Ryland #3
I smirked because my baby might not have it all figured out but at least I could respect that she didn’t have a problem creating boundaries and standing on business about what she would and wouldn’t accept from people.
Kids were kids and at some point they might work it out.
If they didn’t, I was cool with that, but for now, Rylee was making a decision to advocate for herself.
“Sorry,” Jordan signed with a pout and Rylee did her part.
“I’m sorry I pushed you, but you were rude and you shouldn’t be rude to people.” She shrugged and I smirked. Stand on business, my baby.
I tapped Rylee’s shoulder, deciding to be the adult I was expected to be. When she looked up, I signed, “Don’t get physical with people unless it’s called for. Use your words, okay?”
“Okay.”
Jordan and her father walked off and I lifted Rylee into my arms and carried her to the corner where chairs were set up and sat her in one, filling the spot next to her.
“Do you know what a father does?”
Her brows pinched before she shook her head. That crushed my heart because she should never be confused about the roles of people who are supposed to show up in her life. Fuck the man who ruined that for her…
“They love and protect you. Read to you, tuck you in bed at night, tell you they’re proud of you, play with you, make you feel safe, take you to school and pick you up.
Tell you the best jokes and make sure you match their fly, but most of all, dads are there, always there no matter what. Do you have that?”
“Yes.”
“With who?”
She smiled big as hell. “You, but your jokes are bad.”
“Don’t come for my jokes.” I tapped her nose. “But if tonight is a place where dads can be, doesn’t that mean I can be here with you?”
She nodded and her smile grew wider. “Yes.”
“Then does her opinion matter?”
“No. Somee said opinions are like…”
Ah damn, please don’t say what I think you’re about to say.
“Names. Everybody has one. Some are good but some are bad. My name is good. It’s pretty and so is Somee.”
Somee was always on her shit.
“Your name is beautiful and so is hers.”
She grinned. “I like yours too.”
“That’s what’s up. We good now?”
“Yes,” Rylee signed and when I leaned down and dropped a kiss on her forehead, she hugged me then pulled back with her brows pinched again. “And since you’re like my dad, is Somee like my mom? Because she does all the things for me like a mom.”
Hell yeah, because she’s going to be my wife. We’re locked in, shorty.
“If that’s what you want, then yes.”
“I do, because I want to live with you and Somee forever.”
“Forever?” I arched a brow and she grinned.
“Forever until I grow up.”
I chuckled. “You can’t grow up because that’s going to make me sad.”
“You can’t be sad because I have to grow up like you and Somee.”
Yeah, I know but that shit is going to fucking ruin me.
“We’ll see about that. Now can I get a dance since you won’t let me be in your dance parties with Somee?”
Her smile blossomed again. “Can you dance? Because I can dance really good.”
“Better than you.”
“No you can’t. Somee and Marlee taught me.”
“Come on, let me show you how I get down.”
The mood changed and we were on our way back to the dance floor. If you weren’t all in with the people you loved, then you weren’t showing up for them, and I was locked the fuck in.
The next morning I woke up before Rylee and Somee, climbed out of bed, and headed downstairs to wait for my scheduled delivery.
Perfect Pick was expensive as hell but well worth the money because they made sure folks received orders whenever needed as long as they were notified ahead of time.
With the father-daughter dance last night, I couldn’t get Somee’s flowers here before we left without the risk of her finding them, so I was up at five since Rylee woke up at the crack of fucking dawn.
I wanted everything set up so we could start Somee’s birthday weekend properly.
I was still a little annoyed that she hadn’t mentioned it.
I was even more annoyed when a card arrived from Marlee yesterday.
I handed it to Somee, knowing exactly what it was based on the size, but she simply tucked it into her purse and never mentioned it again.
I was hoping I didn’t fuck this up by celebrating her birthday if there was a bad memory attached.
I also made a promise that if there was a bad memory she was trying to forget, I would provide enough good memories to erase the past. The only thing that gave me relief was that Somee had set a reminder in Rylee’s smartwatch app.
At least she didn’t mind the day being acknowledged.
But shit, maybe she only wanted Rylee to have the privilege. Somee would grant my sister the entire fucking solar system, not just the moon and stars, if that was what Rylee wanted.
