Tappin' On Thirty by Candice Dow

Author:Candice Dow [Dow, Candice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2011-07-20T05:00:00+00:00

25

DEVIN

After my condo contract was approved and I was actually given a closing date, it was time to explain to my ex-wife our new schedule. I opted to tell Nicole first. When I picked her up from school, I took her to Cold Stone Creamery. She can handle any kind of news when she’s eating Sweet Cream mixed with Snickers and caramel.

When she came out of the building, she ran to me. “Daddy!”

I stooped down for her to kiss my cheek. She rambled on about her day. She is such the opposite of Jennifer and me. She speaks with so much drama. Where did she get so much personality? When she took a quick breath in between stories, I cut in. “Baby, guess where we’re going?”

She used my arm as a bungie cord and jumped up and down. “Tell me, Daddy. Tell me.”

“Cold Stone.”

“Yea! I can get um . . .” She said, “Ah . . .”

I completed her thought. “Sweet cream with Snickers.”

She scrunched her nose. “No, I don’t eat that anymore.”

“When’d you stop eating that?”

She poked her tongue into her jaw. “Um . . . Daddy, I haven’t had that since before I went back to school.”

“So, you stopped eating it two months ago?” Her concept of time made me chuckle. “So what do you eat now?”

She put her index finger to her cheek. “Um, coffee ice cream and um . . .” She slowed down. “Can we call Mommy? I can’t remember.”

I handed her my cell phone, while we stood outside of Cold Stone. Her eyes batted when Jennifer picked up the phone. “Hi, Mommy. What are you doing?” She giggled. “Getting ice cream with Daddy.”

She shrugged her shoulders and looked at me. “I don’t know. Because he loves me.”

I nodded approvingly. Then with confidence, she said, “He brings me here because he loves me.”

She giggled. I pinched her cheek. She rambled for a moment, “I called you because what is the ice cream that Aaron always brings me.”

Suddenly, I found myself not wanting to buy her what Aaron brought her. She blew a kiss over the phone. “Bye, Mommy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I opened the door and asked, “So what kind do you get now?”

“Cake batter and heaf candy.”

I corrected her, saying, “It’s Heath.”

“Aaron gets it for me.”

I took a deep breath and decided not to steal her joy. Why should it upset me that because Aaron loves Jennifer so much, he also loves Nicole?

“Are you okay, Daddy?”

I messed her hair. “Yes, Nicole.”

“You look sad.”

Damn. Did women’s intuition start this early? “I’m okay. Just trying to decide what I want.”

She ignored my façade. “Daddy, do you like Aaron?”

“Do you?”

With a timid expression, she nodded.

“What’s wrong?”

She pouted. “I don’t want you to be sad.”

“I’m not sad, baby.”

“Will you ever get a girlfriend?”

I chuckled and ordered our ice cream. After I paid, we stood at the counter to eat. Finally, I answered, “I’ll get a girlfriend when you turn eighteen.”

She started to count on her fingers. When she realized it was too much, she frowned.

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