“I guess, if we must. Can we at least have fruit for a snack?” she counters. Clairabella may be a picky eater, but the one thing she loves is fruit.
“Of course, grab your bag, and we’ll head out,” I tell her. She runs back to the reading corner, puts what she has out away, then we head towards my place.
I’ll text Callie and let her know that Lincoln will be coming over, and she can grab Clairabella from my place if her parents haven’t gotten in touch with her yet.
14
Lincoln
Walking up to Presley’s door, I can hear the laughter coming in from the other side. My hands are full, but I’d stand here all-night listening to her soft melodic laugh along with what sounds like a belly laugh.
With a smile on my face, I reluctantly ring the doorbell, “Just a minute,” I hear and then less than a few seconds later the door opens. Presley’s hair is in some crazy contraption on the top of her head, and there’s a spitting image of Callie hanging onto her back like a spider monkey.
“Hey Lincoln. Bella Bug this is Mr. Lincoln, he brought two of your favorites. Lincoln, this is Clairabella,” Presley introduces us.
“Nice to meet you Clairabella,” I offer my hand out to shake it, when she does what I’m not expecting in the least, she launches herself into my arms for a hug.
“Humph,” I grunt, moving our food out of the way at the last minute. Presley’s smile is a mile wide, but she also doesn’t seem shocked either.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Lincoln,” she says as she pulls away from our hug, grasping both of my cheeks so I’m looking right at her.
“It’s nice to meet you too, sweetheart.” I let her down, she takes my hand that isn’t occupied and leads me into Presley’s kitchen. The table is already set, and it looks like we’re in for an early dinner.
Setting down the food on the counter, Clairabella takes her hand out of mine and states, “I’m going to wash my hands for dinner, Auntie Pres.”
“Okay, Bella Bug. I’ll set the table while you do that,” Presley responds. I’m kicking myself in the ass for wanting to take things slow between us. Seeing how amazing she is with Clairabella has my heart aching to have these moments with Presley and soon.
“She’s a trip, she also likes to have dinner early when she’s with me. Dessert is her favorite meal, then when it’s done, she likes to watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. I kid you not, she’s the smartest kindergartner I’ve ever met,” Presley says as she starts to plate our food.
“Come here,” I groan, taking her away from what she’s doing. I only have a couple of minutes before Clairabella comes back out and I want my lips on Presley’s more than anything else in this world.
She comes up to me, her hand finds my chest, and as I pull her in, our lips meet. It’s soft, both of us hesitant, her from shyness, myself from not wanting to get caught by a little girl who’s young and impressionable. My tongue teases the seam of her lips, I nip at them, and she lets me gain entrance for a small taste.
Pulling away from her is always hard, “Wow,” Presley says, her eyes locked on mine.
“That was a heck of a hello,” she finds her words.
“Best way to say hello, babe,” I respond and then help her get everything ready.
“I’m ready for dinner, Auntie Pres and Mr. Lincoln,” she skips her way back into the kitchen, finding her seat.
“Make sure you say thank you and your prayers, Bella Bug,” Presley tells her as we all sit down together.
“Thank you, Mr. Lincoln. Thank you, God, for this food we’re about to receive, Amen,” I peeked as she was praying, her tongue was out while she was saying everything out loud, and it was the cutest thing ever.
“Amen and thank you,” Presley says.
“Anytime,” I wink at both the girls and we dig into our food.
15
Presley
Lincoln saw Clairabella’s eyes start to get heavy after we watched her television shows, “You want to put her in bed?” he asked.
“Yeah, give me a few minutes. She needs a bath and all that jazz.”
“Bella Bug, let’s get you ready for bed,” I tell her.
“Okay. Mr. Lincoln, it was awesome meeting you.” She hugs me and then skips down the hallway like she wasn’t just almost fast asleep.
“It was great meeting you too, Clairabella,” Lincoln says to her back.
“Callie should be here soon. I like to make it easy on her when she’s working late, so all she’ll have to do is read her a story and put her to bed on her late nights. Will you listen for the door?” I give him a quick kiss, pulling away even though I hate to.