Chapter 34 Grady
grady
. . .
“Daddy?”
I heard Charlie’s voice from down the hall, but there was a hot, sweaty body clinging to my own, and I couldn’t move.
Opening my eyes, I looked down to find Cleo curled into my side, sleeping peacefully.
Our legs were tangled together, and her arm was banded around my middle, pulling me tighter.
Though she would argue with me if I ever said anything about it, Cleo was so fucking adorable when she was sleeping.
If this were how I woke up every morning for the rest of my life, I’d consider myself a lucky man.
But my daughter was about to burst through my bedroom door any minute, and while I didn’t mind her knowing Cleo slept in here, I wasn’t sure if Cleo would.
Gently, I reached over and ran circles across her back. Her body stirred, pulling me tighter and moving her leg up until it brushed my already hardening cock—which was going to be an issue if my daughter came in before it’d gone down.
“Morning bluebird,” I whispered as she blinked open her eyes.
She let out a little groan as she burrowed into my chest and hid her face. “I don’t want to get up. Not yet.”
“I don’t either, but Charlie—”
In an instant, she rolled away and clutched the covers to her chest. We’d fallen asleep in the clothes we wore yesterday, so it was comical she was trying to hide. “Oh my God. Charlie,” she said, glancing at the door. We could both hear her padding down the hall.
“It’s okay,” I said. “She just normally likes to come lie in bed with me in the mornings, and I wanted to give you a warning.”
“She can’t see me in here,” Cleo hissed, jumping out of bed.
“Where do you think she believes you are right now?” I chuckled. “I guarantee she checked the couch first and is coming in here to tell me you aren’t there.”
Cleo narrowed her eyes and dashed into the bathroom just before Charlie pushed open the door. She stood there, hair wild and drool stains on her cheek, with her bunny clutched in her arms.
“Good morning, sunshine,” I said, holding my arms out for her.
She padded over and crawled into my bed, taking Cleo’s spot at my side. “Daddy, Miss Cleo isn’t on the couch.”
“I know, sweetie.”
Charlie’s lip wobbled. “Did she leave without saying goodbye?”
I opened my mouth to answer when Cleo stepped out of my bathroom. “Nope, I’m right here. Just needed to use your daddy’s bathroom really quickly.”
My daughter smiled. “Yay! I’m so glad you’re still here. I wasn’t ready for you to leave. I wanted to show you my room and all my stuffies.” She hopped out of my arms and held out her hand for Cleo to take. “Come on, let’s go.”
Without waiting for an answer, Charlie tugged Cleo toward the door. Cleo looked back at me, and I shrugged. “Duty calls,” I mouthed to her before Charlie managed to get her all the way down the hall.
As I lay my head against the headboard, I listened to Charlie chatter a million words a minute.
She began telling Cleo a complete history of each stuffed animal she had lined up on her bed, and the ones that were on the dresser.
Occasionally, I’d hear Cleo ask a question or murmur her appreciation, but it wasn’t enough.
I wanted to see the two of them together.
Curiosity finally won out, and I quietly got out of bed and tiptoed down to Charlie’s old room.
“Did you know this used to be your dad’s room?” Cleo asked. She was sitting on the blue and cream checkered rug on the floor, surrounded by every stuffed animal Charlie owned.
“Really?” Charlie asked, hopping down from the bed to sit in front of Cleo.
“Yup. But it looks so much better now that it’s yours. It used to be filled with pictures of cars and sports, with dirty laundry all over the floor.”
Charlie scrunched up her face in disgust. She looked around the room, and I wondered if she was imagining what the space used to look like before. “Yeah, I like this better for sure.”
“In my defense, I really liked cars and sports.” Charlie and Cleo both startled as I stood in the doorway. “And I hated doing laundry.”
“I know for a fact your mom did your laundry,” Cleo said, crossing her arms. “You were just a dirty teenage boy who couldn’t be bothered to put his clothes in the hamper.”
“You knew my grandma?” Charlie’s voice was softer.
Mom had died well before my daughter was born, but I did what I could to make sure she knew how much they would’ve loved each other.
When Dad was home, he always brought out the thick scrapbooks Mom made.
Charlie loved looking at pictures of me from when I was a kid.
Without knowing it, she’d seen Cleo, too.
Cleo cleared her throat. “I did. She was an amazing woman. Would’ve loved you to pieces, you know?”
“That’s what Daddy says. He said she loved to make sweet treats, too. Just like you!”
“Your grandma actually taught me a lot about baking. She’s the reason I’m so good now.”
