Spring Romance by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Anthology
Publisher: Tessa Bailey, Devney Perry, Skye Warren, Kennedy Fox, Julia Kent and Elisa Reed, Nikki Sloane, Rochelle Paige, J.H. Croix, Kylie Gilmore
Published: 2020-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Nick

A giant, overstuffed blue nylon bag masquerading as one of my daughters appears at the door on this fine Saturday morning. Morning-ish. I look at the clock. Noon. Although for her, that’s the crack of dawn.

“Are you selling dirty laundry? If so, that is a terrible business idea.”

“Dad!” Elodie whines, the tip of her nose and one wide eye appearing around the large lump. Her long, glossy brown hair is pulled into a ragged top knot and she’s wearing flannel pajama pants that are entirely too long, covering feet in flip flops.

Very familiar flannel pajama pants.

“Are those mine?” I grunt, as she thrusts her clothes at me.

I take the load from her arms and she gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, smelling like the T and cotton candy.

She also ignores my question.

“Where’s Uncle Charlie? Is he here?”

“No. He’s meeting with his business partner. They’re trying to trademark the phrase ‘Surf the Internet.’”

That gets an eye roll.

“But how wonderful you’ve come home to visit your dear old dad. What’s on the agenda for our relaxing hours together?”

“Is the washer empty? I have literally nothing left to wear and it’s ’80s karaoke night at school and Brandon is the emcee.” She’s standing in my doorway, phone in her hands, both thumbs flying. She is not even looking at the screen. How do they do that?

“’80s karaoke. So you’re Googling the lyrics to ‘With or Without You’? ‘Every Breath You Take’? ‘Born in the USA’?”

She’s nonplussed. “What are those?”

Let’s move on.

“How about a game of chess? Or we could play Candyland. You always loved that when you were little.”

I get a head toss and a sigh, as she drags her clothes into the laundry room off the kitchen. I accept my role as utilities provider and start up the espresso machine. Having my own washer and dryer has turned out to be a young adult insurance policy. At least once a week, I get their undivided attention for a few hours.

Especially when they know they can raid my pantry, too.

Elodie comes into the kitchen and snipes the shot of espresso I’ve just finished making. “Almond milk?” she asks, rummaging in the fridge.

“I don’t know how to milk an almond. Do they have udders? Besides, last month you drank nothing but coconut milk.” I point to the half-gallon I bought for her this week.

“Daddy! That was last month. Now I need the manganese.”

“Manganese?”

“It’s a mineral.”

“I know what manganese is, Elodie, but why do you need to drink it?”

She waves her hand in the air with an air of sophistication that reminds me so much of her mother, Simone, that I freeze, blinking into dead air.

“The college cafeteria refuses to stock almond milk now because of protests.” She settles for cinnamon and downs the espresso shot like tequila.

“Protests?”

“Almonds use too much water and some agricultural climate change group thinks we need to stop drinking almond milk because of a moral imperative.”

“Almonds have morals?”

“Daddy, stahp.” She draws out the word like a Minnesotan, then hoots.

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