of them. His eyes lift to the hall. “Rosa, did you see what’s on the fridge?”
His firm grip on my hip keeps my impulse to spring away from him like a cat from water mostly in check. All I manage is to jerk stiffly while he acts like he stands with his arm wrapped around a woman in front of his daughter every day of the week. When Rosa turns to the fridge, he whispers into my ear. “Relax, Opal. If we act guilty, they’ll pick up on it.”
Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I nod, unable to remember the last time I felt so out of my depth.
“Hey, our cards!” Rosa exclaims as Carmen joins her. “You kept them?”
“Of course I kept them,” I say. “They’re so pretty.”
After Carmen makes a cursory inspection to confirm that yes, the cards are prominently displayed, she makes her way over to us. “Ellie?” she asks shyly.
“Yeah?”
“Is it true your real name is Elsa?”
I smile. “It is. Like Elsa from Frozen, right?”
Her face lights up. “Yes, have you seen it?”
“Uh, yeah,” I say, like the idea that I haven’t is outrageous. “A bunch of times with my nieces. I know all the words to the songs.”
Daniela shows up. “You can sing?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” I say with Scott chuckling in my ear. “But I make up for my lack of talent with enthusiasm. You should hear me in the car.”
“We love to sing,” Rosa says and the girls all nod their heads in agreement.
“Great, then I’m sure your dad won’t mind if we belt out some tunes in his truck.” Scott’s grunt has me repressing a laugh as I turn to say, “Right? I’m sure you know all the words too.”
“Unfortunately,” he grumbles, then straightens up off the patio door, setting me beside him. “Okay, let’s feel them,” he says, holding out his hands.
Mystified, I watch the three girls take turns gripping his hands. When he gets to Daniela, he raises his eyebrows at her.
“Fine.” She runs back to the bathroom where I hear the water run.
“With soap,” he calls.
Unexpected emotion rises to form a knot at the base of my throat, doing its best to cut off my air supply. I mean, I knew Scott was a parent, but actually seeing him in action is . . . surreal. In the best possible way. He’s not just a dad. He’s a dad.
“Should we go?” he asks.
“Sure,” I choke out.
He shoots me a mildly concerned, sideways glance, but otherwise remains quiet.
As we’re leaving, he hangs back as I lock the door. “What’s wrong?”
Watching the girls turn the corner down the hall, I steal a quick kiss. “Absolutely nothing is wrong,” I whisper. “You’re so good with them.”
Pleased by my comment, he helps himself to another kiss before taking my hand. “Come on, Opal. Let’s go to the park.”
After the girls are settled into their booster seats in the truck, we head up to Coyote Point. I practically purr with contentment when Scott reaches over and threads his fingers through mine. The giggles this elicits from the backseat has a faint blush of embarrassment blooming on my cheeks, but Scott just shakes his head gently and chuckles to himself.
Soon I hear, “Ellie?”
I turn in my seat. “Yeah?”
“Can we sing now?” Daniela asks.
“Um,” I waffle, looking to Scott for guidance.
“Don’t look at me,” he says.
Does he think I’ve made a promise I can’t keep? Ha! I made sure to download the soundtrack last night. I pull out my phone and connect it to the stereo. “Should we start with Let It Go?”
I get a chorus of, “Yeah!”
Scott has a mostly pained look on his face for the duration, but the girls and I have a great time. After two renditions of both Let It Go and Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? I take pity on him.
“You guys want to watch something really cool?” I ask, stopping the music and pulling up YouTube on my phone. I hit play on the video and hand my phone back to Rosa who’s sitting in the middle.
Scott lifts his chin in question.
“It’s Jimmy Fallon doing Let It Go.”
The alarm on his face has me reassuring him. “It’s completely kid-friendly. I promise. I thought you could use a break from all the howling.”
“You weren’t that bad,” he says, throwing me what I don’t think he realizes is a panty-melting grin.
The Coyote Point playground with its castle and dragon theme has the girls excited and Scott needs