Charlie’s eyes grew wide. “Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“Can you teach me?” Charlie asked, hopping up and down on her bed.
“Of course, but,” Cleo paused, looking between my daughter and me, “I need to run out to my house for something first.”
Charlie instantly froze. “No, I don’t want you to go,” she said with a pout. “I want you to stay here with us.”
“I’ll be right back.” Cleo pushed to her feet, placing her hands on her hips. “If I make a list of ingredients, do you think you can help your daddy get them at the store?”
I felt similar to Charlie. I didn’t want Cleo to go either. What could she possibly need from the ranch that she couldn’t wait for until she went home? This was supposed to be our time together. Selfishly, I didn’t want to spend one more minute outside of her proximity.
“Is that okay, Grady?”
I blinked, focusing back on the two women in front of me. “Sure, yeah. I can get groceries.”
Cleo studied me for a moment before nodding her head. “Great. Do you mind if I borrow your dad’s truck to drive out there?”
“You can take mine,” I said, jerking my head toward the table in the entryway where my keys sat.
“Do you need her booster seat?”
“No, he’s got one in his. We’ll be fine.” I stepped out of the way as she walked past me, looking back at my daughter, who was sitting on her bed, clutching that damn rabbit to her chest.
I hoped to God this wasn’t Cleo trying to run. Maybe she just needed some space, maybe I rushed into things, but I hoped she would tell me that rather than leave. Pushing off the door jam, I followed her.
My fingers latched onto her wrist, and I gently spun her back to me. “You’re coming back, right? You’re not leaving?”
I wasn’t sure what I looked like or if she heard the worry in my voice I was trying to hide, but Cleo’s eyes softened. “I’m coming back. There’s just something I have tucked away I think Charlie will really love. I want to share it with her.”
“You promise?”
Cleo stepped forward and cupped my cheek. “I promise. I’ll text you the ingredients, okay? Maybe you can make some more of that mac-n-cheese you made for the cookout?”
I smirked. “You liked that, huh?”
“Maybe a little bit. I don’t need you getting a big head, or anything.”
Leaning in, I kissed her. It was so breathtakingly normal I almost forgot we hadn’t been doing this domestic shit our entire lives. “Hurry back to us.”
A soft blush crept across her cheeks. I loved the way it lit up her entire face. “I like the way that sounds.”
The only thing I could think of was the truth. “So do I.”
“Can we get popcorn, too, Daddy?” Charlie asked, leaning over to point at the box on the shelf.
“What do we need popcorn for?” I asked skeptically. “I thought you didn’t like it because it gets stuck in your teeth?”
“Yeah, but you do. So does Cleo. And you can’t have a movie night without popcorn and candy, Daddy. That’s silly.”
“So, the adults get popcorn while you get candy, huh?” I asked, reading between the lines. My daughter was about as subtle as a freight train. She was already sneaking away toward the chocolate at the end of the aisle.
Charlie sighed. “I guess you can have some chocolate too, Daddy.”
“What about Cleo? Does she not get any?”
She held up two boxes. “I was obviously going to get her some.”
“Alright, alright,” I said, snatching them from her hand and tossing them in the basket. “Anything else we need?”
Charlie shook her head, and I started moving toward the register.
When Cleo asked me to go to the store, I was worried it’d be too crowded.
Since I got back to town, I’d been having everything delivered using Dad’s account.
The last thing I needed was to be mobbed at the grocery store.
People knew I was in town, sure, but I didn’t want to take my daughter out there and run the risk of some dick from high school making things weird.
Still, I tugged my baseball cap down further as we stepped up to the register. Charlie was helping me place our groceries on the conveyor belt when I looked up and saw my face on the front of a tabloid magazine.
“Splittsville, USA. Country Icons Hart and Wilde Call It Quits!”
Fucking hell. I’d kept an eye on the media ever since our divorce was filed on Monday.
Everything had been relatively quiet the first few days, but it didn’t last long.
Yesterday, Liv’s PR team alerted us to rumors that were beginning to circulate.
Talks of infidelity on both sides and bitter divorce proceedings were running rampant.
It was all bullshit. A way for sleazy journalists to make a quick buck.
We were working on getting them removed, but no matter how fast we worked, they worked faster.
If I had seen this when we walked in, I would’ve turned around and told Charlie we’d bake another day, but it was too late now.
We were already here. The only thing I could do was hope the cashier didn’t pay any attention to tabloids.
Thankfully, she was a younger woman who seemed completely unfazed by anything happening around her.