Her eyes find mine. All I see is her as a baby, rocking her to sleep at night. As a toddler lining up her stuffed animals in a perfect row. The girl whose life has changed too much and too fast.
“I told him I didn’t know,” she admits.
“That’s okay.” I move to sit on the other side of her, folding my hands in my lap. “You don’t have to know yet. You can take all the time you need.”
She picks at a piece of fluff on her pants. “That’s what he said.”
Levi looks at me over Leia’s head with an expression that says told you so.
“He didn’t get mad or anything.”
“No,” I say gently. “He wouldn’t.”
And that’s the truth. Bennett is the kindest person I’ve ever known. He’d never rush Leia to accept him.
“I thought maybe he’d try to act like he was my dad. But he didn’t.” She says it as if it surprises her.
“What did he do?” I press, and Levi gives me a warning glare.
What does he know? He doesn’t have kids.
She shrugs again, but the tiniest curve of a smile edges on her lips. “He just… listened. He said he wants to know everything about me. What I like and don’t like.”
I blink back the sting in my eyes. “That sounds like Bennett.”
“He listened to my stories and asked questions about school as if Wren hadn’t told him it all before.” She looks at me. “I liked that.”
I tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “He sees you. That’s good.”
A beat of silence falls between us. Then, quieter than before, she whispers, “Do you think I’ll like him?”
I swallow hard. “I think… if you give him a chance, he’ll show you he’s worth liking.”
She nods slowly, then leans into my side long enough for my heart to crack open. “Can I go to my room?”
“Of course. I’ll be up in a minute to get your bath started.”
She heads up the stairs, braid swinging behind her, and I remain on the couch, watching her.
“You did good,” Levi says once she’s gone.
“We both knew he’d be gentle and patient.”
“Yeah, now you two just need to get your heads out of your asses about each other, and you can be one big happy, annoying family.” He heads into the kitchen.
Jeez, I wasn’t prepared to fall a little deeper in love with Bennett from seeing and hearing how he is with our daughter.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Delaney
I should’ve known volunteering for the zoo field trip meant spending the day herding a group of first graders who act like caffeinated squirrels.
“Two feet on the ground. We can’t climb the fence!” I call to Matty for the tenth time in five minutes. He’s going to end up being one of those stories where the kid falls in the exhibit with the gorillas.
Bennett chuckles beside me, holding a wrinkled map of the zoo. “Gotta have a sharp eye on Matty at all times.”
He looks far too good for someone surrounded by shrieking children and the smell of animal poop. His gray shirt strains along his biceps, and he’s wearing shorts and gym shoes. Sunglasses block his gorgeous brown eyes, but I still feel them on me every once in a while.
