Page 159 of That Rush

“I believe matching has already been ruled boring.”

Josie slides off my lap. “Daddy needs to watch really close.”

“I’m sitting right here.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re watching.”

The accusation is accurate, so it stings, but it’s also so ordinary I have to smile.

Paige finishes the braids while I watch every move. They are even; the elastics clash, and Josie approves after checking all three of our opinions in the window.

When she runs down the hall for her shoes, Paige turns to me.

“You’re good at this,” she says.

“I’m good at looking through my phone?”

“You let her feel it,” she says. “You didn’t look away when it got hard.”

“I wanted to fix it, to promise she’d remember everything.”

“I know.”

“I couldn’t.”

“You stayed anyway.”

A knot forms in my throat as I lift her hand and press my mouth to her knuckles.

“Thank you for staying too.”

“Josie asked me to.”

“I told you to go.”

“You were giving me a choice.”

“And you stayed.”

Paige holds my gaze. “For both of you.”

Josie returns wearing one sneaker and carrying the other. “Are we still going?”

“If you want to.”

“I do. Paige has to read the book.”

Paige collects her tote while I help Josie with the second shoe, and we leave fourteen minutes later than planned. The clock doesn’t matter.

Halfway to town, Josie leans between the front seats as far as her seat belt allows.

“Miss Paige?”

Paige turns toward her. “Yes?”

“Can I read the event book with you tonight? You can do the hard pages, and I can do the page with the owl.”

“I would love that,” Paige says. “Do I get to hold the book?”