“Your name is beautiful and so is hers.”
She grinned.“I like yours too.”
“That’s what’s up. We good now?”
“Yes,”Rylee signed and when I leaned down and dropped a kiss on her forehead, she hugged me then pulled back with her brows pinched again.“And since you’re like my dad, is Somee like my mom? Because she does all the things for me like a mom.”
Hell yeah, because she’s going to be my wife. We’re locked in, shorty.
“If that’s what you want, then yes.”
“I do, because I want to live with you and Somee forever.”
“Forever?”I arched a brow and she grinned.
“Forever until I grow up.”
I chuckled.“You can’t grow up because that’s going to make me sad.”
“You can’t be sad because I have to grow up like you and Somee.”
Yeah, I know but that shit is going to fucking ruin me.
“We’ll see about that. Now can I get a dance since you won’t let me be in your dance parties with Somee?”
Her smile blossomed again.“Can you dance? Because I can dance really good.”
“Better than you.”
“No you can’t. Somee and Marlee taught me.”
“Come on, let me show you how I get down.”
The mood changed and we were on our way back to the dance floor. If you weren’t all in with the people you loved, then you weren’t showing up for them, and I was locked the fuck in.
The next morningI woke up before Rylee and Somee, climbed out of bed, and headed downstairs to wait for my scheduled delivery. Perfect Pick was expensive as hell but well worth the money because they made sure folks received orders whenever needed as long as they were notified ahead of time. With the father-daughter dance last night, I couldn’t get Somee’s flowers here before we left without the risk of her finding them, so I was up at five since Rylee woke up at the crack of fucking dawn. I wanted everything set up so we could start Somee’s birthday weekend properly.
I was still a little annoyed that she hadn’t mentioned it. I was even more annoyed when a card arrived from Marlee yesterday. I handed it to Somee, knowing exactly what it was based on the size, but she simply tucked it into her purse and never mentioned it again. I was hoping I didn’t fuck this up by celebrating her birthday if there was a bad memory attached. I also made a promise that if there was a bad memory she was trying to forget, I would provide enough good memories to erase the past. The only thing that gave me relief was that Somee had set a reminder in Rylee’s smartwatch app. At least she didn’t mind the day being acknowledged.
But shit, maybe she only wanted Rylee to have the privilege. Somee would grant my sister the entire fucking solar system, not just the moon and stars, if that was what Rylee wanted.
Instead of overthinking, I glanced at my camera app after a notification flashed on the screen that someone had just pulled into my driveway. I noticed the Sprinter van wrapped with the Perfect Pick logo and flowers and left the kitchen, heading to the front door.
By the time I stepped outside, the driver was removing the bouquets from the trunk, so I walked over to help him out. The rare flowers were beautiful and full of color, with custom kraft paper embossed with Somee’s name layered and covering the stems. Their signature red wax with two conjoined P’s was centered on both. The final arrangements were in two foot tall cylinder glass vases, ribbon tied around them sealed in a bow with the same logo embossed red wax.
“Let me take these two inside then I’ll be back to get those.” I motioned to the vases and he nodded.
I took the bouquets inside and placed them in the kitchen before heading back out. The vases were huge but beautiful.
I remembered the first time I purchased flowers from Perfect Pick for my mother, who was visiting for Mother’s Day, afterMakari suggested them. I talked cash shit about the price until I saw my mother’s face. For the entire day she kept talking about how beautiful they were and how grand their presentation was. I had the money, but shit, five stacks for flowers felt like overkill. However, my mother’s reaction was well worth every dollar spent. I would pay that a million times for a replay of that smile.
Same for when Rylee and Somee handed me identical reactions the morning they’d received the flowers I purchased for Valentine’s Day. The women in my life could get whatever they wanted, but that was light work, because if I had it, they could claim it. I damn sure had it.
“I don’t know what you did, but if this doesn’t fix it, you might as well give up on life,” the guy delivering my flowers said after he carefully positioned the two vases, one in each arm. They were heavy as shit and felt like I was carrying two small children.
I smirked. “I didn’t fuck up. It’s her birthday.”
“Then bank this day for when you do.”