going to pitch a fit over him waiting on the porch? He had fucked up, but he was here. I wasn’t that petty.
There were millions of people in the world who fucked up too and wouldn’t even think about facing their mistakes.
Like the woman who had showed up today.
That thought had just entered my head when my gaze landed on a brand-new book sitting on the coffee table. Where the Wild Things Are. Something nudged at my gut as I took in the cover and the fact this dickface had brought it for Mo.
He unlocked the door and opened it before I could get out. “We’ll wait with you.”
Grabbing Mo’s jacket, I slipped it on her as I watched him dip his head and step out, closing the door once she was ready. He settled on the top step, all the way over so he was inches away from whacking his elbow on one of the pillars straddling the stairs as his fingers moved across the screen of his cell phone. I sat down as far as I could on the same step to the left, balancing my girl on my thigh, with her back supported by my upper arm and chest. I tugged the hoodie part of her jacket over her ears just as she began grabbing at my sweater, trying to stick it in her mouth.
Down the street, I could hear kids playing even though the temperature had started dropping a little to bring a chill. Blended into those noises were car doors opening and closing. They were all familiar, comforting sounds of being surrounded with the mostly historic homes on our street.
I glanced at Jonah when he set his cell phone on his thigh and aimed his upper body toward us, an open expression on his broadly boned face. His gaze flicked down to Mo, and a small, but tender smile replaced it.
I only had to think about it for a moment, still relishing her weight and her smell, but knowing damn well I would have it after he left. “Do you want to hold her while your ride comes?”
He sucked in a nervous breath and reached over with those massive hands, meeting my eyes briefly with that smile on his face, before plucking her gently off my lap and settling her down on one muscular thigh. “So small,” he murmured as he held her, both sets of fingers stretched out wide in case Mo decided to go for a nosedive.
“She’s pretty big for her age,” I found myself telling him, as I thought about how he’d assumed I wouldn’t want him on the porch. I was all for being an asshole… but only when it was necessary.
“Is she?” Jonah asked, attention downward. He dipped his face close to hers, eyes going big. “She must get that from you.”
Mo answered with “Ba” like yup.
I peeked at his shoulders alone.
He flashed me a quick grin before focusing back down on his daughter. Our daughter. “I was a skinny kid until sixteen.”
I made a disbelieving face at him that got me another grin.
“I’m not joking. Even my own mum had given up on me growing. In one year, I grew… sixteen, seventeen centimeters. The next year I grew another eight. Bit of a crap two years. My knees hurt the whole time.”
Holy shit. What was that? A foot in two years?
He changed the conversation around back to me. “You’ve always been tall?”
I curled my hands over my shins as I watched his index finger brush the bottom of a tiny foot. “I’m not tall, but yeah, I—”I had to try, I reminded myself. I was going to have this man in my life for a long time, and he was being awfully fucking decent so far. So… I could be decent back. It was less work than flipping him off every chance I had. “I was taller than most of the boys and almost all the girls for a long time. Now, I just kind of wish I was shorter.”
“Why?”
“It’s hard to find pants that fit,” I told him honestly. I was an inch too tall. It was a curse.
His chuckle made the dimple closest to me pop. “Yeh, I know what that’s like. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass, isn’t it? I’ve got, maybe, five pants that fit me well.”
I snorted and only slightly regretted it when he shifted those honey-colored eyes at me, giving me a glimpse of both his dimples as he smiled