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Hearing those words choked me. “No, Baby, I’ve no plans for that. I’ve got a gorgeous little girl to take care of. I aim to be around for a long, long time.”
Glancing up at me, she flashed me a beaming smile and I swear she lit up the dark. “Good, because I was worried about that.”
“Sweetheart, sometimes I have to go to work, and that’s unavoidable, but take it from me, as soon as I can come back, I’ll always be here. You’re my heart and I need you as much as you need me.”
Satisfied with my response she sat up and looked down at me.
“Okay, my butt feels icy, and the dirt is hard, can we get into the tent now?” she asked, moving swiftly on from her deep conversation and back to the practicalities of our night under the stars.
Sleeping with her clothes on, Layla snuggled into her sleeping bag and wedged herself up close. “Night Daddy, I love you,” she confessed, sounding groggy in minutes from the cold and the late hour of nearly 9:00 p.m.
“Night, Baby, I love you too,” I replied, yawning myself. It had been a very long day.
A freezing cold nose trailed down my neck as little iced fingers snuck under my layers of clothes. I woke with a start as my daughter struggled her way inside my sleeping bag.
“Damn, where are your socks?” I mumbled, scooping her little body into my side.
“Lost them inside the sleeping bag,” she mumbled, shivering with the cold. Her cold nose skimmed my neck again, and I hissed with fright.
“Okay, Baby. It’s still dark, let’s go back to sleep.” Snuggling her closer, I wrapped my fingers around her feet, and I sighed as we resettled comfortably. Feeling the warmth we generated between us made me tighten my grip, and my heart swelled with love for my sweet little girl.
“Glitter’s hungry.” Cracking open one eye, I smiled affectionately at my gorgeous hot mess of a daughter, who was standing, looking disheveled, by the zipper opening of the tent. One jean leg was tucked into a tiny scruffy cowboy boot, the other half in half out. With her hands on her hips and her crazy tousled mass of bed hair, I’d never seen her look more adorable.
“Is that right? And what about Layla? Is she hungry as well?” I asked, talking about her in third person.
“Welllll,” she began, dragging the word out. “The fire’s out. How will you cook something?” she asked, as she held her arms out in a helpless gesture and twisted her body to look back at the burned-out fire again.
Sitting upright, I pushed my way out of the sleeping bag and clumsily climbed out of the tent. “It just so happens I brought a little stove with us. How does fried egg sandwiches with ketchup sound?”
“Like a plan,” she nodded. “What did you bring for Glitter and Elbe?”
“Look around you, Sweetheart. The land is their food, and by the looks of them they’re food drunk after eating all this lush green pasture overnight. Matty did put some carrots and apples in as treats for them though.”
Turning away from me, she hot tailed it over to the saddlebags and rummaged inside. “Careful, remember the eggs are fragile,” I warned.
Between us we managed to make breakfast, feed the animals, and take down the tent all before 8:30 a.m. “Are we going home now?” she asked.
“Do you want to? Have you had enough?”
“Well, we could go slow, but it’s mac and cheese night,” she informed me.
“Good to know a trip with your dad comes second to a plate of mac and cheese.”
“Don’t be silly, Daddy, I can’t eat you,” she replied, using her innocence to answer.
Still smiling I felt a small amount of disappointment our trip in the wild was coming to an end, and strapped the rolled-up tent onto my saddle. Lifting Layla up, I sat her back on her pony and we headed back toward the house. I guessed sixteen hours with a guy six times her age got wearing after a while.
During the slow ride back toward the house we spoke about her classmates’ antics. She even spoke about liking Ruth, but she didn’t mention the guy Harper was seeing, and I never asked. The last thing I’d have stooped to was pumping my daughter for information, no matter how curious I was.
We arrived home just before lunch, reeking of bonfire and horse sweat, but I’d never had a better time with my daughter since the day she’d been born.
Layla had barely cast off her mucky boots before she rushed upstairs to find Harper to tell her about her adventure. Following suit, I walked past Harper’s suite and into my bedroom, listening to Layla’s animated storytelling about our adventure.
Stripping out of my clothes, I turned on the dial in the wall of the shower. Stepping under the hot steamy spray, I closed my eyes at the luxurious feeling of the warmth invading my bones. My back, ass, and neck ached from my night on the hard ground, but I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world.
For a second I wished Harper would be as easy to please as Layla had been, but somehow I knew if I was ever going to stand a chance with her, I’d have to work hard to convince her.
Showered and dressed, I was tying my sneakers when Layla burst through my bedroom door, hair still wet and squeaky clean from the shower. “Turkey or ham?” she asked.
