CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE Ginger
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Ginger
13 days to go
“ I think we can dunk Daddy if we try,” I say to Mabel quietly, almost two weeks after my father’s election. We’re deep in a game of Marco Polo. It’s Saturday, Cole has taken the day off, and Mabel is going to Ernie and Trudy’s tonight for her last sleepover before school starts, with the promise from Gemma that she will be going for dinner there.
Cole and I are heading to the big house after Mabel leaves, to let Cole’s whole family in on our little secret. After nearly two idyllic weeks of just existing together, we’ve really found our rhythm and I think Mabel suspects we might be more than friends.
Brent came into the office with his tail between his legs the day after Cole found his proof. Cole has heard since he’s on a bender, apparently unable to secure any kind of transfer. Probably because Sheriff Ashby has talked with every local county head and is working to have Brent stripped of his badge.
The bulbous, almost red tomatoes in the garden remind me every day that we need to have a talk with Mabel soon. But I’m following Cole’s lead on this. All that matters, in this moment, is the three of us, swimming lazily in the hot August afternoon. It’s as easy as it always is. It’s a little piece of heaven.
“Okay,” Mabel giggles, not so inconspicuously, as we start to swim toward him.
“Marco,” Cole calls, his eyes closed, from the center of the pool.
“Polo,” I call back, trying to make my voice sound like it’s coming from much further away. This stunning man grins and his dimples appear, and I die a slow death at how incredible-looking he is.
But even his gorgeousness won’t prevent his demise as Mabel and I stalk toward him, look at each other and both take a shoulder, shoving Cole under the water then doing our best to swim away from him. He chases after us, catching Mabel in one hand, and me in the other. He kisses Mabel’s chubby cheeks into fits of giggles.
“It was Ginger’s idea!” she laughs as he turns to playfully kiss my cheeks while I yelp. This makes Mabel laugh even harder before he sets us both free.
“What happened to Daddy’s Girls? The team? The team doesn’t work against each other!” He grins as Mabel and I swim to the side. Mabel covers her mouth in an attempt to stop her laughter from spilling out.
“Me and Ginger have our own team!” she says as Cole feigns shock.
“Traitors,” he gasps, pushing his hair off of his forehead before climbing out of the water. “And what is this team called?”
Mabel and I look at each other.
“The Gardenistas,” I say as Mabes and I side-five, without even looking at each other. It took us three days to be able to do that.
Cole chuckles and opens his little outdoor fridge near the BBQ on the patio, pulling out the sandwiches Mabel and I made earlier
“Okay, Gardenistas, come and have some food,” he says, drying himself off.
Ten minutes later, we’re seated and eating our lunch. Cole polishes off his sandwich first.
“So, Mabes, can we have a talk?” he asks, his eyes on mine, telepathically telling me that the time is now.
Mabel dips a berry into whipped cream and shoves it into her mouth.
“Yep,” she says.
Cole fidgets in his seat. “Do you like having Ginger here with us?”
I smile into my lap as I pop a berry into my mouth, loving Cole so much in this moment for caring so intensely about what his daughter thinks of him. Of us.
“Yes,” she says as she continues to eat.
“How would you feel if Ginger were to stay for longer?”
“Happy,” she says without hesitation. I smile at her.
“I’d be happy too,” I tell her.
“Why?” Mabel asks. “And what will happen to your house?”
“Well …” I take a breath before answering her. “Someone else would live there and I would live here.”
“You’d help my dad take me to school?”
“Ginger will help me look after you, I’m sure. But there’s something else too, Mabes,” Cole says.
Mabel looks at both of us and tries, in her little eight-year-old mind, to understand Cole’s beating around the bush.
“Sometimes, when grown-ups spend a lot of time together,” I say, “they find they get along very well.”
Mabel nods and looks up at me. “Like me and you?” she asks.
“Yes, sort of. But also in a different way,” I tell her.
She picks up another berry and thinks for a second.
“Like how Grace is always around when Annie comes to Mr. Stacks’s, and they fall in love?” Mabel asks, referencing Annie and sounding way too grown-up.
“Exactly,” I tell her. Smart girl.
“Do you love my dad?” she says bluntly.
On the other side of the table, Cole almost chokes on his iced tea. I look at him.
“Yes, I do, very much,” I answer.
Mabel smiles, looking genuinely thrilled. “My dad loves you too,” she says, matter of fact.
Cole shakes his head and smiles before popping a grape into his mouth.
“How did you know that, Half Pint?” he asks.
Mabel shrugs. “Because you look at her like Mr. Stacks looks at Grace.”
Cole’s eyes meet mine and I smile.
“You totally do,” I tell him as I steal a grape of my own. He doesn’t even deny it, he just shrugs with a grin.
We all clean up, and then spend the customary fifteen minutes after lunch listening to Mabel tell us all about decorating the house for fall, and what teacher she hopes she has, and all about her friend Alex’s new cat.
Midway through the conversation, her eyes light up like Christmas morning.
“Now that Ginger is going to live here, can we get a dog?” Mabel asks as I help her put her water wings back on.
“Every team needs a mascot,” I say to Cole with a grin.
“So, is this how it’s gonna be? You two ganging up on me?” he asks, pointing between us. Mabel and I look at each other. We both nod and shrug.
“Better get used to it, Daddy,” Mabel tells him, turning to cannonball back into the pool.
I nuzzle into Cole’s neck as she jumps.
“Yeah, Daddy. Better get used to it,” I murmur.
A low growl rumbles in his chest before his arms are around my waist and he’s launching us both into the pool. Mabel is laughing hysterically as we pop up to the surface and our blissful afternoon continues, the conversation we just had making us no more of a family than we already were. We might not have done things the conventional way. But we did them our way. And I wouldn’t change a thing.