Page 105 of Set the Moment
“My friend is horrible! Look at my poor baby’s hair!” I joke as Daisy laughs lightly, her eyes lingering on the phone as Derek texts again.
Derek
I need you.
I shake my head, chuckling at his audacity.
Me
You ruined her hair
Derek
Shut up and come over. I need you to fix this
Sighing, I turn to Daisy, slightly noting the way she’d already been eyeing my phone. Daisy’s lip quirks as she looks over the picture of Delilah, her hair in disarray with cake smeared on her face.
“She’s adorable, is she yours?” she asks, her curious gaze washing over me as I snort.
“Nah…She’s his daughter. Do you mind if I leave right now? We're nearing the end of our practice, and I’m pretty sure he’ll leave her hair like that if I don’t help out.”
Daisy looks me over, her stare quizzical before agreeing, a large smile breaking out on her face. “Yeah…go save that little girl, I’ll catch you later.”
By the time I get to Derek’s house, I can already tell that I’m going to need an energy drink and some pasta when I’m done with everything. Delilah is running around like a chicken with its head cut off, war crying, with cakeeverywhere.
She comes to a halt when she catches me standing in the foyer, nearly falling when our eyes lock.
“Where’s your dad?”
Delilah tilts her head at me as if she has no clue what a “dad” even is. I raise a brow at her, trying to convey seriousness. The act must work because in an instant she buckles down.
“He’s hiding…” she frowns, jutting out her bottom lip as I roll my own in to keep from laughing.
This man…
“Where?”
She doesn’t answer me and instead points to the bathroom. Nodding, I don’t head for her father. Instead, I lock the front door and pick her up, placing her on the marbled kitchen island. Cleaning the cake off Deli’s face and getting her to settle down in the living room takes me less than five minutes, but also gives me time to look at Derek’s apartment.
The apartment is industrial-styled with red brick accented walls and floor to ceiling windows. It’s bigger and more luxurious than I would’ve expected for a single dad in college. There’s all types of things showing that a child lives here from the toy box in the corner of the living room to the small kiddie chairs in the dining room.
However, the thing that makes me laugh a bit is the fact that this apartment is in the same building as Jace’s loft. It’s cute that they bought units in the same building.
Derek comes out of the bathroom, dark under eye bags making him appear older as his eyes widen, finding me in the living room.
“She said you were hiding…” I snicker as he sighs, running a hand through his hair.
“You would be too if a miniature Bigfoot was chasing you around…Want some tea?” he asks as he opens the cabinets in the kitchen, rummaging around while I take a seat behind Delilah. Her hair bow box and hair care products are already in the living room.
“Water’s fine.”
We move in tandem with me doing Delilah’s hair and Derek handing me each product that I need while I instruct him on what to do with her mane of curls.
He listens intently to everything that I say, and fifteen minutes later, when I’m done with the two braided pigtails, he looks like a new man.
“So…How’s everything with Jace? No more arguments that I have to save you from?”
I roll my eyes at him, my heart swarming with butterflies at the thought of my boyfriend.
