Proving Paul's Promise(55)

She rolls onto her side, facing me, and she looks at me for a second, her gaze curious but not at all sad or mad or any of the things I had been worried about. Her little-girl breaths are close enough that they fall on my chin and make me feel all warm and melty inside.

Paul’s toes tangle with mine, and he pulls my foot to rest between his down at the bottom of the bed. He’s touching me. He wants to touch me. I extend my hand toward his head, and he adjusts my palm to rest beneath his cheek and closes his eyes. There’s a slight smile on his face as he falls back asleep.

And there’s one on mine, too. It’s an almost giddy feeling of peacefulness. I never imagined peace to come with quite so much bemusement. But it has. And I like it.

###

I wake up to find a foot shoved hard against my forehead. I open my eyes and see that Paul has one shoved into his stomach, but he’s sleeping through it. Hayley has turned herself around and is facing the end of the bed.

I move slowly, trying not to wake her as I adjust her foot, but the minute I move, her head jerks up, and she says, “The sun is shining.”

Paul chuckles. His voice is nasally from sleep, and he grunts when Hayley’s knee pokes into his groin. “Be still,” he warns. He looks at me. “Sleeping with Hayley is like sleeping with an octopus wearing sneakers that has really knobby knees. I should have warned you.”

Hayley sits up, and she’s absolutely adorable with her hair sticking out in all sorts of directions. She looks like she’s been tumbled in a dryer. Her cheeks are pink, and her eyes are bright and shiny. She is all things beautiful and innocent, all wrapped in one adorable little package. I can’t help but wonder if I was ever that naive, that trusting.

Probably not.

“Can we go get waffles?” Hayley asks.

Paul looks at me and arches a brow. “Waffles?”

“With strawberries and chocolate chips and whipped cream.” She licks her lips. “Then we can go to the park.”

Paul’s eyes cloud for a moment, and I can’t help but wonder what that’s about. But Hayley starts to wiggle her feet in excitement, so I grab one of them and tickle her toes. She laughs and falls back onto the bed squealing.

“Waffles?” Paul asks. He plumps his pillow under his head and stares at me.

I nod. “Waffles.”

“The park?” he asks. He doesn’t look me in the eye when he says that, and it’s odd. Maybe he’s just distracted by Hayley being in bed with us? I don’t know.

“Sure.” I toss the covers off and stretch.

“You got panties with flowers on them,” Hayleys says, as she eyes the hip of my undies. She looks up at her dad. “Can I have some panties with flowers on them?” She pulls her pajama pants down at the waist and shows me hers. “Mine just have stripes.” I pull my shirt down over my hips.

“What did I tell you about showing your panties to people?” Paul asks.

She rolls her eyes at him. “Friday’s a girl,” she says.

I bite back my snort because Paul isn’t laughing. I look at him over my shoulder, his eyes meet mine, and they go hot. And so do I. “I know she’s a girl.” His eyes roam up and down my back. “Most definitely a girl.”

“We need to get you some waffles,” Hayley says to Paul. “Because you look hungry.” She says it very matter-of-factly, and I can’t keep from laughing this time.

Paul shoots me a look of warning, and I throw my hands up. “What?” I cry. “I can’t help it.”

But now that I’m sitting up, nausea hits me. I flop back onto the bed.

“Go get Friday a can of ginger ale,” Paul says to Hayley. “Her tummy hurts.”

Hayley runs out of the room and comes back with a cold can as Paul said. She opens it up, takes a sip, and hands it to me. She grins and wipes her hand across the back of her mouth.

“What did I tell you about drinking out of people’s drinks?”

“It’s just Friday,” she says. She blinks those blue eyes at me. I’m just Friday. I’m just Paul’s girlfriend, which makes me something serious in her life. It’s kind of scary, knowing I’m something to her. But in a good way, for the first time ever.

“Is your tummy feeling better?” she asks.

“Not yet.”

She sits cross-legged in front of me. “Maybe you just need to go poop,” she says, looking at me very seriously.

Paul falls back on the bed, clutching his gut as he laughs. He laughs until he has tears rolling out of his eyes. He wipes them and goes to get me some crackers, laughing all the way down the hall.

Sam stops and pops his head into the room. I’m glad I’m wearing one of Paul’s really long T-shirts. Sam grins at me. “Maybe you should just give it a try,” he says, “just in case you need to poop.” I throw a pillow at his head. He ducks, and it flies over him. He mocks an affronted look. “You didn’t throw a pillow at Hayley.”

I grab her toe and tug it. “Because I like her.” She grins at me and looks smugly at Sam. He scrunches up his face like he’s upset.

“I like you, too,” Hayley says quietly when Sam steps out of the doorway.

I could get used to this family thing.

Paul comes back with a pack of crackers, opens them, and hands me one. I nibble the edge of it.