Instead of overthinking, I glanced at my camera app after a notification flashed on the screen that someone had just pulled into my driveway. I noticed the Sprinter van wrapped with the Perfect Pick logo and flowers and left the kitchen, heading to the front door.
By the time I stepped outside, the driver was removing the bouquets from the trunk, so I walked over to help him out.
The rare flowers were beautiful and full of color, with custom kraft paper embossed with Somee’s name layered and covering the stems. Their signature red wax with two conjoined P’s was centered on both.
The final arrangements were in two foot tall cylinder glass vases, ribbon tied around them sealed in a bow with the same logo embossed red wax.
“Let me take these two inside then I’ll be back to get those.” I motioned to the vases and he nodded.
I took the bouquets inside and placed them in the kitchen before heading back out. The vases were huge but beautiful.
I remembered the first time I purchased flowers from Perfect Pick for my mother, who was visiting for Mother’s Day, after Makari suggested them.
I talked cash shit about the price until I saw my mother’s face.
For the entire day she kept talking about how beautiful they were and how grand their presentation was.
I had the money, but shit, five stacks for flowers felt like overkill.
However, my mother’s reaction was well worth every dollar spent.
I would pay that a million times for a replay of that smile.
Same for when Rylee and Somee handed me identical reactions the morning they’d received the flowers I purchased for Valentine’s Day. The women in my life could get whatever they wanted, but that was light work, because if I had it, they could claim it. I damn sure had it.
“I don’t know what you did, but if this doesn’t fix it, you might as well give up on life,” the guy delivering my flowers said after he carefully positioned the two vases, one in each arm. They were heavy as shit and felt like I was carrying two small children.
I smirked. “I didn’t fuck up. It’s her birthday.”
“Then bank this day for when you do.”
I chuckled, tossing my chin and heading back inside, struggling to get through the door.
I placed one set on the table and one on the kitchen counter, then peeked into the refrigerator to make sure Joy had purchased the things I needed so Rylee and I could do our thing in the kitchen.
She asked if I wanted her to handle breakfast, but we were flying out after we ate so I gave Joy the morning off and told her I had it covered but we would be seeing her later.
Today had to be about us. Somee would be pampered for the second half of her birthday surprise because there was a chance Rylee and I would fuck this up. Now that the flowers were here, I got to work on the rest.
Waking Rylee, I got her dressed then set up in the kitchen to make Somee breakfast, which my little baby was all too eager to tackle. A few rounds in the kitchen with Somee and Joy and this little girl swore she needed her own cooking show.
“Do you know how to cook?” she signed when I removed the eggs, cheese, and fruit from the refrigerator.
“I can burn a little bit.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Somee won’t like burned food.”
Bruh, I had to teach her some slang. She was struggling in that department.
“Burn means like throw down, do it well.”
She frowned deeper, unimpressed. “That doesn’t make sense. I will make the eggs so you don’t burn them.”
I threw my head back and laughed, watching as she moved to the pantry to get the step stool Joy kept for when Rylee was in the kitchen with her.
“You got that.” I tossed my chin and she grinned, accepting the bowl I removed from the cabinet before I signed. “Let me crack the eggs. If she doesn’t want them burnt, she won’t want them crunchy.”
Rylee nodded and pushed the eggs toward me. “I can do it, but if you want to, I’ll let you.”
I chuckled and we moved through the motion of getting Somee’s breakfast done, making a big ass mess in the process.
Rylee also did more bossing me around while I managed most of the cooking.
Thankfully I didn’t mess it up too bad. I felt like we overdid it with the cheese and the fruit I chopped up didn’t look all that glorious.
The pancakes were a little crispy around the edges but we got it done.
We set the table and I decided to take on the task of getting Somee up, not knowing what type of reaction I would get.
I didn’t want Rylee’s feelings to be hurt if her reaction wasn’t what either of us was expecting.
In the back of my mind, I couldn’t curb the irritation that lingered because she hadn’t mentioned her birthday.
I did, however, manage to push that shit to the back of my mind, prepared to take one for the team.
“Stay here. Let me get her up and bring her down.”
She pouted. “Why can’t I go?”
“Because it’s going to be a bigger surprise when she comes down and sees you here with the breakfast you made, her flowers, and her present.” I dug the leather box out of my pocket that held the custom necklace and handed it to Rylee.