Page 36 of Scarlett's Mountain Man
“She’s all right. Thank you,” Daddy loudly replies. “You’re okay. Everyone has stopped looking,” he gently says so only I can hear him.
I don’t look up, though. I just need to feel safe for a couple more seconds.
“I’ve got you,” he exhales. “Daddy should have made sure you weren’t eating anything when I said that.”
I pull back and nod. “You should have. I could have died,” I exaggerate.
Daddy raises an eyebrow.
“Okay, maybe I wouldn’t have died since you were there, but still.”
“You would not have died. Nothing bad would have happened.” He snuggles me tightly.
I look to my left to see Juniper fast asleep in her car seat. I fed her in the car before getting out for ice cream.
“Do you really want to do that?” I look back at him.
“Yes, if you want to. If it’s a hard limit with people around, then it’s okay. We can recreate it at my cabin.” He wiggles his eyebrows.
“Can I think about it?” I ask, unsure how he is going to react to that.
Daddy kisses my forehead. “Think about it all you want. But don’t think about it too much and talk yourself out of it.”
“I won’t,” I reply.
Which is kind of a lie because that’s what I normally do. Think about things way too much and end up talking myself out of it. It’s hard not to when I’ve second-guessed decision-making for years.
“If you start to, I want you to come to me right away,” he gently says. “And if you want to just talk it out with me, we can do that. You just let me know.”
“Maybe when we get home, we can talk about it more?” I suggest.
I freeze as I stare at him.
Home.
I called his cabin home.
But that’s exactly what it is. It feels like home and has done since the day we arrived.
Daddy kissesmy forehead. “Of course we can. And I love that you called it home. Makes me so happy.”
I smile. “Makes me happy, too. It feels like home, really does.”
“I’m glad. Now, let’s finish our ice cream and head home.”
