Page 14 of The Single Dad Dilemma

I swear I don’t know if maybe the glasses make them look bigger or if she’s actually walking around with real-life animated princess vibes, but either way, I’m here for it.

I grab a mug from the cupboard above the coffee maker and pour her a cup, leaving room in case she wants creamer. Then I set both the mug and creamer next to her plate.

“Just real quick, while you’re eating, here’s some stuff you might be looking for today.” I point around the kitchen, opening drawers and cabinets, showing her where various items are in case she needs them later.

Lou uses this time to crawl up onto the stool next to Darcy and then watches me with a strange interest, like she didn’t know where any of this was either and is discovering it all for the first time. She’s already informed me that she and Darcy are going to become very best friends, so maybe she’s just trying to be a supportive BFF.

I set a plate of food in front of Lou as well, sans bacon. She’s off it right now and brainstorming about ways she can still enjoy the crisp tastiness of her favorite breakfast meat without killing pigs to do it. I suggested turkey bacon, which she denied, saying she didn’t want to make a different animal suffer either.

We went through the same thing with chicken nuggets, which she stopped eating for a little while. When she realized there was nothing she could do, she started eating them again. And before anyone comes for me, we tried plant substitutes, and let’s just say neither of us liked what they did to our bathroom habits.

After they both finish eating, I take Darcy down the hallway, showing her where the bathroom and Lou’s bedroom are. She steps into Lou’s room, complimenting Lou on her amazing stuffed animal organizational skills and the hand-drawn art she has on the wall next to her desk.

“And this,” I say, pausing to place my hand on the door, “is my room.” I open it for a moment, showing her inside. I notice she’s deliberate about not going in. “I don’t think there’s anything in here that you’ll need, but just in case, there is first-aid stuff under the sink in my bathroom, and that first drawer right there has some T-shirts if you, um, I don’t know, spill something and want to change or something.”

I don’t know why I said it. I shouldn’t have. Now all I can think about is seeing her in one of my T-shirts and peeling it off her naked body and the way she might moan, and for fuck’s sake. I definitely don’t have it together.

“Great,” she says. And she says it in a way that sounds like she wants to say more but doesn’t. She’s presses her pouty lips into a stark line instead.

This hallway is narrow, and Darcy is standing very close to me, and I get a whiff of her sweet scent in the air between us. It’s warm, like coconut and jasmine or maybe honey. Sweet, sticky honey. That’s what she is. And I’m a naughty bear.Jesus Christ.

“So I’d better be going,” I say, quickly, backing away from my bedroom as I close the door. “Text me if you have any questions. I can usually answer pretty quickly. If it’s an emergency, just call.”

“Will do,” she says.

Again, her tone sounds clipped or maybe just not as inviting as I’ve heard her sound. Of course, that was an interview, and everyone sounds a little more polished in that setting.

I check my watch, cursing myself when I realize I needed to leave five minutes ago. It’s not like I’m always late, but the past few months, with Lou getting kicked out of daycares and bringing her into the office, is starting to get to me. I know no one cares. I know Avery is happy with what I do for him, and all the rest of the guys like me. I know they all love Lou, too. But I would really like to get back to a place of normalcy. I go to work,I come home, and there’s no running here or there during work hours to put out a fire.

I’m in my car and backing out of my parking spot when I realize I’ve left my sketchbook, my wallet, and my travel mug of coffee back inside the house. But I’m not going back for them now. I already feel like an idiot. It’s best that emotion is kept deep inside.

And it’s not the only emotion I need to keep buried deep down either.

EIGHT

DARCY

To misquote Bella, I am definitely for sure irrevocably in love with this little girl. Like instantly, I would cut someone for her. I would mess them up. I would go straight-up grizzly bear on a bitch. Wow, I need to calm down.

The point is, Lou is great. At such a young age, she’s so brilliant. I can definitely see her taking advanced classes in school later on. Possibly becoming the president. Or curing a disease. I don’t know what Ridge’s plans are for her schooling, but I feel like I should mention something.

This morning, after he left for work, Lou extended the tour he took me on and showed me where certain things were. Like the extra toilet paper. In her words, she was “covering all the emergencies.” And honestly, I appreciated it.

We cleaned up the breakfast dishes, then I sat down with her for a math lesson just to assess her abilities. She’s definitely ready for kindergarten. She’s going to have zero issues. Then we played three rounds of Candyland and she cleaned her room. Apparently, she made a mess getting dressed today. I suggested we choose her outfit for tomorrow now so this won’t happen again in themorning. I also showed her that she could use aspare shelf in her room to lay out clothes for each day of the week if she wanted.

She told me she would think about it, but I could tell she didn’t like the idea of choosing clothes so far in advance. Then we had lunch and discussed the endangered pangolins. Which, if I’m being honest, I didn’t even know was a real animal. I looked up photos and I gotta say, they’re weirdly cute.

She also told me she thought we should go to the store and get all the stuff to make homemade chocolate chip cookies for her dad. So after an hour at the store, we’re here in the kitchen, measuring ingredients into a bowl.

Lou measures out the sugar and adds it to the flour while I run a whisk through it to mix it together. Then I help her add the wet ingredients. Once the dough is starting to form, I let her dump in the chocolate chips.

“This is the one ingredient you measure with your heart,” I tell her. “As many as you want.”

Her eyes light up as she begins to pour the chips from an open bag. Let’s just say these babies will be very chocolatey.

I form and press a ball of dough onto our cookie sheet, showing her about how big to make them, then I start cleaning up as she continues filling the pan.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Lou asks out of the blue.

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