Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
As I’m turning off the yoga app on my phone, Caleb calls out to Raine, “Great job, Shortcake! Kick, kick!”
I look up, surprised. Shortcake is what Dad has always called me, so my brain assumed Caleb must have been talking to me for a second there. But, nope. He’s holding Raine’s two little hands, while teaching her to kick her legs and dunk her face into the water.
“That’s it,” Caleb says, his tone gentle and brimming with encouragement. “You’re doing a great job!”
It’s a beautiful thing to behold a big, brawny man carefully leading his tiny baby girl around a lake. I’m transfixed by the sight.
After a few more kicks and dunks of her face, Caleb pulls Raine to him, and she sputters and blinks in his arms.
“You want to keep going or stop for now, sweetheart?”
“Thtop.”
“Okay, Shortcake. Good job. We’ll go again tomorrow, okay? Great job for today.”
Caleb begins striding out of the water toward me, with Raine clinging to his massive frame like a wet baby monkey.
“Did you see her?” he asks, stopping in front of me with a handsome smile on his face.
“I sure did. Great job, Rainey.”
“My grandpa taught Miranda and me to swim that same way, right there in the exact same spot. I’ve seen it in home movies.”
“I’d love to see them.”
Caleb scratches his bearded cheek. “Not sure where they are. I’ll ask Miranda.”
“Please do.” I bite my lip and look away. Since our conversation on the yoga mat earlier, something has shifted between us. Something big. In fact, if my mother hadn’t driven up when she did, I think I would have thrown caution to the wind and kissed Caleb before our conversation was over.
“Pway bawn?” Raine asks Caleb.
Caleb’s eyebrows ride up. “You said you wanted to play with sand toys.”
“Bawn.”
I chuckle. “Looks like she’s changed her mind.” When Caleb frowns, I motion to the grass in front of me. “Go on, Dadda. Oink like a pig for your daughter’s pleasure.”
Raine giggles. “Oinky, Dadda!”
Caleb visibly melts. “You already know how to get anything you want from me, don’t you? All you have to do is call me Dadda, and I’m at your service.”
Caleb sets Raine down and gets down on all fours in front of her. And then, man, oh man, the brawny, tattooed rockstar starts oinking like a pig with abandon for his baby girl. So well, in fact, Raine and I can’t stop laughing with glee at the ridiculous sight.
“Is that good?” Caleb asks. “Can I get up now?”
“Cow!” Raine commands, and to his credit, Caleb doesn’t hesitate to moo like a cow. And then, to cock-a-doodle-doo like a rooster. And on and on, as Raine, with a snarky assist from me, goes through every conceivable farm animal.
“Okay, Rainey,” I finally say. “Let’s let Dadda take a break. It’s time for lunch.”
Caleb falls onto his back and splays his arms like a dead body, making Raine giggle uproariously. “Thank God,” he murmurs. “Playing barn is exhausting.”
I laugh. “Thank me.”
Caleb turns his head and flashes me a panty-melting smile. “I do thank you, Goddess Aubrey. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Butterflies whoosh into my belly. “You’re welcome.” Clearing my throat, I offer Raine my hand. “Come help me make sandwiches for all of us, Boo. Let’s give Dadda a second to himself.”
“That’s okay,” Caleb says, sitting up. “Raine and I will make lunch together, while you read. We’ve got this.” He gets up, scoops up Raine, and heads toward the house without looking back at my shocked face. “Come on, Shortcake. We’ll make a picnic for Auntie Aubbey.”
“A picnic?” Raine gasps out excitedly in his arms. “What dat?”
Caleb begins explaining the concept of picnics to Raine, but he disappears before he’s finished his explanation. I stand frozen for a moment, trying to wrestle with the yearning I’m feeling. The all-consuming attraction for Caleb that’s been wracking my body all morning. But finally, I settle into a beach chair with my book.
A couple pages in, music starts blaring from inside the house, followed by the unmistakable sounds of Caleb banging on his drums. I close my book, feeling annoyed. It’s too soon for Caleb to be finished making lunch, so he must have gotten distracted. Or worse, maybe Raine had some kind of meltdown, so Caleb plopped her in front of a cartoon, so he could bang on his drums to let off steam.
I head through the front door, fully expecting the situation to be problematic. But when I step into the front room, I’m met with the sight of Caleb sitting at his drum kit with tiny Raine propped on his lap. Raine’s got noise-cancellation headphones on, the ones Caleb bought for her in Billings, and she’s banging on a metal cymbal thing, not sure what it’s called, with a solitary drumstick, while Caleb keeps a steady beat with the other drumstick and with his foot below.