Soaring (Magdalene #2)(163)
* * * * *
An hour and a half later, after Mickey shouted dinner was ready then went back outside with Cillian to tend the fire, Aisling wandered out.
She was no longer in her PJ’s but she still hadn’t showered.
I said nothing about this and instead beamed at her. “Great news!”
She gifted me with her eyes twinkling and her lips quirking at my excitement before she asked, “What?”
“Your dad said we could redecorate your room. We don’t have a massive budget, but I’m sure we can get some paint, some new bedclothes, maybe some new rugs for the floor. Not that I know if you have rugs on your floor since I can’t see your floor,” I ended on a tease.
The twinkling stopped as she hauled herself up on a stool and replied without enthusiasm, “Cool.”
“So, when you come back from your mom’s, you wanna go out with me?” I asked.
“Maybe,” she answered. “I’ll let you know.”
“Ash—” I started but was interrupted when Cillian threw open the sliding glass door and did it speaking.
Or, actually, yelling.
“She lives!”
Ash didn’t have much of a reaction to that either, not even a retort to her brother’s teasing.
“You missed Frisbee,” he informed her, sauntering in, straight to his own stool.
“You’re the Frisbee king, Cill,” she replied. “I’m the movie queen.”
“Whatevs,” he muttered then looked to me. “Dinner ready, Amy?”
“It is, kiddo.” I looked between them. “You guys wanna help me with plates and stuff?”
“Sure,” Cill answered.
Aisling said nothing but she did slide off her stool.
“I’m gonna eat mine out by the fire,” Cillian announced.
“It’s freezing out there, honey. It’ll get cold,” I told him.
“I eat fast,” he told me.
This was true.
The sliding door opened again and I looked to it to see Mickey coming in.
His eyes went from me to Ash and back to me before he raised his brows.
I shook my head.
The worry slithered through his features again before he hid it.
We got dinner together. We ate it in front of the TV (except Cill, who ate his outside by the fire) and Mickey did this sitting close to his daughter instead of me. He also did it teasing her by bumping her foot with his or elbowing her until she cried out in a way she didn’t mean, “Stop it, Dad!” to which he replied fake innocently, “Stop what?” To that she gifted him with rolled eyes and a smile she tried but couldn’t hide, and as Mickey continued to do it, she started sighing audibly and heavily, but said no more.
It was cute.
But it didn’t work.
After dinner, we did the cleanup. Then everyone got bound up in jackets and scarves and we went out and made s’mores.
Aisling had three.
Then she went back inside to her room to watch a movie.
* * * * *
I lay naked in my tub leaned back against Mickey, who was, obviously, naked with me. He had his arms around me, his knees cocked beside me as I drifted the bubbly water with my hands and stared out to the sea.
It was Sunday. A Sunday where my hopes of trying new ploys with Aisling were foiled when she announced at breakfast that some of her friends wanted to go to a movie then do some hanging, and that one of her friends’ parents had agreed to do the carting around. Mickey said she could go.
The good news about this included Aisling showering before she went.
The bad news included me not being able to try new ploys.
Not long after, Cillian announced one of his friends wanted him over for a day of gaming, which also included his friend’s mom offering to come pick him up and bring him home.
Mickey agreed to that too but both his kids had the caveat that they were home for dinner so he could make sure they were both done with homework and ready for next week’s school. I figured he also agreed because he was losing them for a week and he wanted them home for one last dinner.
In the meantime, my kids had texted me and said they’d be over for dinner and to spend the night and Auden had added, We’re staying until Wednesday, if that’s cool with you.
It absolutely was so I’d agreed.
This unexpectedly gave Mickey and me the whole day to be together.
But it was me who suggested we do it at my place and we do it naked.
I did not have to twist Mickey’s arm.
“Freaky, like we’re floating,” he muttered, his hand sliding soothingly up and down my side through the warm water.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” I asked.
“That Cameron guy knew what he was doin’,” he replied.
He did, which caused me some dejection because everything was pointing to the hopeful, marvelous fact that we were going to have a future together.
But that meant I’d lose Cliff Blue and I loved Cliff Blue.
However, I loved Mickey more than my house so I’d let it go.
“Thanks for trying with my girl,” Mickey said in my ear, his hand gliding through the water along my belly then back to curve again at my side.
“I’m not surprised she didn’t open up upon me sharing an interest in her makeup usage and bare her soul to me. It’ll take time. It’s just a bummer I started my work right when she was going back to her mom.”