Next Door Daddy by Mia Ford

Author:Mia Ford [Ford, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Zoe

Sunday, when I think back on it, was like a dream. I had both Seth and Alicia in my house, and it had felt wonderful to sit there with the two of them. As the two of them went home, however, I knew that it couldn’t last. I would just hold onto the warmth of that day and continue on as we were.

That thought lasted right up until tonight, Monday, when I hear the words Seth has just said.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“I asked if you’d like to sit for a moment,” Seth repeats. “You know…so we can properly discuss the day. Normally, we don’t have long to talk.” He pauses. “Unless you’re in a rush?”

“No,” I say quickly. I don’t know where this is coming from, but I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “I think it’s a good idea.”

He smiles at me, making my heart beat faster, and I sit at the table as he collects his dinner out of the oven. Then he takes the seat across from me so we can talk face-to-face.

“How was Alicia?” he asks me.

“She was good,” I say. I run my finger over my collar to loosen it, feeling like the air is a little warm, and I notice Seth’s eyes following the movement. “She decided to put out a play with her dolls.”

“She directed?” Seth asks, amused.

“Of course not,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Julie directed and Alicia played the main character.”

Seth laughs at this. “Of course. Did you happen to record it?”

I fish out my phone and hold it up with a smug smile.

“Every bit,” I say proudly. “She insisted on it. It’s going to embarrass her so much when she’s older.”

“I’m stockpiling videos, photos and stories,” Seth informs me. “I’m going to present them on her eighteenth birthday, in front of all her friends. She’ll probably inherit my company that night after she kills me for it.”

I snicker. “I don’t want to imagine Alicia as a teenager just yet.”

We both take a moment to consider it. Alicia is precocious, stubborn and willful as a five-year-old. As a teenager?

We simultaneously shudder at the thought. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

“We don’t have to think about that for a while, thankfully,” I say.

“Which is a good thing,” Seth says, heartfelt.

We look at each other. And then, before I know why, we’re laughing, trying to contain ourselves so that we don’t wake up Alicia. I snort and wipe tears of mirth from my eyes, looking up to see Seth watching me as he calms.

There’s a funny look in his eyes. I don’t recognize it, but I know he hasn’t looked at me like that before.

No, wait, he has. On Sunday, there was a strange look on his face, too. I caught it as he watched me talking about something, and then he and Alicia left not long after.

What does it mean?

“I’m glad you guys had fun,” Seth says with a moment. “Any plans for tomorrow?”

“We tend to make them up as we go,” I say with a smile.

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