Her head lifts and she gives me a real blink of surprise. “You’re not going to punish me?”
“Is that what you’re angling for?”
Her shoulders draw up, but she holds my eyes. “I been bad.”
“Are you sorry?”
“Kinda,” she whispers.
“Kinda not?”
“Kinda not,” she admits, her eyes search mine.
“I think that’s something we need to talk about. But not right now. Would you be up for going to Central Park? We could visit the animals and then rent a boat and row around the lake. Sound good?”
“Could I be little?”
A smile creeps across my lips. “You could.”
She traces my smile with her fingertips. “You be my big?”
“I’d like that.”
“You growl at me like last time?”
“Is that what you want?”
She nods. “And chase me?”
“As long as you don’t go out of my sight. Central Park’s a big place.”
“I’z stay close. Can I have a hug?”
I slide my arms around her. She tucks into me, her soft curves locking into mine. This is right. All the pretense has melted away. The air’s not clear; there are things we need to talk about. But she’s being open and honest with me again and for the moment, that’s what matters.
By the time we’ve visited the otters and monkeys and are heading toward Central Lake, we’ve graduated from a twosome to a sixsome.
When I text Jack to say we’re following the plan and heading to the park, he offers to join us after he gets off work. His boy, being Sammi, posts in some group chat the littles have. Aggie responds into the chat with a thousand heart-eyed smileys that Cynnie shows me, laughing.
Surprisingly, Emily also responds to ask if she and Logan can join us. I guess she took what I said about Logan needing his people around him to heart.
We meet up at the Loeb Boathouse. Even though Logan and Emily only left my place a few hours ago, I’m genuinely relieved to see them when I spot them standing near the boat rentals.
Logan’s still looking a little drawn from his bender, but his smile’s back as he stands with his arms wrapped around Emily. She’s talking to Aggie and Sammi animatedly. When Cynnie sees them, she squeals and breaks away from me. She runs to them with her arms outstretched. There’s an immediate pile-on of excited littles.
I’m sure the same indulgent smile painting Logan, Warrin, and Jack’s faces is stretching my cheeks. I greet the three daddies before I check the availability of boats.
“Warrin got here first and got us all rentals,” Logan tells me. “Ready to race?”
I lift my eyebrows at him. “Areyouready to race?”
He rubs the incision scar on his forehead ruefully. “Probably not as ready as you are, but at least I know I’ll beat Jack.”
“In your dreams,” Jack says. “I rowed for Cornell.”
Logan rolls his eyes to the sky. “Divine intervention here. Oh, look, there’s a thundercloud.”
We all look up at the cloudless sky and snigger.
