” I placed a container of frosting in her hands and grabbed the other two.
Charlie followed me to the table, watching me with curiosity. She had the good sense not to force a conversation in front of my daughter, which reinforced the fact that she wasn’t an immature college kid. She gave me one more intense stare and then turned to my daughter. “If you’re going to make a pink Christmas tree, I think I have to make a purple one.”
Tess let out a playful groan and covered her face with both hands.
While we frosted cookies, the conversation turned to families and Christmas traditions. Tess talked about all the dumb shit Lexi had planned for her and how her new boyfriend, Scott, hired the real Santa for their party. I kept my eye rolls in check.
“Is Scott nice?” Charlie asked, watching Tess’s face like she genuinely cared if my ex-wife’s boyfriend was nice to my daughter.
Tess nodded. “He’s nice. He has to go to work a lot, but he plays with me sometimes.” She added half a bottle of silver sprinkles to her cookie.
“Whoa, sweetheart, that’s enough sprinkles.” I slipped the bottle from her hands and set it on the table.
