Page 183 of Unruly

“I know, Daddy.”

“Take no shit, right?”

“Cross,” Catherine muttered.

He paid her no mind.

“Right,” Cece said with a nod.

“What else?”

“I do what I want,” their daughter said in her girlish, childish voice.

So many calls.

Catherine could hear the teachers and principals now.

“That’s right,” Cross said, holding out his fist. Cece bumped it with her own, and then bent in to kiss her father on the mouth. “Push the button on your watch, and Daddy will be here in no time. Got it?”

“Yep.”

“And—”

“You’re kinda makin’ me late, Daddy,” Cece said seriously, “and I gots a place to claim.”

Their little princess.

Already head of the school.

Cross laughed, and nodded. “Fine. Go ahead.”

Cece blew kisses as she turned for the school. On the last few steps before she reached the waiting principal, she glanced over her shoulder, and gave a little wave.

Cross was still kneeling on the ground. Catherine could feel his fucking stress.

“Don’t you move or stop smiling at her,” she warned him, barely letting her lips move as she said the words. “Make her think you’re sad about this day, and it will ruin it for her, Cross.”

“This is killing me, Catty.”

“She is going to be fine.”

“Should have red-shirted her for a year.”

“Nope,” Catherine said.

Then, Cece was gone.

Catherine let out a sigh of relief. She made it through this morning without a breakdown from their daughter, and without one from Cross.

Winning.

Cross stood with a heavy sigh, and turned to face his wife. “Are you happy, now?”

“Very. And no, you cannot wait outside this school all day for her.”

“I wasn’t …” She gave him a look, and Cross added, “You know what, never mind.”

“I give it until lunch time before we get a call.”