Page 56 of Almost Always

He rubbed a hand over his mouth, feeling the wide grin against the palm of his hand. “I guess I’m in a good mood.”

“Why?”

“Because…I… just am.”

“You told me that’s not a good enough answer.”

Of course Cal would use his own words against him. His plan for the evening with Daisy was to cook dinner together, maybe watch a movie until Cal fell asleep. After that, she could call the shots. He had nothing against taking it slow, even if his mind was already counting the number of steps it would take to get from the couch to his bedroom with her in his arms.

“Daddy!”

Shit.“Sorry, son.” He winced and got a glare in return. “What did you say?”

“Why are you in a good mood?”

This time, he didn’t bother hiding his smile. “Daisy’s coming for dinner.”

“Yes! Does that mean you’re not fighting anymore?”

He frowned. “We weren’t fighting. She was busy.”

His son looked like he didn’t believe even a single word. “But she’s visiting us today?”

“Yep.”

“I need to clean my room, we have to hurry!” Then he was off, like this was stressful forhim. Rafferty shook his head and took his time finishing up shopping. He’d pulled up a few options forwhat they could make, things that Cal would eat and would enjoy helping out with. Thankfully most of those options used similar ingredients, so his shopping was easy.

On his way home, he was tempted to stop by the Patch and get flowers to decorate the house, but that meant seeing her. If he saw her, there was a very high chance that he would forget about everything else he was supposed to do. He felt like an animal, with how feral he was for her. Craving the feel of her body, the taste of her mouth, the scent of her skin…he wanted all of it pressed into him for eternity.

While he unloaded the bags in the kitchen, Cal was honest to God cleaning up his room. He’d never thought of his son as messy before, but Daisy had left enough of an impression that he wanted to be neat and tidy for her. The bell rang and before he could even move, Cal charged for the front door. Rafferty shook his head as he followed in his son’s wake.

“Miss Daisy!”

She matched his excitement. “Mister Callahan!”

He giggled. “You look very pretty.”

“Why thank you, kind sir. You look very handsome.”

Rafferty ruffled his son’s hair. “Do you think we can let her into the house now, son?”

Cal moved out of the doorway, allowing her to walk inside. She looked beautiful, obviously. But it was the radiant smile and the bouquet of flowers she revealed that really did the trick. She crouched and held it out to his son, who looked like he’d hit the jackpot.

“These are for me?” he asked, looking absolutely awestruck.

“Since you weren’t able to come to the shop, I thought I’d bring them to you.”

Cal stared at the flowers and launched himself at her, almost crushing the flowers in the process. Rafferty rescued the bouquet in time and felt his heart swell because of the two mostimportant people in his life. His son pulled back and wiped his face, bottom lip sticking out as he fought back the sniffles.

“Can I go put them in water?”

Handing the flowers over, he smiled as Boots came over to sniff Daisy in greeting before joining his tiny human in the kitchen.

“Hi,” she said softly, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“You made his whole year.”

“It’s always the little things.”

---