“Don’t you have better things to do right now? Why are you calling me?” she answers.
“Well, hello to you too. I need a favor.”
“What kind of favor? What’s in it for me this time?”
“My eternal gratefulness. What’s Lexie’s favorite restaurant?”
There’s a pause and I’m about to snap at her with impatience when she says, “Hmm. There’s one place uptown that she likes, but you know, I can’t quite remember anything about it.”
“This is for your best friend,” I remind her. “Shouldn’t you do it out of the goodness of your heart?”
“Where is the fun in that, Ashton? But fine, I guess I can tell you.”
She tells me that Lex loves some Japanese restaurant, and even goes a step further to tell me what she likes. I call and place an order. To avoid waking her, I grab black slacks and a dark grey dress shirt with a matching tie, and shower in Reed’s bathroom. I never realized how small the damn thing is until I had to get ready in it. I make it quick, so I can go get the food.
Thankfully, I’m not too far away to start with. When I get back to the house, I hide the food in the microwave, just in case. Lex is still sound asleep in my bed. I watch her for a moment, taking in the fact that she’s in my bed. Her arms are wrapped tightly around the pillow, her lips are parted, and she looks more beautiful there than anywhere else.
I close the distance to the bed, place an arm on the other side of her for balance, and lean down to kiss her cheek. “Wake up, Lex,” I whisper.
A groggy groan pushes out of her throat as she snuggles further into the pillow. “No,” she answers.
“Yes. You slept so long that our time is up and it’s morning.”
That causes her eyes to flash open and she rolls onto her back to look at me before glancing at the alarm clock on my nightstand.
“You’re such a liar. I was halfway to a panic attack, Ashton.”
I laugh. “Sorry.” I gingerly press my lips against hers. “Go shower and change. I’ve got a few things to do first. And be sure to call Sadie, so maybe she won’t call later.” I grin and wink to show that later will definitely be a time when she doesn’t want to be interrupted.
She blinks and looks over me, just now noticing what I’m wearing. “When did you get ready?”
“Before I woke you up,” I answer simply.
“Obviously,” she laughs.
Lexie gets out of bed, disappearing into my bathroom. I close the bedroom door on my way out, hoping I’ll be done before she is. While I grab a few tall candles and something to stick them in, I call Brooke, holding my phone between my ear and my shoulder so I can keep setting things up.
“Hey, how are things going?” she asks upon answering.
“Great. Thought I could go ahead and talk to Reed.”
“Oh? Planning to be busy for the rest of the night then?” she teases.
“Brooke, let me talk to my son. I rather talk to him than you anyway.”
“No need to be mean, especially after what your son did to me with the shark teeth, thanks to you. Reed,” she shouts. “Your dad is on the phone.”
A few seconds later, I hear, “Hey, Dad! Guess what?”
“What?” I ask, setting the table.
“We had show and tell today, and I took my shark teeth to tell them about when we went to the aquarium. I asked Mom if I could just bring you because it would be awesome to show everyone that you are my dad and play hockey, but she said we couldn’t bring people. That’s why I had to take the shark teeth, but they liked them too,” he finishes proudly.
“That’s great. Sounds like you had a good day at school.”
“I did. Can I stay with you tonight? I can check with Mom. Mom,” he yells.
“Don’t check with her. You can’t stay tonight, little man,” I interrupt him, feeling like a terrible dad. He doesn’t usually stay with me on a school night anyway, but he has every so often.