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“It’s beautiful.”
“And I have a heart cushion. And I can pull the curtains closed around the bed if I want. But I don’t because it scares Lola. She likes to see what’s going on.”
“Why don’t you climb into bed?” Cassie said. “I bet Lola’s exhausted after all her adventures today.”
“Where did you find her?”
“In the studio. I get the feeling she crawled away to play hide and seek but forgot to find you after class.”
“Cassie?” Delilah piped up.
“Yes?”
“You know Lola isn’t real, right? She can’t actually crawl anywhere.”
Presley smothered a laugh. Damn, his kid had sass.
“You and I know that,” Cassie mock whispered. “But Lola doesn’t.”
Pres stood and walked into the kitchen, so aware of the two of them upstairs. He put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher and wiped up the counters. He’d let them have some girl time. It was what Delilah wanted.
And he was a damn sucker for his kid. Always.
It took him ten minutes to get the kitchen clean. He ran his hands under the faucet, washing them with some dish soap before he dried them on the towel.
It was silent when he walked into the hallway at the base of the stairs. He tipped his head, his brows knitting, before he climbed up them to make sure everything was okay.
Delilah’s door was ajar. He looked through the gap, to Delilah’s bed. It was just as she’d described to Cassie. A princess bed, with four posters and a roof, voile curtains hanging down and tied to each bedpost.
He’d made it himself. It had been an easy design for somebody who knew what they were doing with a jigsaw. The hardest part had been hiding it from Delilah as he worked. In the end, he’d made up a story about the garage being dangerous and that she couldn’t go in there without asking.
He’d spent nights sanding, priming, and then painting. More getting the curtains right. And then she’d spent the weekend with his mom while he and Marley had built it in her room for a surprise.
He smiled at the memory. It had been good spending time like that with his brother. The same way it was good spending time with him at rehearsal.
Delilah was asleep, her eyes closed, her rosebud lips slightly opened as she inhaled rhythmically. Her head was resting on Cassie’s lap and her hands were clutching Lola against her chest.
His breath caught in his throat, because damn, they looked like they were supposed to be laying like this. Like Delilah was supposed to have somebody soft and feminine to take care of her.
He knew she missed her mom. Or at least the idea of her.
Of having something all the other kids at school had.
Sure, some of them didn’t have dads. But that was normal, if there was any such thing. But no mom. That was tough.
Cassie looked up, and a soft smile pulled at her lips. “She went out like a light,” she whispered. “I’m scared to move in case she wakes up.”
“She’s a pretty deep sleeper.” He kept his voice low, walking into the room. “Let me help you.”
Cassie nodded, and he slid his hands beneath Delilah’s head, his knuckles pressing into Cassie’s thighs. Their faces were close as he held his daughter while her dance teacher wiggled off the bed.
Once Cassie was out from under Delilah, he gently lowered Delilah’s head to her pillow. She muttered something he couldn’t quite hear and rolled onto her side, her giraffe still tight in her arms.
Cassie was waiting for him outside Delilah’s bedroom when he softly made his way out of her room, closing the door behind him.
“Thanks,” he told her. “I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything. I was glad to help.”
