Samantha
He was late.
I was sitting on the floor with Bow, playing another round of Candy Land. It was good the game didn’t require much thought, because mine were beyond scattered. I’d done nothing but think about his kiss, and his proposition, all freaking afternoon. My body still hummed from the arousal he sparked between my legs, and he was late coming home.
Part of me wondered what, if anything, happened to Aimes, and if that was why Dax wasn’t home. The other part of me was convinced he’d changed his mind and he was waiting as long as possible to come home and face me.
“Sam, it’s your turn,” Bow said happily bringing me out of the hazy fog I was in. “Do you know when Daddy will be home?”
“I don’t know, kiddo.” I shrugged, reaching for a card out of the pile and pulling a purple square. Bow laughed and cheered because that meant I only moved two spaces on the board and wasn’t able to close the gap between us.
“Maybe we should call him. He missed dinner and now he’s missing Candy Land. It’s his favorite game.”
I chuckled slightly. “I’m sure it is.”
“He’s better at Candy Land than you are, but that’s ok. We will keep playing. You will get better.”
She was a cute kid and so sweet, like her dad. I wondered for a minute what the story was about her mother. Whatever the woman had done had broken something in Dax, and I kinda hated her for it, but at the same time I didn’t because whatever happened with her brought Dax and Bow here.
“I’m sure I will, Bow.” She took her next turn and squealed with excitement as she landed on a shortcut, extending her lead on the board. “If your dad’s not home by the time this game is over, we will call him before we start getting your bath and ready for bedtime, ok?”
“Ok. Can I have bubbles in my bath?”
“What’s a bath without bubbles?” I gave her a smile as I took my turn and got to move up to the peppermint square, only four spots behind her.
We finished out the game, and Bow won when I got sent all the way back to the very beginning by drawing a lollipop card. She helped me put the game away, and I reached for my phone, hesitating slightly before I pushed his name on the screen. “Here you go sweetie, why don’t you talk to him?”
I was nervous, and probably more cowardly than I cared to admit, but my stomach was in knots and I wanted to know what he was thinking. “Daddy, we played Candy Land and I won.”
I couldn’t hear his side of the conversation, but Bow was smiling as she said goodbye to her daddy and hurried over to give me the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey, sorry I’m late. I should have called.”
“It’s ok. Dinner is in the fridge. I could get it out to warm it up for you if you’ll be home soon.”
“Don’t worry about it. I already ate.”
“Oh.” Hurt stabbed me in the chest, but I pushed it down. ‘You have your life. I have mine.’ Those were his words that afternoon. Bow was the focus of both lives, so anything with me and her dad would have to stay peaceful.
“Ok,” I injected false happiness in my voice, so I didn’t let him know I was feeling anything, let alone hurt. “I’m about to help Bow get her bath going. Are you going to be here to say goodnight to her?”
“Yeah, I’m turning down our street now. I can help her with bath time if you don’t want to. I know you’ve had a hard day.”
I swallowed hard. “Yeah. That’s fine.”
“Alright, I’ll let you go. I’m pulling in.” As he said the words, his lights swept across the darkened windows.
“Bye,” I whispered as I hung up the phone. I went to find Bow, who was already in the bathroom dumping her toys into the tub.
“Your daddy will be here in a second to help you with your bath. You want to get in now or wait for him?”
“Now. I want to play in the bubbles.”
I turned on the water and plugged the tub before squeezing the pink bubble gum smelling liquid into the warm water. “You are going to smell like a piece of candy when you get out of the tub.”
Bow giggled and smiled, her feet dancing happily as she watched the bubbles starting to rise. I sat down on the toilet lid and helped her out of her school clothes and into the bath. Badger barked from the living room, and I knew that Dax was home.