The Rules of Dating(49)

For the next hour, I sat and watched as Billie painted Saylor’s face. I guess I was used to Saylor being in control of the paint, because the mess I was expecting didn’t materialize with Billie in charge. She was meticulous as she painted the tiger face onto my daughter. It was a joy to watch, between Saylor’s anticipatory excitement and Billie’s adorable look of concentration. She did this thing where she slid her tongue slowly back and forth across her lower lip when she was focusing.

It took a full hour before she was done. But in the end, my daughter looked like something out of the Broadway show Cats. Billie had done an amazing job, and Saylor was over the moon. Billie had taken a rainy afternoon and turned it into gold. I hoped Saylor would always remember this day.

Saylor wanted to FaceTime with my mother to show off her new look, so I set up the laptop in the kitchen. Saylor was busy talking to her grandmother when I walked over to Billie in the living room. “Why did you have all this paint at the ready downstairs anyway? I didn’t think body painting was a service the shop provided.”

She wiped off one of the brushes. “It’s not. But I once threw a bodypainting party for one of my girlfriends as part of her bachelorette party. We closed the shop and had it there.”

“So, like, you painted each other?”

“Yup…naked.”

I gulped. “Naked.”

“Yup. Naked.” She laughed.

“Were there men at this party?” I had to ask.

“Are you gonna get all jealous if I tell you there were?”

“Me?” I snorted. “Jealous?”

She chuckled. “It was just us girls, actually.”

That brought me relief. Always the jealous bastard. I scratched my chin. “Would you…happen to have any pictures of this event? Not interested in seeing anyone else. Just you.”

“Yeah. Actually, I do. Lots of them. On my phone.”

“Really. And, uh, what does one have to do to get the opportunity to view such photos?”

“They’re not for public consumption.”

“I’m not the public, though. I’m a friend. You got naked in front of your friends, right?”

Saylor popped off her phone call with my mother and ran into the living room, interrupting our conversation.

“Is Grandma still online?” I asked.

She shook her head.

Billie took out her phone. “You wanna take some pictures, Saylor?”

I held out my hand and winked. “I’ll be happy to take your phone and snap them.”

“You won’t be going anywhere near my phone, Lennon.”

I loved messing with her. I hoped she knew I was kidding about the naked photos. Okay, maybe I’m not. I definitely want to see them.

Billie spent the next several minutes taking photo after photo of Saylor and her tiger face. My daughter insisted on changing in and out of several of her dresses for this photo shoot. It was adorable to watch. I also couldn’t ignore the fact that Billie seemed so comfortable around Saylor. My kid was generally an easy sell, but not everyone had this kind of spark with my daughter. It took patience to keep up with her—patience that sometimes even the most well-intentioned people didn’t have. Billie might not have been sure she wanted kids, but she was a natural.

After their photoshoot ended, I asked, “Who wants dessert?”

“Me!” Saylor yelled.

“I made brownies.”

Billie arched a brow. “Oooh…spinach brownies?”

“Shh...” I winked. “Yeah.”

“She still doesn’t know?” Billie whispered.

“Nope.” I laughed. “That’s the beauty of it.”

“Whoops.”

Billie and Saylor each noshed on one of my brownies while I sat back with a beer and kicked up my feet.

Billie ended up hanging out with us all afternoon. Since we were still pretty full from lunch, I cut up some fruit and cheese and got out crackers as a light dinner.

After we ate, Billie gave me yet another surprise.

“Saylor, why don’t you go pick out your jammies?” she suggested. “I’ll help you get all this paint washed off. I have a special soap for it.”

With Saylor out of the room, Billie sauntered over to me. “You wanna know something, Colby Lennon?”

“What?”

“You are such a great father. I hope you know that. I’ve watched you all day, and you don’t miss a beat with her. She’s very lucky to have you.”

“Why, thank you. I appreciate the kind words, beautiful.”

“And you know what else I think?”

I caressed her cheek. “What?”

“I think you deserve some daddy alone time. Self-care.”

“I don’t need to be alone when you’re around.”

“I think you’ll prefer this alone time.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What are you up to?”

She whispered in my ear, “I’ll handle getting Saylor ready for bed. You stay here and relax.”

Billie walked over to the refrigerator, grabbed another beer, and popped it open before handing it to me. She then took out her phone and scrolled through her photos.

After a moment, she handed it to me. “When I went to the bathroom earlier, I created a special album just for you. Enjoy.”