When we get to her door, I pull her into my arms. She doesn’t hesitate to wrap her arms tightly around my back.
“I’ll be back tonight, darlin’. If you think that Molly isn’t ready for that, you call and we will try tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“You’re going to have to walk through that door, baby. If I had my way I wouldn’t let you go, but one step at a time.”
“Okay,” she says into my chest.
“Give me a kiss,” I demand.
Her head comes up, “Okay, Lee.”
When her lips touch mine, that smile never slips.
“See you tonight.”
She nods and I wait for her to unlock her door, getting another grin before she shuts the door. I stand there for a second before I walk back to my truck and pull out of her driveway.
I’ve been ready for this moment for what seems like a lifetime and now that I have it, I’m nervous as hell. Not for what I’m building with Megan, but with the unknown that Molly is. She’s been through so much in her short life that I don’t want to rush my presence in her life. I don’t want her to feel like I’m taking her father’s place either. In all the times that I’ve been around her while Dani was watching her, she didn’t even blink around the men that came around. Nate and Zac had often sat in on our tea parties and she ate that attention up.
But, there’s a big difference between playtime while she’s with Dani and a man being in her everyday life.
In all my plans to make Megan mine, I never doubted a single step. I never feared that it wouldn’t work and I was never nervous.
Funny that all it takes is one five-year-old girl to have me breaking out in a sweat.
My thoughts are interrupted when my phone’s ringer starts coming through the truck speakers. Looking at the display in my dash, I see Dani’s name come up.
“Hey,” I answer.
“She just called Mom to tell her she would be there in thirty minutes to get Molly. Mom called me to let me know that. Now I know she isn’t with you . . . so spill!”
“You get that I have a dick and gossip sessions don’t apply to me, right?”
“Shut the hell up and tell me!” she huffs.
I flick my blinker and head toward my house while I process my thoughts and for the first time, I don’t tell Dani everything. My promise to Megan and the relationship we’re building means more to me than anything else in my life. Even the best friend that knows every single thing about me.
“I’m having dinner with her and Molly tonight.”
“Uh,” she falters. “Is that it?”
“That’s all you’re going to get.”
“Seriously?” she gasps.
“Love you, Dani, but last night Megan finally, thank Christ, broke through the chains that have been holding her captive and those moments are for her and me alone.”
“Oh my God,” she wheezes. “That is so beautiful.”
I roll my eyes.
“If she lets you in, then good. I’ll be happy with the outcome either way because right now I know she’s moving on and we’re going to do that together. It’s good, Dani. Really good.”
“I’m so happy for you, Lee.”
“Thanks, babe.”
“How do you feel about tonight? Nervous? You are, aren’t you?”
“Dani, I’m out of my mind, could puke, nervous.”
She laughs and proceeds to spend the rest of my ride home talking my nerves down.
I’M GOING TO PUKE.
Maybe.
Probably.
“Is he here yet, Mommy?”
“Not yet, little bird,” I tell Molly and laugh when her little lips pull into a frown.
To say my daughter is excited would be a great understatement.
“Come here, baby. He’ll be here soon and then you can tell him all about our day.”
She climbs into my lap and settles in to wait. Sofia the First fills the room and I settle back with her curled against me and think about how the morning went.
It wasn’t the same madness that had met me the last time I picked her up from the Reid’s. Since I didn’t arrive until well after lunch—thanks to a very long shower with Lee—Axel had already left for work, dragging Nate with him to ‘learn the ropes,’ according to a laughing Izzy. I think Izzy could tell my nerves were sparked bright. Her knowing eyes spoke volumes. Of course, she also knew that I spent the night with Lee since the first words I stuttered were just that.
“I think Lee is my boyfriend,” I told her with my cheeks flaming.