Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
HARPER
Harper
I’m here
Marcus
Park by the garage so you don’t get wet
There’s a bad joke in there somewhere
You’re as bad as Bode
You set me up for it
R ain is coming down in sheets as a streak of lightning lights up the sky. Parking the car, I flip up my hood, grab my bag, and make a dash inside the open garage door where Marcus is waiting for me.
“Hi.”
“It is gross out.”
Marcus laughs, dropping a quick peck on my cheek. “Nice to see you too.”
I fist his sweatshirt, pulling him back down. “Hi.”
His lips are warm and sweet and taste like apples. When I step back, shaking the water off my coat, his eyes are lit up like the sky. How is this man so effortlessly sexy?
“The girls are excited to see you. They made you a sandwich.”
“Grilled cheese and apples by chance?”
Marcus nods, taking my coat as we step inside the garage. A clap of thunder rings out. “Yes. Dinner is in the tent tonight.”
“Tent?” I ask.
He points toward the living room. “Go see. The girls are waiting for you.”
Toeing off my shoes, I head through the kitchen into the living room where a movie is playing on the TV. A pink tent, bigger than any tent I’ve seen, fills the space in front of it with both flaps open. The second Sam spots me, her face lights up.
“Harper! We made you dinner.”
“I heard.” I sit down and cross my legs in front of them.
Sam pats the spot next to her. “There’s enough room for you in here.”
“Daddy can fit too. We’re having dinner in here tonight,” Sadie tells me.
Sliding inside, it’s bigger than it looks. Pillows and stuffed animals line the sides of the tent. Two sleeping bags lie on the floor.
“It’s a party in here.”
“Here’s your dinner.” Sadie hands me a plate of a gooey grilled cheese sandwich with carrots on the plate.
“Did you make this?” I settle the plate on my lap as Marcus manages to wedge himself in the tight space, shuffling a few animals around .
They both nod proudly. “Daddy helps,” Sadie points out.
“But we put all the apples and cheese on,” Sam says.
I take a bite. “It’s delicious. My compliments to the chefs.”
Marcus grins at me as he takes a bite of his own. The girls are beaming at me as they stuff their faces with their own sandwiches.
The storm rages outside as a boom of thunder shakes the house, causing Sadie to whimper and me to jump.
“I don’t like storms,” Sadie whispers, covering her ears.
“It’s okay. I don’t like storms either.” Setting my empty plate outside of the tent, I pull Sadie onto my lap. “Is it because they’re loud?”
She nods her head. “Yeah.”
“Well, what’s something we could do that’s equally loud?”
“We could yell,” Sam pipes up. “But Daddy says there’s no yelling inside.”
Another clap of thunder rings out, causing Sadie to burrow farther into my arms.
“I think I could make an exception this one time. But you know what I taught you girls?”
“What?” Sam asks, a confused look on her face.
Marcus leans down to whisper into Sam’s ear and her face lights up. “Our favorite things!”
“Your what?” I ask. I surely couldn’t have heard her right.
“Daddy says if you’re scared of storms to think of your favorite things,” Sadie turns around and tells me.
“And where did Daddy learn that?” I ask, looking at Marcus directly in his warm, brown eyes.
“I learned it from someone very smart,” he says. “Kind of like your mom in that way. ”
“Our mom was really smart,” Sadie tells me.
Marcus nods. “You know it’s where you get your mad chess skills.”
Sadie giggles. “I want to be a world champion.”
“You can do anything you want, Sadie,” Marcus tells her. “Your mom would love that.”
I love that Marcus doesn’t shy away from keeping the memory of their parents alive. Even though he is their Daddy, their biological mom and dad aren’t hidden like a dirty topic.
This man. When he left, I put him and everything about our life together in a box and tucked it away. I didn’t want to keep it, but I couldn’t part with it for some reason. Now that he’s back, I can’t help but fall for him again.
Because even if I wasn’t with him, I was still a part of his life. The small things that he did for me, he does for the girls. Even though Marcus left, it’s like I never really left him.
“Tell me more of your favorite things,” I tell the girls.
“I like macaroni and cheese and rainbows and unicorns and chess and reading,” Sadie rattles off.
“Anything else?” Marcus asks with a grin.
“School. I like school.”
“And puppies!” Sam chimes in, causing Marcus to groan.
“What’s wrong with puppies?” I ask.
“We want a puppy and Dad won’t get us one.”
I try to hide the smile at the way she calls him Dad. Like this is the biggest grievance in their world that Marcus won’t get them a dog.
“ Dad doesn’t have enough time for a puppy with hockey.”
“But we’ll take care of her,” Sadie tells him, giving him a stern eye. “Trixie would be the best puppy ever. ”
“You already have her name picked out?” I ask the girls, and they both nod.
“From Bluey,” Marcus says. “Always about Bluey.”
“Bluey is not one of Daddy’s favorite things,” Sam says.
“You know what is one of my favorite things?”
Both their faces get excited at this. Clearly they know what one of his favorite things is.
“Ice cream!” they shout at the same time.
“Can we have some?” Sadie asks.
“Of course,” Marcus says. “Harper, you want to help me?”
“Sure.”
Marcus holds out his arm for me to lead the way out of the tent. From here, the girls can’t see the kitchen, but the TV screen casts them in a glow. They’ve turned their attention to the movie playing.
“How are you holding up?” Marcus asks, opening the freezer and pulling out a gallon of strawberry ice cream.
I shrug a shoulder. “I guess spending storms with you isn’t the worst place to be.”
That earns me a laugh. “Do you need to tell me your favorite things?”
Draping my arms over Marcus’s shoulders, I pull him close.
“You.”
“It seems like we have the same favorite things because you’re my favorite thing too.” Marcus buries his face into my neck and I’m swept away in his warmth. In how safe I feel with him.
I don’t know how long we stay like this, just breathing each other in. I always remember passing the storms with Marcus in my apartment. We’d pull the blankets up over our heads and talk for hours .
Those are the things I missed most. Now I’m doing it with Marcus and his girls, which I love.
“Is the ice cream ready yet?” Sam calls out.
“In a minute,” Marcus tells them.
I laugh into him, squeezing the back of his neck. “I guess they won’t wait for their ice cream.”
“Can’t say that I blame them.”
We scoop ice cream into bowls for the four of us as the storm starts to settle outside. The girls have a lantern lit up inside of the tent as they each tell us their own stories they made up.
“Daddy, can we have a sleepover down here?” Sadie asks around a yawn.
“Why else do you think we brought the sleeping bags down?” he asks them. “I think it’s time to tuck in and go to bed.”
“Can we watch Bluey when we wake up?” Sam asks.
Marcus nods. “Yes. And maybe we can make pancakes tomorrow morning.”
Sadie’s eyes go wide. “But it’s not Sunday.”
“Well, maybe Harper can come for breakfast?—”
“Yes!” they both answer immediately, cutting Marcus off.
“I think this is a great idea,” I tell them.
Marcus gives them each a kiss as I hug them good night.
“Night, girls.”
“Night!”
Zipping the tent up for them, I link hands with Marcus as he leads me upstairs.
“Ready for our own sleepover?”
“More than ready.”