Chapter 8
EIGHT
DARCY
T o misquote Bella, I am definitely for sure irrevocably in love with this little girl. Like instantly, I would cut someone for her. I would mess them up. I would go straight-up grizzly bear on a bitch. Wow, I need to calm down.
The point is, Lou is great. At such a young age, she’s so brilliant. I can definitely see her taking advanced classes in school later on. Possibly becoming the president. Or curing a disease. I don’t know what Ridge’s plans are for her schooling, but I feel like I should mention something.
This morning, after he left for work, Lou extended the tour he took me on and showed me where certain things were. Like the extra toilet paper. In her words, she was “covering all the emergencies.” And honestly, I appreciated it.
We cleaned up the breakfast dishes, then I sat down with her for a math lesson just to assess her abilities. She’s definitely ready for kindergarten. She’s going to have zero issues. Then we played three rounds of Candyland and she cleaned her room. Apparently, she made a mess getting dressed today. I suggested we choose her outfit for tomorrow now so this won’t happen again in themorning. I also showed her that she could use a spare shelf in her room to lay out clothes for each day of the week if she wanted.
She told me she would think about it, but I could tell she didn’t like the idea of choosing clothes so far in advance. Then we had lunch and discussed the endangered pangolins. Which, if I’m being honest, I didn’t even know was a real animal. I looked up photos and I gotta say, they’re weirdly cute.
She also told me she thought we should go to the store and get all the stuff to make homemade chocolate chip cookies for her dad. So after an hour at the store, we’re here in the kitchen, measuring ingredients into a bowl.
Lou measures out the sugar and adds it to the flour while I run a whisk through it to mix it together. Then I help her add the wet ingredients. Once the dough is starting to form, I let her dump in the chocolate chips.
“This is the one ingredient you measure with your heart,” I tell her. “As many as you want.”
Her eyes light up as she begins to pour the chips from an open bag. Let’s just say these babies will be very chocolatey.
I form and press a ball of dough onto our cookie sheet, showing her about how big to make them, then I start cleaning up as she continues filling the pan.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Lou asks out of the blue.
“Oh, um,” I stutter a bit, caught off guard by her sudden questions. “No, I don’t.”
“Why not?”Her head tilts side to side as she presses another dough ball onto the tray. She picks up on new tasks so quickly.
“Well, I did have a boyfriend, but then we broke up,” I say. “Sometimes it just doesn’t work out.” There’s no way I’m explaining the truth, of course. She’s way too young to know what a narcissist is, and I won’t be the one to explain it to her.
“Do you want to have another one?” she asks, stepping down off her stool.
She turns to study me intensely. Sheesh, it’s like I’m on trial all of a sudden.
“Well, I don’t know. I think I’m just waiting for the right boyfriend, you know? A special one.”
“So you can be in love?” she asks.
“Right,” I say. “I want to find the right one so we can be in love.”
She nods her head, standing there quietly for a moment like she’s really absorbing this new information.
I place two trays of cookies into the oven and finish cleaning up with the help of Lou. I check the clock and set a timer for the cookies.
“Why don’t you go grab a book and we will do some reading while we wait for them?”
“Good idea,” she says. “I’ll grab one of my favorites.”
I settle onto the couch, pulling a small throw blanket from the back to lay over my legs. I’ve always believed the best reading experience starts with a cozy setting. Plus, this little blanket is super soft and smells amazing. I should check the laundry room for what soap he uses.
A few moments later, Lou arrives and shoves a book into my hand as she settles onto the couch next to me with a small blanket of her own. It seems she had the same idea as me.
“ The Little Prince ,” I say, reading the title of the book. “This is such a good one.” And I really mean that. This little chapter book is by far one of my favorite reads.
I start reading to her, pausing to let her try some of the smaller words. She does pretty well sounding them out. I’m super impressed with her.
The cookie timer rings out from the kitchen, so I bookmark the page we’re on and head over to check them. Lou follows behind, then stands clear when I open the oven. The smells of vanilla and sugar waft through the air, filling the kitchen and living room with the delicious scents.
I check the time and see that Ridge should be here any minute, so I quickly transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and put the pans into the dishwasher. He didn’t expressly ask me to clean up, but it seems appropriate to help keep the place picked up while I’m here, especially if it’s my mess.
We settle back down onto the couch and read a couple more pages before we hear Ridge fiddling with the lock on the door. Lou throws her blanket off her legs and jumps up off the couch before skipping over to the door in time for it to open and Ridge to walk through.
