“Ihave to admit, I’m a little surprised.”
I couldn’t resist saying something as we sat down at the patio table outside, the evening weather perfect for an outdoor meal. The pasta had been plated, the wine had been poured, and Piper had even found a vase amongst the unpacked boxes for the daisies. Maddie was seated at her own little plastic kid’s table, happily munching on her meal as she watched the birds. As she ate, she made great care to not let the daisy I’d tucked behind her ear fall out.
I grinned. “Surprised that dinner was on time.”
Piper laughed. “What, did you expect that I’d be running late, that you’d walk through the front door and I’d be running around in total panic, the smoke alarm blaring?”
“Hey, you said it, not me. No offense, but youarethe woman I met because she forgot to buy a ticket for her flight.”
“Now, I didn’tforgetto buy a ticket, there was a miscommunication.”
“Fair enough.”
“ButI get where you’re coming from. I’m pleased to say that’s not the case at all when it comes to cooking. I take that very seriously. I get all the ingredients, plan in advance, and make damn sure that I follow the recipe.”
“Very admirable.” I took a bite of the pasta, the rich, meaty flavor hitting just right. The mixture of spices was perfect, lively but not too hot. “Well, your hard work paid off—this is amazing.”
“It’s really good, Mommy!” Maddie said, holding up her little plastic bowl and showing that she’d eaten most of her second helping.
“Finish up, kiddo! You’re already getting past your bedtime. And you’re going to need to wash and brush again since you’ve had more to eat.”
“OK!” She didn’t seem bothered at all by the fact that she’d be in bed soon.
“Sorry about that,” Piper said, lowering her voice as she leaned in. “Normally, I’d make sure she was off to bed when she’s supposed to be. But…she was really excited to see you.”
“Is that right?”
“Yep. It was impossible to get her calmed down when it got close to when you were coming.”
I chuckled. “Maybe she thought I was bringing Mick with me.”
Piper shook her head. “Nope, this was all about Dr. V. I swear, when you put that flower behind her ear, I thought she was going to explode.”
That got another laugh out of me. “Just trying to be nice.” I didn’t want to show it, but the idea of making a little girl who just might bemylittle girl that happy was enough to move me in a way I’d never felt before.
I wasn’t bothered at all by Maddie’s insistence on joining her mom and me for dinner. Not only did I like to spend time with her, having Maddie around meant that we didn’t have to jump into the matter I really wanted to get to just yet.
It wasn’t like me to be nervous. I’d gone into the operating room countless times, confident and ready to perform surgery on athletes knowing that their careers were in my hands, and I’d never failed to keep it together. With Maddie, however, it was impossible to be cool. Something about her, something about the possibility of being adadwas enough to make my heart race. That was to say nothing of the possibility of me asking Piper and finding out that I wasn’t the father.
“So.” Piper regarded me with a sly expression. “What should we drink to?”
It was a question loaded with possible hidden meaning. There was so much on my mind, so much that I wanted to talk about, that it seemed strange to not involve that in the toast.
But I wasn’t ready to bring any of that up yet, and certainly not with Maddie sitting just a few feet away.
“Let’s toast to...the universe.”
She laughed. “OK, I’ll drink to that. I mean, itdidbring us back together after all this time.”
We tapped glasses and drank, our eyes lingering on one another’s for a long moment. Her eye contact alone was enough to make my cock move, the way she gazed at me with those narrowed eyes from over the rim of her glass.
“Mommy?” Maddie’s voice snapped us out of the moment, bringing us back to reality.
Piper cleared her throat after swallowing a sip of wine then set down her glass, turning her attention to her daughter. It seemed that the sound of our glasses touching was enough to get Maddie’s interest.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
Maddie raised her little finger toward the two glasses of wine on the table.
