Page 77 of Accidental Blind Date

“Are you sure,” he asks, his lips grazing mine again.

“Positive,” I say with a smile.

“Daddy!” The door, which I thought was locked considering we are in fact closed, slams open and a moment later, two sets of small eager feet come dancing across the floor.

“Girls?” Dax pops to his feet just as they come barreling to the back, tackling him. “Where is your Aunt Jenna?”

“She’s outside. She picked us up from school because there was a half day.”

“A half day?” he asks as Jenna walks in the door. She’s tall, thin, blonde, and understated. Very holistic and plain, and very angry from what I can tell.

“Yes. The girls had a half day because a water main in the school broke and they sent them all home.”

“I didn’t get a call,” he says, scrolling through his phone.

“That’s because they said we were allowed to walk if we have permission and Aunt Jenna lives right by the school, so we just walked to her house!” Poppy says. “Are you painting? I love painting. I’m very good at painting. What color are you doing? Purple? I would do purple.”

“You should have gotten an email,” Jenna says. “It would be a personal email though and I’m not sure how often you check that one.”

I see the grit in the corners of Dax’s jaw. I also see now what type of person Jenna is compared to her late sister. And how different they are.

“Why don’t we take the conversation outside,” Dax says, his tone very level. “Girls, you can stay with Miss Libby.”

Dax and Jenna walk outside. The girls sit down with me, and I show them the paints I had on hand, everything from white to blue to purple and sage. They argue over which color the shelves should be. Meanwhile, I get up to throw away my coffee cup–and maybe snoop a little.

Outside, Dax and Jenna are in what appears to be a rather heated conversation. I don’t want to intrude, but they are talking loudly enough that I am able to make out some of it. I glance back at the girls and then grab the remote that controls the music in the shop and turn on the soundtrack for Cinderella. From where I am standing, though, I can still hear some of it.

“You are absent more than not and you don’t even know where they are half of the time.”

“They are with me almost every night. And when they’re not, they’re with you or at school. Like I said, I didn’t get a phone call.”

“Well, I did. And an email. You are receiving emails from the school district, right?”

“Of course I am!”

“Then you should have known.”

I decide that I have heard enough and make my way back to the girls with a container of animal crackers that I keep under the counter. They light up and dig in as we talk about what the animals are, what our favorite animals are, and how animal crackers always have a cookie that’s hard to tell what it is.

“I think it’s an elephant,” Poppy says.

“No, it’s more of a buffalo,” Delilah says.

“I feel like it looks like a wildebeest,” I chime in. As much as I hate that Dax is duking it out with his sister-in-law, I love having the girls around. Honestly, I’ve missed them a little.

“What’s a wildebeest?" Poppy asks.

“It’s like an ugly cow. But in Africa,” Delilah answers.

“I bet we have a book about it,” I say, making my way over to the animal section.

I also keep my peripheral curiosity on the window, watching as Dax and Jenna duke it out. Eventually, he comes back inside, and I watch as he collects himself before coming over. I know that routine all too well. Making sure your hats are switched before you enter the room.

“Hey! What did I miss?” he asks.

“We are looking at ugly cows,” Poppy says flatly, and Dax gives a questioning look. I just smile in return. “Wildebeests,” I say.

“Ah. And how did we arrive here?” he asks.