Page 110 of You Know You Wanna

“Can we have a quick chat, baby?” I asked before smiling at her friend. “Good to see you, Cass. How’ve you been?”

“Better now that you’re back, Mr. Ford.”

I chuckled. “Well, don’t get too used to it. We’re not staying long.”

She let out a deep sigh but nodded. “I know. I’m just hoping you guys will stay in touch once you leave. Everyone’s been pretty sad, you know? Especially Birdie.”

My heart tripped over itself, but I didn’t say any more, needing to talk to my daughter before I broke the news in front of her friend. Giving Cassidy a tight smile, I motioned for Laurene to follow me and we went out to the empty playground.

She scrambled up a wooden platform that put her at about my eye height when she sat down. “What’s up, Daddy? We’re not leaving yet, are we?”

“No, but I wanted to find out from you if it would be okay if Birdie came to live with us when we do go back.”

She blinked at me. “What?”

Here goes nothing. “I asked her to come back to New York with us, and she said yes, but⁠—”

I didn’t even get a chance to finish my sentence before she screamed with joy and jumped off the platform into my arms. Almost missing it since it happened so fast, I caught her at the last minute, folding my arms around her little body and laughing.

“I’m going to take that as a yes,” I said as I gently lowered her to the ground.

“It’s a yes.” She grinned radiantly, putting her arms out to her sides and spinning around and around. “This is the best day of my life. I’m serious, Daddy. We should just go home now so that she can come with us. We can⁠—”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I warned her. “She agreed to come back to New York with us, but I wanted to clear it with you first before I ask her to move into the penthouse. She might say no. She might want a place of her own.”

“She won’t,” Lulu chirped confidently, finally quitting with the spinning and planting her hands on her hips. “She loves us. She’s going to say yes.”

“I hope so, but it’s her choice, honey. Whatever she decides, we have to accept it and not try to guilt her into deciding something else. Can you handle that?”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek, and I waited while she reasoned it out in her head. Eventually, she whispered softly, “Do you really think she’ll say no?”

“It’s a possibility,” I said honestly. “This summer with all of us on the same property will always be a very special memory, but Birdie hasn’t known us for that long. She might not want to stay at our house right off the bat, but if she says yes, it has to be a hell yes.”

Lulu seemed surprised that I’d cursed while talking to her and she giggled. “A hell yes.”

I nodded. “In this case, if it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.”

She pulled her eyebrows together, studying me like she was suddenly not sure about something. “Why is that? Why can’t it just be a yes?”

“Because we want her to be truly and completely happy, right?”

She nodded firmly, her head bouncing up and down. “Of course.”

“Well, then we don’t want her to make this choice just to appease us. If she says yes, it has to be because it’s what she really wants, not because she thinks it’s what we really want.”

After studying me for another minute, she shrugged and started backing away. “Being a grownup is complicated. Can I invite Cassidy up to our room to watch a movie in the hotel robes and order room service for dinner?”

“Go crazy and have fun.” I smiled at her. “I’ll see you later. I need to go find out if we’re getting another roommate.”

She laughed, the sound floating in the air behind her. I chuckled, watching until she was inside the building before I left. With one more obstacle cleared, I went to find Birdie, hoping that one day soon, we’d all be together under one roof instead of all this back and forth.

When I’d arrived here at the beginning of the summer, the last thing I’d wanted was a relationship, but now, I was praying that when I left here, I would be doing it with the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was crazy how much things had changed, but I knew this was how it had always been meant to work out.

With Birdie and I together. Maybe forever, but definitely for much longer than just the summer.

58

BIRDIE