Page 35 of Never Say Never

Shelly's mouth fell open as she stared at me. "I didn't get your name."

I nodded, offering my hand like the good gentlemen I was pretending to be. "Paul Gallo, nice to meet you. Thanks for getting the girls dressed but we planned on a movie night."

"Well, Mr. Washington hasn't said anything to me."

"Oh? I was under the impression you didn't care what York had to say. You were telling the girls as much."

Nyra and Navy both grabbed my hands and squeezed. I needed to calm down but I wasn't a fan of how she spoke to the girls. They were young and only lost their mother a few years ago. Being worried and making sure they were okay should have been her first course of action, instead, she went into calling them spoiled monsters.

Shelly's face reddened as she tried to come up with something to say.

I turned with both girls and headed toward the living room. If she said something to York, I was going to need to figure out something. They weren't my kids, and intervening probably wasn't the best choice.

"Thank you," Navy whispered.

Any slight regrets I had about what I just did flew out the window in an instant. I held her hand a little more securely.

"What kind of movie are we watching, anyway?" I asked them both. We plopped down on the couch, Nyra grabbed a blanket from a basket before scooting all the way to the corner. "We have to convince your dad to let me come over more often."

Navy smiled. "Sure. If you work on getting us that ice cream."

"You bargaining with me right now?"

She nodded, not the least bit ashamed.

"I don't know, he seemed pretty determined on that front. How about a late night movie and popcorn?"

The girls looked at each other, no doubt communicating in their own twin way. I lounged back, waiting for them to come to their decision.

"There's cake in the fridge. If we can get some, then we have a deal,” Navy said.

"You eat dinner already?" That's an adult question, right?

Both girls nodded, smiling as if they had me in their pocket already.

"Deal." I held out my hand and Navy shook it. Nyra scrambled out of her corner on the couch and shook my hand too.

I sat back just as York's light footsteps headed our way. He stopped short when he noticed the girls on the couch.

"What are you three planning?"

I placed a hand on my chest. "What? I did nothing wrong. Do you have such little faith in me?"

York stared at me and then the girls. "Why are they smiling like that?"

"Maybe they’re happy."

York looked between us again. "No."

"You haven't heard the proposal yet." I waved at the girls, letting them know it was their turn.

"Instead of our routine, Daddy, we want to watch a movie with you and Paul." Navy already had the remote and the movie up on the flat screen.

"It's your favorite," Nyra added.

"I'll make popcorn, and both girls already ate dinner. We could have some cake to make our meeting sweeter." I air quoted “meeting.” We both knew the so-called meeting was closer to a makeup date.

York looked at all three of us as we held our breath. "One movie and then bedtime. And tomorrow, you’re both grounded. I mean it."