CHAPTER NINETEEN #3
“Don’t you want to know when I start having sex?”
With a sigh, I entered her room and sat down on the edge of her bed.
“Are you thinking about having sex?” I highly doubted she even had sexual thoughts, let alone was considering having sex, but then again, I wasn’t expecting her to approach Damon and ask him to hang out.
Maybe she was developing feelings she couldn’t quite understand.
“No,” she said bluntly. “And even if I was, I will not even think about having sex until I’m at least twenty.
Maybe later. I want at least two degrees, maybe three, before I risk the possibility of pregnancy or disease.
And even then, kids and disease don’t sound appealing.
So maybe I’ll never have sex. Just to be safe. ”
Raking my fingers through my hair, I sighed again. “Sex can be safe—”
“Not one hundred percent it can’t be.”
I closed my eyes. “True. However, if you double up on birth control and have it with someone you trust …… They’ve been checked, you’ve been checked …
” I glanced up at her. “I don’t want you to miss out on an enjoyable part of being an adult because of fear.
If—when you’re ready—you feel the desire to be intimate with someone, and you’ve planned and prepared, then I don’t think you should deny yourself that. ”
How fucking weird was this? I was encouraging my daughter to have sex.
“So you’re having sex with Naomi then?”
I was full of sighs and let another deep one slip. “Yes. We are having sex.”
“Good.”
I lifted my gaze from her duvet to her face. “Pardon?”
“You deserve to have sex with someone you care about and who cares about you. As long as you’re being safe. Are you being safe?”
I snorted. “Are you giving me the safe-sex talk?”
“I will if I have to.”
I gave her a look that reminded her just who the parent was in this situation. “You don’t have to. We are being safe.”
“Where are you guys going to do it?”
“I think I’m going to keep that part private.”
She rolled her eyes. “Dawn messaged me. Then we video chatted.”
“Yeah?” I could tell by the way she tapped her fingers rhythmically on the cover of her book that something particular was on her mind.
I waited her out.
“She thinks maybe I should have some trackers put on me. Like in my shoes, maybe some hoodies and stuff. I already have the Find My Friend app on my phone with you. But what if Kyla comes and my phone falls out of my pocket when she kidnaps me?”
“Kiddo …”
She shrugged. “It could happen.”
Fucking hell.
“Dawn’s just worried. And so am I. Aren’t you?”
“Terrified. But we also can’t live in fear.
As far as we know Kyla is headed to, or already in, Cedar Bluff.
And all we can do is remain vigilant. Lock our doors, keep our faces off social media, and hope that Kyla uses the two brain cells rattling around in her skull and stays on that side of the continent. ”
“I’ve already ordered some trackers. They’ll be here in two days.”
Of course she did.
I rested my hand on her ankle and gave it a little squeeze. “I won’t tell you that we’re safe here, because we might not be. But what I can tell you is that this is the safest and happiest I’ve felt in a very long time. We are building a community here. We’re making friends.”
“And girlfriends.”
“And girlfriends.” I nodded.
“And I’m going to fight like hell to hold on to what we’re building. I won’t let her take this away from us. We’re going to install some security cameras here, and Tom already ordered all the material for a gate.”
Her head bobbed.
My smile wasn’t real, and I knew she could tell, but I did it anyway.
“Can you drop me off at Damon’s on Friday? He asked me to come back over to birdwatch again. Just like Austin, he was really into the Merlin app. Could identify a bunch of bird calls without the app by the time we got back to the house.”
“Really? He wants to birdwatch?”
She reared her head back. “Why wouldn’t he want to birdwatch? Birdwatching is a lot of fun.”
Now I was smiling for real. I squeezed her ankle again and stood up. “You’re right, kiddo. It’s super fun. However, maybe you should ask him what his hobbies are.”
“Why? He’s fine birdwatching. We both enjoy it.”
Something told me Damon might be tolerating birdwatching, but he wasn’t ready to list it as one of his favorite pastimes. “Because that’s what it means to have friends. You show interest in each others interests and hobbies. You don’t just spend time doing what you like. You take turns.”
She didn’t look convinced. “I’ll think about it. You can drive me though, please?”
I bobbed my head and chuckled softly to myself. “Yes, I’ll drop you off on the way.” I stepped toward her and pressed a kiss to the top of her blonde head. “Don’t stay up too much later reading.”
“You know I will.”
I sighed for the umpteenth time. “Yes, I know.”
“Goodnight, Dad.”
“Goodnight, Mabes.”
I closed her door, and leaned back against the wall beside it, smiling. My kid had a friend. And I had a girlfriend. Maybe this island was going to give us exactly what we needed after all.