An Unpredicted "Us"

Beautiful All The Time

"Hey, beautiful." Ryan's voice slowly wakes me up. "It's time to get up. Lacey plans to stop by this morning."

I'm quick to open my eyes while forgetting I stayed at his house again. After last weekend's wedding 'adventure' in the hotel room, we've spent several fun-filled nights together. Lacey thinks I am staying at my boyfriend's. I didn't lie to her. Ryan is my boyfriend. But a death sentence is imminent if she finds that out.

Lacey has also been excited because she claims she's never seen Ryan this happy in his entire life. She's dying to meet this 'mystery woman' he's with but every time she stops by, she manages to just miss her by seconds.

Lacey and I had a conversation yesterday about Ryan's new girl and a part of me wanted to scream out, 'It's me'. That would have turned out with a knife inside of me somewhere. But the way Lacey made it sound is she's never seen Ryan so happy. He loved Brenda but Lacey always noted the problems between them. And I remember that when we were kids Lacey would always complain about them fighting.

I even remember when Ryan and Brenda split up the first time, Lacey said something about Ryan going on a date with a girl, but he could never be satisfied. Lacey complained to me a lot about how he's an amazing guy, but his smile was fading more and more over the years.

When Brenda finally came out with the truth of cheating throughout their entire marriage after getting busted. Ryan had enough. He moved in with us and told Brenda flat out there would never be another 'them' and Lacey made him promise her he'd never go back to Brenda. Lacey loves her mom, but Brenda is a fungus!

After having that long conversation with Lacey yesterday about how happy Ryan is, I feel fucking amazing! I wish I could tell her I'm the reason why because if Ryan is happy, Lacey is happy. And it's because of me!

"Dad?" Lacey's voice calls out.

I roll my eyes and slide my pants on. "And here we go again."

He chuckles and opens his closet door. That's my hiding spot if she ever shows up...like she's doing now. And it's worked once this week. Today makes time number two.

I slide into the closet and close the door just as she swings open our bedroom door.

Our? Bedroom door!

It's Ryan's door, not mine. Not ours. But my mind jumped to that. My mind jumped to calling Ryan's bedroom door, my bedroom door too and I liked it!

"Oh!" Lacey's shocked tone radiates throughout the room. "I swore I heard two voices!"

I can barely see the two of them through the tiny little crack in the door. But I can see Ryan holding up his phone.

"You did!" He says and waves his phone. "I just got off the phone with her."

"Then why are their panties on your bed?" She acknowledges which pulls my heart straight to my ass.

Fuck!

Lacey has seen my panties plenty of times on me! I pray to God she doesn't put two and two together. And how the hell is Ryan going to cover this up?

"She just left and those are a little dirty after last night."

"Dad!" Lacey snaps in disgust. "I'm happy you are happy, but I don't want to know about your sex life. And why do I keep missing her? What do I need to do to meet her?"

"Baby girl!" Ryan lowers his already calm voice. "I know this girl makes me happy. But there's no guarantee it will ever last. So, I have not been concerned about you meeting her just in case. I don't want you two to get close and then we break up and you're upset again. Give it some time. If you run into her while I am with her, then yay! But until I know for sure, I'd rather not be concerned about you meeting her."