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“Oh, does he, now?” she replied, glancing toward me and narrowing her eyes.
“Only sometimes,” she added quickly, and it was so cute the way she realized she had ratted me out and tried to defend me again.
When Harper didn’t say anything else, Layla fell quiet and stared out of the window. I knew from her lack of questions she was done for the day. She’d been up since 6:00 a.m. and it was almost 8:15 p.m. by the time we arrived home. Killing the engine, I turned around to look at her and my sweet little girl was hanging from her booster seat like a discarded rag doll.
“Aw,” Harper and I said together in whispered voices. “Isn’t she the sweetest little girl?” I asked, sounding like the doting dad I was.
“She is. There is no malice in Layla whatsoever,” Harper agreed. Turning, she opened her car door before I could even think about helping her out of her seat.
“Harper,” I called after her. Turning, she looked with a questioning expression.
“You’re doing an incredible job with her,” I praised.
“It isn’t only me, everyone has a hand around here… and her dad’s upped his game considerably lately.” She winked.
Watching Harper as she walked around the hood gave me butterflies, because the more time I spent with her, the better I liked her. I felt as if I were seeing her through fresh eyes, or perhaps it was because the guilt that usually had accompanied my attraction to her wasn’t there anymore.
Catching my eye, she became a little self-conscious and ran her hand through her hair, licked her lips, and dipped her head so I couldn’t see her face in the low light. It was a rare lack of confidence from her, but my dick grew semi-hard in response.
“Leave her, I’ve got her,” I told Harper as I exited the car. Stepping back, she made way for me to gain access and I opened the door. Unbuckling Layla from the seat belt, I gently lifted her out and put her over my shoulder. Immediately, she clutched a clump of my hair.
My heart swelled, comforted by her touch and the feel of her little body draped against mine. “If you carry her up, I’ll change her and put her to bed,” Harper offered. I nodded and did as she asked.
Stretching lazily, I helped Layla out of her clothes, leaving her in an undershirt and panties, then I moved out of the way and allowed Harper to finish dressing Layla for bed. Tucking her bear between the sheets, I smoothed down her hair and placed her threadbare stuffed bunny under her chin.
Signaling to Harper to make for the door, we had almost reached it when we heard a small voice. “Night, Daddy, I love you. You too, Harper,” she mumbled.
Closing the door, we began to make our way downstairs.
“Thirsty?” Harper asked.
“Yeah.”
“Wine?”
“Yeah, grab a bottle and a couple of glasses; I’ll go check on the fire.
A few minutes later, Harper was curled up on the sofa next to the open fire with a large glass of red in her hand. “Thanks for today,” she said sounding grateful, “it was nice to spend time with you and Layla like that,” she added.
“Yeah, I’m trying harder to be spontaneous,” I agreed.
Harper chuckled, “The point about being spontaneous is you don’t have to try to do something, it just happens.”
Laughing, I nodded. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“That was my world before… Grace,” I offered.
“Before you met her or after she passed?”
“Everything I did before I met Grace was spontaneous. I’m not the most organized person. Meeting Grace was spontaneous. She wasn’t in my plans for living life as an eternal bachelor,” I mused and shook my head. My voice sounded melancholic and Harper obviously noted this.
“How did you meet? I mean…”
“In a Walgreens,” I blurted out and chuckled. “Hardly the most romantic place, and I’d love to tell you some amazing anecdote about how I swept her off her feet, but it was the other way around.”
Biting her lip, I could see her absorbing my affectionate recollection about my late wife and I relaxed, relieved because she didn’t view Grace as competition.
“How so?”
