So I pretended to be surprised when I opened the door and Billie was on the other side. She held a couple of wrapped gifts in her hands.
“Hey. It’s good to see you,” I said.
She looked around me and into my apartment. “Am I too late? The alarm company took hours to install the system. I locked up as soon as they left.”
Saylor came running from behind me. “Billie! You came!”
Billie bent down, and my daughter threw her arms around her neck.
“I’m sorry I’m late. I came as soon as I could.”
“It’s okay. You got here just in time. Uncle Holden is going to sing me a special song. He wrote it just for my birthday.”
“Did he? Wow, no one has ever written a song for me.” Billie tapped Saylor’s little nose with her pointer. “You must be super special.”
We were still in the doorway, so I nodded toward the inside of my apartment. “Come on in. I still have a ton of food, and there’s cake, too.”
The guys said hello, shooting me questioning looks. I ignored them.
“Are you hungry?” I asked Billie. “It’ll take two seconds to heat something up. We had all of Saylor’s favorites: baked ziti, chicken fingers, and peanut butter and banana sandwiches.”
“Oooh…peanut butter and banana sandwiches sound delicious. But I just ate at the shop a little while ago. I ordered in while they were working. I thought I might starve to death if I didn’t.”
“How about some cake then?”
Saylor jumped up and down. “Daddy made it himself.”
Billie raised her eyebrows. “You baked a cake?”
“Don’t get too excited. It’s from a box, lopsided, and I didn’t wait long enough for it to cool before frosting it, so the top is sort of icing mixed with cake bits. But if you close your eyes, it tastes pretty damn good.”
She smiled. “Maybe just a little piece.”
“You got it.”
While I cut a slice of cake, Billie gave Saylor the gifts she’d brought.
“Daddy, can I open them, pleeeeeaaasssseeeee.” She said it like I was physically capable of denying her anything in this world.
“Sure, sweetheart. Go ahead.”
The first present she unwrapped was an art set. It looked like a pretty nice one, too—not a typical kids’ set. Billie pointed to it. “This was the first set of paint markers I ever had. I was about your age when I got them. Once I started to draw with those, no one could stop me. I fell in love with art.”
Saylor held them to her chest. “I can’t wait to draw with them!”
Billie held out a second gift. “And this is something I made just for you.” She looked over at Holden. “I can’t sing like your Uncle Holden, but I hope you like what I drew.”
Saylor ripped open the wrapping paper. Inside was a framed photo of a fairy. When I took a closer look, I realized the fairy’s face was Saylor’s.
“Holy crap. You drew that from memory?”
Billie nodded. “It wasn’t hard. This little girl doesn’t have a face you easily forget.”
“Daddy! I’m a fairy! I’m a fairy!”
“I see that. Those are some pretty amazing gifts, Saylor. What do you say?”
Saylor wrapped her arms around Billie’s waist. “Thank you, Billie. I’m going to draw you a picture with my new markers!”
“You’re so welcome. I can’t wait to see what you create.”
Saylor ran over to Holden and Owen to show them her new Saylor Fairy.
“You didn’t have to go to all that trouble,” I whispered to Billie.
“I wanted to. Plus, that reaction just made my entire day—my week, even. I might start drawing her something on the regular just to have someone look at me like that.”
I smiled. “Tell me about it. Why do you think she has four-hundred elephant stuffed animals? She loves them, and I’m addicted to the way her eyes light up when I bring one home.”
A little while later, Owen left. Then Holden said he needed to get going, so he told the birthday girl to take a seat so he could serenade her. It didn’t matter if they were four or thirty, women could not resist when Holden sang. He’d written a sweet little lullaby, and my daughter wore a toothy smile from ear to ear the entire time he sang it. I’d been enjoying it, too, until I glanced over and saw the way Billie was looking at Mr. Rockstar.
Fuck. A lot of women loved Holden and his scraggly I-don’t-give-two-shits look. But they all wanted to jump his bones once he broke out an instrument or started crooning. I wasn’t even sure why he was the drummer in his band. The dude could’ve fronted any group he wanted as a singer. Even I had to admit his voice was damn sexy.
When it was over, Billie blinked a few times. “Wow. That was amazing.”
Holden flashed his signature aww, shucks smile, and I couldn’t get the fucker out of my apartment fast enough. I might’ve actually shoved him through the door. Though I thought I’d done it discreetly.