Oblivious that her dad was about to get a tongue-lashing, and not the good kind, Alivia hopped off the stool and rushed toward the extravagant toy I’d bought her. If this upset Camilla, wait until she saw my second bedroom.
But as I had with everything else concerning our daughter, nothing she could say would stop me from what I wanted to do. I said it once, and I’d say it again… I had six years to make up for.
When Camilla began stacking our plates, I placed a hand on her arm to stop her. “Leave it. I want to talk to you.” Her gaze slid to where Alivia happily played with her new toy. “She’ll be fine.”
“Sweetheart, Trey and I will just be down the hall if you need us, okay?”
“Yeah, Mommy,” she responded without even looking up. That thing would have her attention for hours.
I was just about to take Camilla’s hand and then thought better of it. So instead I waved her in the direction we needed to go. The only time Camilla had been to my place, the spare room had been empty, except for a few of my guitars and some boxes I’d never unpacked.
Today it was completely transformed into a room fit for a princess. No doubt she was going to lose it on me. The moment I opened the door, I almost laughed out loud at how quickly she did just that.
“Trey, are you freakin’ kidding me?”
“Nope.” I walked into the center of the room, spreading my arms around the space. “I tried to keep it minimal, mimicking her room at home. Basically… all the necessities.”
Little did Camilla know, on one of my visits I had literally snapped a ton of pictures of Alivia’s room so I had a reference to go by. Thanks to Leila’s assistant, Haven, the same bedding, furniture, and lamp now occupied her room away from home.
“It looks just like it, except for the queen-size bed.”
“That’s in case you wanted to stay as well.”
“Me?”
“Well, yeah. I figured the first time she stayed over you wouldn’t trust me without wanting to also stay.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me, and if I had to guess, it was because I’d hit the nail right on the head.
“And her name in lights? That was a necessity?”
“Of course. Every little girl deserves her name in lights.” I loved that neon sign above her bed. Camilla’s eyes continued to sweep the room corner to corner. “And the pink guitar, the small piano?” Her eyes then bulged. “Is that a karaoke machine?”
“Yep.” Sure, I may have added a few new things to play with that she didn’t have at home. But in my defense it was only so she wouldn’t be bored with the same old toys. Not to mention, after seeing her interest in Shane’s guitar, why not give her a gentle nudge toward becoming a musician?
Camilla wordlessly studied the contents with a scowl. “You may as well get used to it. She deserves her own room when she’s here.”
She remained standing stiffly, her arms folded, her lips tucked between her teeth. Only when she finally faced me did I see the fight leave her. “She’s going to love it.”
“That’s it?” I asked, not bothering to hide my shock. “I prepared a closing argument for no reason?” The sly expression had me believing this would actually go better than I expected.
Until she said, “I don’t want her seeing it yet. Once she sees it, she’ll want to stay. And I don’t think you’re ready to have her stay here… with or without me.”
“And what brings you to that assumption?”
“Trey, I’ve been very cooperative with all your requests, but now you need to do the same for mine. It’s all going too fast. As is, she’s seen enough wealth in the past few days to know there’s a difference to how we live.” She waved a hand and sighed. “All this, it’s too much too soon. Please, just give her some time.”
I could’ve easily argued, but as she was picking her battles, so was I. “Fine. We’ll take it slow… for now.”
“Thank you.”
“Let’s concentrate on what we need to do. Is there anything specific you want to say to her?”
Her mouth parted, closed, and then she nodded. “Can you let me do the talking?”
“Sure.”
“Okay.” Although she agreed, she remained rooted to the spot where she stood. It hurt to see her looked pained, as if she were about to tell our daughter there wasn’t a Santa Claus.
I wanted to pull her into my arms, soothe her nerves. But knowing what I did regarding Camilla developing feelings for me, I kept my distance and instead tried to support her by saying, “This isn’t a bad thing, Camilla.”
“I know.” Seeming to have snapped out of whatever it was she agonized over, she plastered a smile on her face and said, “Let’s do this.”
We found Alivia exactly where we left her, kneeling and engrossed in her own imagination. From behind, with her caramel-brown hair pulled up into a cute little ponytail, she looked so much like her mom.
The two favored the same simplistic style, with shorts, T-shirts, and Chucks on their feet. In fact, since they’d popped into my life, I had yet to see Camilla in anything other than that… except for that sexy bathing suit she wore down at the Shore. It wasn’t even a bikini, yet it fit her perfectly, enhancing her curves in all the right ways. Not that I was looking or anything.
“Sweetie,” Camilla said to pull our daughter’s attention. When she focused on where Camilla and I stood, she went on to say, “Can you come sit with me and Trey for a bit… we want to talk to you.”
This was it… what I’d been waiting for.
Like a good little girl, Alivia abandoned her obsession and came to take a seat beside Camilla. I then sat on the coffee table before them.
As if sensing something serious was about to happen, she frowned and asked, “Is something wrong?”
“No, baby. Nothing is wrong.” Camilla took one hand between hers and smiled enthusiastically while Alivia’s eyes widened at her mom’s claim. “Just before you were born, I went to a concert of my favorite band. In fact, Aunt Debbie went with me.”
“Did Uncle Carson?”
“No, Aunt Debbie didn’t know Uncle Carson yet.” Camilla waited a pause before continuing. “So, after the show, I met a really cute boy in the band. I really liked him.” Even though I focused on Camilla’s face, she refused to look at me. “Do you know who that boy was?” she then asked. “I’ll give you a hint. He plays guitar.”
“Trey?”
“Yep. He played in the band with Shane’s mom and dad, and the other men you met at their house this week.”
“Shane said they’re really good.”
“We’re amazing,” I interjected, throwing Alivia a wink when she finally looked at me.
Suppressing her smile, Camilla shook her head and continued. “Do you remember asking Trey if he could be your daddy?”
“Yes,” she said, bobbing her head up and down in the process.
“Well, how would you feel if I told you that Trey was your daddy?”
“He is? Like a real one?” She eagerly bounced her focus between us. “You’re my daddy?” she asked, addressing me directly.