Teach Me Daddy

“You can have whatever you want when you’re at my house,” I said as I hugged him tightly. “Whatever you need.”

The baker delivered the tea cakes Camillo ordered, much to Ana’s delight. He scooped his daughter up into his arms before he paid, eyeing me with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and smiled. He was rubbing it in my face now, the command he had over me. One look was all it took to do me in and, even though I still didn’t understand why, I was loving every second of it.

Until we got outside and I saw Camillo stiffen.

His eyes settled onto a car idling on the other side of the road. He handed Ana to me absentmindedly an,d immediately, Junior froze at my side. Camillo’s face hardened, like a threat had just found us, and he stalked toward the car before it peeled off into the falling snow.

My eyes were heavy with worry as Camillo strode back across the road.

I couldn’t read his expression, but I knew something had just taken place. Something that rattled his insides and caused him to switch back to the strong, protective man I remembered from that night three years ago.

I tried to choke down the fear I was feeling, so as not to taint this perfect day.

“What was that about?” I asked as he took Ana from my arms.

“Nothing,” he said. “I thought I knew the driver of that car. He owes me some money.”

“Guess it wasn’t him?” I asked.

“Nope. Wasn’t him,” he said, plastering a smile back on his face.

He gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze and I tried to forget the look I had seen on his face just moments before. He had told me that we were safe and I wanted to believe him.

By the time we got home, it was time to start preparing dinner. Camillo started pulling bags out of a cooler in the back of his truck, and all I could do was shake my head. I popped Junior’s popcorn and made it up for him while everyone hunkered down onto the couch. Then I headed into the kitchen and shut the door behind me.

“Aren’t you going to go watch the movie?” Camillo asked.

“Nope,” I said as I grabbed a knife for him.

He expertly chopped up the vegetables, his hands flying between slices as if he was a professional. I was preparing the filet mignons he’d purchased for us to eat, sprinkling them in salt and pepper before laying them out to come to room temperature.

“Where’d you learn to cook?” I asked.

“What makes you think I cook?” he asked.

“Besides you offering to cook? You’re pretty good at wielding that knife over there.”

I watched his face slowly sink as he tossed the vegetables into a pan. His eyes glazed over with a faraway stare and I swallowed thickly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“I learned to cook from my mother before she died.”

He tossed me a haphazard smile but I could see the pain behind his eyes. I was familiar with that type of pain. The ache of a child who had been orphaned far too early. The pain of losing the one person you clung to for support. I saw that ache in my brother’s eyes every time our parents’ birthdays rolled around.

We danced around each other in relative silence, preparing dinner and setting the table so everyone could come eat.

I sat there silently while I watched everyone else dig in. Camillo was entertaining Ana, and the boys were talking about the movie. Cassie and the nanny were talking about previous employment they both had and, then, there was me.

Trying to figure out what my place was in all this.

Usually, I was running around, trying to bend to everyone’s whims. Usually, I was feeding Ana while getting Kevin drinks and trying to keep Cassie entertained with conversation after her days at the bookstore. Usually, I was ranting to her about my day over a glass of wine while Ana laid down in her room and Kevin played Minecraft in his.

But, now, I was just a spectator at my own kitchen table.

“Cassie, I was wondering if I could ask you something,” Camillo said.

“Speak to the oracle of life and I shall consider your request,” Cassie said, grinning.

“Would it be possible for you to watch the kids with Mrs. Barker while Rose and I spent some time together?”

I whipped my head up at my name, my plate of food untouched for the third night in a row as my eyes shot over to him. I knew exactly what he meant. I knew exactly where he meant to take me. And suddenly, I had found my place again. My eyes descended upon his while the boys begged to have more time together and Ana was already falling asleep in her high chair with one of her tea cakes crunched up in her hand.