Sleepless by Cara Dee

Author:Cara Dee [Dee, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Arian Dalton

I went through an afternoon of teaching teenage terrors about American history, and they couldn’t spoil my mood. Whenever someone got rowdy or mouthy or heated, I held it together and glanced over at the roses in the corner. I’d found a mug for them to stand in, and they leaned against the wall so they didn’t tip over. More than a few girls asked who they were from, and those who hung out at the Quad obviously guessed they were from Dominic.

At the end of the day, I rewrapped my flowers, packed up, and started my walk toward the Quad.

To my confusion, I didn’t get very far, because I spotted Casey in the parking lot, and he had Thea with him. She was climbing on his back.

I stalked closer, worry seeping in quickly. “Is something wrong?”

Casey smirked. “Not even a hello first?” He hauled Thea to his front where he positioned her on his hip. “Nothing’s wrong at all.”

“Okay…” The wariness didn’t leave right away, though I managed to push it aside to greet my girl. “Hi, princess. What’re you two doing here? How was your hike today?” We Eskimoed each other, and I touched her rosy cheeks. Spring was running hot and cold; today was particularly chilly.

“Sleepover, Daddy!” she signed with excitement radiating from her.

I gave her forehead a loud kiss. Never was her new sign name for me going to get old. Technically, it came with the letter A to separate me from Dominic when she referred to us with other people around.

“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind us borrowing your kid.” Casey made funny faces with Thea, who gigged and squished together his cheeks. “Ellis and I are having a movie night with Haley, Lyn, and Theo—” He was cut off by Thea’s squeal; she was often so tickled by her name being similar to that of Casey’s newborn son. I laughed softly, and so did Casey. “And we thought Queen Thea should be there too.”

She began signing rapidly, much too fast for Casey to understand. Hell, I didn’t catch all the terms either, and I’d been studying ASL for a year now. Casey’s forehead creased, and I did my best to translate.

“She has to think about the nickname,” I said. “She’s Daddy A’s princess and—” I snorted a laugh. “And that seems, ah, regal enough.” Then she did a 180 and inquired about the flowers in my hand. “Daddy sent them to me. Isn’t that sweet of him?”

She nodded and continued signing. “Yes. Sweet. But they’re going to die. Flowers die, Daddy.”

I blinked, then coughed around a chuckle. “You’re right, sweetheart. They do die eventually.”

“Sweet Jesus!” Casey stared at her in disbelief before he cracked up too.

“What’s funny?” She was the picture of innocence and twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

“Nothing, you’re just so damn cute.” I gave her another forehead kiss. “Okay, so you’re gonna have a movie night. That sounds fun.” They nodded together, and I addressed Thea. “Remember they’re not fluent, yes? You have your notepad, I take it?”

She nodded again.

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