“Really?”
“Yes. No more breaking curfew. I’ll speak to him man-to-man about it.”
I flung myself into his arms. “Thank you, Daddy!”
“Off to bed.” Then as I turned to go, he held out his hand. “Your cell phone. Give it to me.”
“Why?”
“That’s your punishment. No cell phone for twenty-four hours. And you stay in your room tomorrow. No leaving the house. And you don’t see this boy again until he comes for dinner.”
I handed him my phone. “Mom’s suggestion?”
“Yes. She said no dessert tomorrow wasn’t enough this time.” His eyes danced in the overhead light. “I didn’t remind her you had messenger on your laptop either. You owe me one. But I mean it about the dinner.”
I didn’t mind having Damon over for dinner. He was alone a lot because his parents worked long hours. I knew he’d enjoy the meal since my mom was such a great cook. And they would like him—I knew it.
I bent and kissed his cheek. “You’re the best dad ever.”
“Pretend to be mad at me tomorrow, or I’ll never hear the end of it from your mother.”
“Okay.”
“And we are having that talk tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Then he smiled. “Love you, my little rulebreaker.”
“I love you, Daddy.”LincAfter I knew Amanda was safe in her room, I locked up the house, set the alarm and climbed into bed, sliding up to Sunny and wrapping my arm around her waist, tugging her back to my chest.
She made a low noise of protest in her throat at being woken up, making me grin. She sounded exactly like Amanda did on school mornings.
I kissed the side of her soft neck, teasing the skin with my tongue.
She tilted back her head, squinting at me in the dim light.
“Is she home?”
“Yes.”
“How late was she?”
“About an hour. She informed me it was an hour and a half.”
Sunny snorted. “At least she’s honest.”
“That she is.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“Yes,” I said proudly. “I punished her too—just like you said.”
Sunny huffed out a long breath. “How’d she take it?”
“Well, actually. I think she knows it could have been worse. She’s crazy for this boy, Sunny.” I sighed. “Christ, she is too young.”
She laughed, her breath blowing over my arm. “We were in love young too, Linc.”
“I know, that’s what scares me. She’s so similar to you. Even to me, emotionally. She feels things so deeply.”
“Then we need to watch over her.”
“I told her to invite this Damon boy over for dinner. Officially. I want to talk to him.”
“We did meet him. He seemed very nice. His parents are lovely people, although they both work a lot. He comes to the center at times and helps out.”
“We met him casually. Like we have all her friends. He’s more.” I snorted. “‘Special,’ Amanda said. He’s more than a crush. I can feel it, Sunny. I want to get to know him.”
“Good plan.”
“I think she’s been seeing more of him than we know. I think at a lot of the group outings, the two of them are pairing off. It’s time to take this seriously and set some rules.”
“All right, Linc. We will.”
I sighed. “She wants to hear our story.”
Sunny was quiet for a moment.
“I think she’s old enough. She knows you had a terrible relationship with your father, and by telling her, it will explain why. She has always wondered how you couldn’t love your dad the way she loves you.” She paused. “It might help her understand.”
“Do we tell her everything?”
“You may want to gloss over a few things.”
“Yeah. We only spent the night in the cabin, talking, before I disappeared. And we never had sex until we got married. I’ll emphasize those parts.”
Sunny buried her face, laughing. “Okay, Daddy. Good plan. I meant some of your later, ah, decisions when it came to your father.”
I huffed out a sigh. “Yeah, we’ll stick to the basics there.”
“We’ll tell her together.”
“Good.” With Sunny beside me, it would be easier.
“Just so you know, I changed the password on her laptop. She can’t message at all tomorrow.”
“Dammit, woman, you are tough.”
“One of us has to be. I’ll make her suffer until the afternoon and then let her have it back. You can do it and be the hero again.”
I laughed. My kids knew I was a pushover. But they were good kids—Amanda included. Smart, funny, kind, and loving, they all had my heart.
And they knew it.