Page 37 of Mr. Almost

Mason scoffs. “She won’t hate me.”

“I hate to break it to you, but hating your parents in high school is a right of passage. Especially if they are trying to keep you from your boyfriend or girlfriend.”

Mason makes a noise in the back of his throat. “She won’t have a boyfriend in high school.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because she’s not allowed to date until she’s thirty.”

I toss my head back and laugh.

“You poor, poor delusional man. Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.”

Mason’s hand comes up and brushes the back of my cheek, and I stop laughing.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask quietly.

“Because happiness looks good on you, and I’m the lucky motherfucker who makes you happy.”

I don’t even bother trying to deny it, because he’s right. He does make me happy, and that scares the shit out of me.

MASON

“What is that?” Olivia asks, eyes wide.

“It’s your Halloween costume.”

“I’m not wearing that. Whatever it’s supposed to be.”

I raise a brow. “You’ve never seenBeauty and the Beast? You and Ari are both going to be Belle.”

Olivia shakes her head rapidly. “Nope. No thanks. I’m good. You two can dress up, though.”

Ari gasps. “Is that my dress?”

“This one is your mother’s, but this…” I pull hers out from behind Olivia’s. “Is yours.”

Ari cups her cheeks, mouth open in shock. “It’s so pretty. I get to be a princess?”

“You do,” I say proudly.

“Do you want help getting into your dress?” Olivia asks her.

“Yes, please!” Ari claps her hands.

Olivia takes the child-size Belle dress from me and heads down the hall with our daughter to get dressed. Sighing, I lay her dress across the couch.

I really want her to put it on before we leave to go trick-or-treating. Is it a big deal if she doesn’t want to dress up? No, but I really want this to be something the three of us can do together.

Make it a tradition.

I walk across the room and stare at myself in the mirror. The blue velvet suit is a little much, but I rock it if I do say so myself.

“What do you think, Daddy?”

I turn around and suck in a breath when I see my little girl. They were only gone for a few minutes, but somehow Olivia managed to pull Ari’s hair up into a neat little bun on the top of her head with a few pieces of hair framing her face and get her into the dress.

“You look like a princess.”

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