Page 57 of Accidental Blind Date

The lower level of the home is set up like a theater room with comfy couches and chairs, a giant flat screen on the wall and a large table and chairs next to a wall with built-in bookshelves. The shelves, as I get closer, I realize are stacked with board games.

“This is fun!” I say, looking through the different games.

“We play games every Sunday,” Delilah says.

“And order pizza!” Poppy adds.

“Pizza game nights are wonderful,” I smile down at them.

Then, Delilah takes my hand again. “But that’s not even the best part.”

I look at them questioningly and they both just smile at me and then at each other. As it would happen, under the stairwell is a door. It’s a small door and my first thought is storage. But when Delilah opens it, and Poppy crawls inside, I realize it’ssomething so much more. Something way cooler that fills my heart with joy.

“It’s…a book nook,” I say. I’m sitting on my knees, peeking inside the tiny entry that feels like something out of the Hobbit.

Inside are blankets and pillows, tiny shelves covering all the walls filled with kids’ books and fairy lights. Overhead, on the slanted ceiling, there’s a painting of Alice in Wonderland, everything from the Cheshire cat to the Caterpillar and all the characters in between.

“This…really is the best,” I agree, and the girls crawl back out.

Suddenly, from upstairs, music starts to play loudly. The song, of all things, isSweet Caroline. With that, the girls’ faces light up.

“Let’s go!” Delilah says.

I laugh as they once again tug me up the stairs. “Why? What’s happening?”

“That song means it’s time for dinner,” Poppy says.

“He always plays Sweet Caroline when it’s time for food,” Delilah explains as if it makes perfect sense.

It doesn’t, but I love it, and I follow along anyways. As we skip back through the foyer, past a huge cozy living room that looks like a smaller version of the theatre room, we round a corner straight into the kitchen. And I stop. While the girls head over to the dining room table, rearranging the plates and cups and debating who should sit where, I find myself just standing there, staring at the man in the kitchen.

His hair is ruffled a bit. Without the styling gel I think he normally uses, it’s scruffier. Longer than I would have assumed. I thought it just looked that way earlier because he was obviously freshly showered. But now that it has had time to dry I can see that he isn’t in fact all business and no play.

And damn does it look good on him.

He’s still wearing jeans and a white-cotton t-shirt but no shoes. Honestly, he looks like he’s auditioning for a Hane’s commercial.

But the best part is that he is holding a tray of mac and cheese, fresh from the oven, his hands gloved in brightly colored oven mitts. His eyes are bright and blue, even from across the room, and he looks surprised that I am here, even though he knew I was coming. Everything about it, from the messy blonde hair to the bare feet to the mismatched mitts and all the little details of his home are so different from the person he portrays in the outside world.

I’m not sure what to make of it. But I can’t help but feel like I am in trouble.

Chapter 19

Dax

“Ilike your skirt,” I say. Even though she’s been wearing it all day. Even though I haven’t said hi yet. Because the fact that Libby is standing in my kitchen looking straight up gorgeous after being paraded around my house by my two unapologetically loving daughters is…a lot.

“Thanks, I got it at a flea market,” she says before her cheeks flush.

And I smile. Because here we are, getting ready to eat mac and cheese, and we are both saying the first things that come to mind and we sound like idiots.

“Dad! The mac and cheese!” Delilah whines and I remember in that moment that I am still holding it.

“Oh, right, of course.”

I set the Pyrex down on the trivets in the middle of the table.

“It smells delicious,” Libby says, making her way over. She looks down at it. “Oh. Itlooksamazing too. Adult mac and cheese?”