Page 208 of Small Town Firsts

Then her phone rings.

“Dammit, that’s Nate’s ringtone.”

Resigned, I move off of her, and she flies out of the bed in search of her phone. She returns a few minutes later, with it pressed to her ear. “No, it’s okay. I get it.” A pause. “I promise, it’s fine. I’ll meet you at the apartment.”

She ends the call and turns to me. “Nate got called into work.”

“Call him back and tell him to come here.”

“I would, but I have an online study group. We were supposed to meet on Thursday, but a few couldn’t log in then, so we pushed it.”

“Well, why don’t I take Tatum today, and you can focus totally on that.”

She ponders the offer for all of two seconds. “That would be amazing. Thank you, Alden.” She walks over to my side of the bed and crawls onto my lap, still magnificently naked. She kisses me long and hard but pulls away before we can get too heated.

I groan at the loss of her heat, but she just smirks. “C’mon. We gotta get showered. And I need to let Nate know the change of plans.”

We share a shower, and much to my disappointment, no shenanigans take place. Then again, Tatum comes first, so really, it’s okay.

Once we’re both dry, I give Nat a pair of my sweats and a shirt to wear home. It’s a bit chillier than normal for this time of year, so I throw on a pair of jeans with a long-sleeved T-shirt.

We walk down the stairs together, and kiss goodbye at the door. All in all, it’s incredibly domestic—and I really, really like it.

CHAPTER 41

ALDEN

I meetNate at the diner a few blocks down from the park. He and Tatum are already inside, seated at the bar. I plop down onto the stool to the right of my girl. Her eyes widen at the sight of me. “Daddy! You comed for breakfast!”

“I sure did, pretty girl. Uncle Nate has to go to work, but I wanted to make sure you still had your big day.”

She pitches herself my way and hugs me tight. “You’re the best daddy ever.”

My heart pinches. This kid. She is everything.

Nate stands and hugs his niece before clapping me on the shoulder. With eyes locked on mine, he says, “I’m glad it was you.”

His approval hits me all the way down to my marrow. My eyes glisten with emotion, and he doesn’t miss it. He chuckles and mouths the wordpussybefore heading out the door.

“What’cha gonna get?” I ask my daughter.

“I want a big bowl of cheese grips!”

“Cheese grits, huh? I think I want the same thing.” I place our order, and within minutes, two large bowls of steaming, cheesy goodness are placed before us. I doctor them both up with butter, salt, and pepper, and we happily devour them.

I pay the tab and help Tatum down from her stool. “Let’s see. You wanted to go to the park today too, right?”

She jumps up and down—which I understand is the universal toddler sign foryes!and occasionally forI have to potty!

“Wanna walk there?”

She nods rapidly, and hand in hand, we set off for the playground, which is luckily less than a block away. This isn’t the same one we went to last time, but Tatum looks excited all the same. At first, I keep right on her, moving from one piece of equipment to the other. Eventually, she tires of my stalking. “Daddy. I’m big. I’m”—she holds up four fingers—“three! I can pway alone.”

“Are you sure? I’m having fun playing with you!”

She looks over toward a group of similarly-aged kids all playing together. “I’m sure.”

I hesitate, but ultimately give in. After all, Natalie and I hung out on a bench the last time we came to the park. “All right, pretty girl. But stay where I can see you, okay?”

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