And, yep, he’s just as hot as he was this morning. Maybe hotter. I swear it’s like he’s just a little bit more attractive every time I see him.
Maybe it’s the fact that Lou flew into his arms and he lifted her into a hug. He looked genuinely happy to see her, and that’s pretty fucking sexy. Or maybe it’s my own cliché daddy issues or whatever happens to my body when I’m ovulating, but I can’t help myself.
He turns his big white smile in my direction, his tousled hair falling into his eyes. Hell on earth, he’s beautiful.
“Hi,” I say. “How was your day?”
“Good,” he says. “Busy. Convention season is starting, so we have a lot of logistics to arrange.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Do I smell cookies?” he asks, sniffing the air.
“Oh yeah, they should be cooled off by now. We made them from scratch.”
Ridge’s eyes grow wide, a hint of excitement rimming his surprise. “That sounds amazing.” He looks at Lou. “You made cookies?”
“Yep!” she says.
“It was her idea,” I say. “She wanted to surprise you.”
Ridge kisses her on the cheek, then sets her down on her feet. “Let’s go try them.”
We walk into the kitchen and I grab a plate from the cabinet to place the cookies on. Then I grab the milk and pour us each a glass. It’s the superior way to consume cookies.
I give the plate to Lou, letting her carry them over to her dad at the counter, then she helps me with the cups and we take a seat with him.
“These look very chocolatey,” Ridge says.
“Darcy told me to measure with my heart,” Lou says.
“She did?” His question is directed toward Lou, but his eyes lock with mine, his smile widening almost imperceptibly. Possibly, anyway. Maybe I hallucinated that last part.
Ridge grabs a cookie from the plate and dips a large portion into the milk, holding it there to let it absorb. Then he proceeds to put almost half the cookie into his mouth. There’s a split second when my dirty little mind holds on to the words “cookie” and “his mouth,” and I spend a fraction of a second imagining his head between my legs. Oh my god. Seriously, what is it about this man’s face that makes me want to ride it?
“Wow, this cookie is amazing,” he says in a genuinely surprised tone.
“We worked very hard,” Lou says.
I take a bite of my cookie, satisfied with our work. We did do a pretty good job. The three of us eat our cookies and talk for a few minutes about how we made them. He told us we make a good team, and I couldn’t agree more.
Lou excuses herself to the bathroom, leaving Ridge and I at the table together.
“I was hoping to take Lou to the zoo sometime soon, if that’s okay?” I ask.
“I think she would love that,” he says. “Just be prepared to answer a few questions about their conservation efforts.”
“Seriously?” I ask with a giggle.
“She likes to know that the zoo supports the animals beyond feeding them,” he says, shrugging.
I laugh. “I’ll make sure I read up on the website tonight.”
“So how was it today? Give it to me straight. Did she give you a hard time?”
“Not at all.” I shake my head adamantly. “She was wonderful. We had a great time.”
The surprised look from earlier has returned to Ridge’s face. I take it this isn’t something he normally hears about her and I hate that.
“That’s great,” he says. “I’m relieved, honestly.”
“Ridge, I don’t know if you realize, but I think she will be perfectly comfortable in advanced classes in the future. She’s really quite brilliant.”
Ridge reaches up and rubs the back of his neck. He seems to be deep in thought. Perhaps I’ve overstepped or said too much. Maybe I should’ve waited a little while to say something. Although, it is just a compliment.
“Wow,” he says. “I mean, she’s always been really smart and hit all her milestones early. But no one has ever said that about her. Maybe because every experience with a daycare has been so negative.”
“I’m sorry they made you feel that way,” I say. “Sometimes they’re just not equipped for such a unique child. I think sometimes institutions need more specialized training for both the exceptionally gifted and those with developmental differences.”
“I don’t blame them.” He sighs. “They’re doing the best they can.”
He’s right. Most teachers and caretakers are doing their best. It’s really a systemic problem that requires higher-level change. It’s part of the reason I’m so passionate about completing my master’s in education. I want to create real change.
“Well, if it’s alright with you, I’d really love to work with her on a more intense level and let her spread her wings. Because at this point, I think one of the issues with daycare may have been boredom.”
Ridge’s eyes widen a little. It’s a mixture of surprise and some other positive emotion I can’t put a word to. Happiness doesn’t seem quite right. Is he grateful?
“Darcy, I—” He pauses, collecting himself for a moment. “That would be amazing.”
I cannot help the smile that overcomes me. I’m a sucker for a caring parent. And I can tell more than anything that Ridge cares a lot.
It’s just one more thing on the list that makes this piece of forbidden fruit so damn juicy.