Finding Love Again

Chapter 34

The next day was pretty laid back for both Steve and Livy. They woke up around noon and had a quick brunch which consisted of omelets and yogurt. After brunch, Steve permitted Livy to watch tv while he cleared the dishwasher, loaded it with the morning's dishes, and put the clean dishes away. Thirty minutes later, he entered the living room and sat next to Livy on the couch. She was watching the movie Leap for the fiftieth time. He loved watching how Livy's eyes shown like stars every time she watched the movie. She would even get up at times and dance herself. This particular day though, she was content to just snuggle up to Steve's side.

As the ending credits began to roll, Livy spoke up. "Daddy, what did you want to tell me?" She adjusted herself a bit after asking the question.

Steve reached for the remote and turned off the television. He took a deep breath before starting. "Livy, what I'm going to tell you is very important. It requires your full attention. Can you do that?"

Steve felt Livy nodding her head against his side. He sat up a bit straighter causing Livy to once again switch her position. Steve sat sideways so that he could face her. He was digging in his brain for the right words to tell Livy so that she could understand.

"Livy, have you been wondering why Sharon hasn't come around lately? Well, to be more specific, why she hasn't come to see you since your surgery?" Steve slowly asked.

Livy shrugged. "I guess."

"I want to tell you why she hasn't been around. The day of your surgery, I called her to let her know what was going on and to tell her to come to the hospital. That day, I saw that she didn't really care about you, so I broke up with her. Do you know what that means?"

"My friend Cindy's parents broke up, and they don't live together or talk together anymore."

"Well, it's something like that except that Sharon wasn't living here with us. We aren't going to date anymore, so you won't see her around. And, I'm not going to marry her."

Livy's face broke into a wide grin. "YEEEESSSSS!!!! Does that mean you're going to date Miss Nat now?"

Steve wasn't surprised by her reaction figuring out she would be more than happy about it, but the last question caught him completely off guard. "What? No. I don't know. It's too soon for that right now. I still want to talk to you about another important thing before that conversation."

Livy frowned obviously not satisfied with Steve's answer.

"Wanda told me about a month ago how Sharon really treated you. Why didn't you tell me anything?"

Livy was serious. She looked down at the floor. "I didn't want her to send me away from you."

"You do know that I would have never let that happen. You're everything to me, Livy. You're more important than Sharon. I would have probably broken up with her a lot sooner if you would have told me."

"I'm sorry I lied, Daddy," she said, her eyes brimming her tears. "I didn't mean to."

Steve enveloped her in his arms, and Livy's tears let loose. "Shh, it's ok, Livy. I'm not mad at you. Disappointed? Yes, but you're still young. I understand that you were afraid of her. I'm the one who's sorry for not asking you how you truly felt about her."

After a couple more minutes, Livy's sobbing turned into sniffles. Steve wiped her cheeks with his thumb.

"I promise that I'll ask your opinion first before starting to date again, but I want you to give me an honest answer when the time does come."

Livy nodded. "Dad-dy, I li-ke Mi-ss Nat. She's n-ice," she sniffled.

Steve smiled down at her. "I know, Princess. I like her too."

"C-can she b-be my new mo-mmy?"

Once again, Livy caught him off guard with her question. "I don't have a problem with that because I know you love her, and I'm pretty sure she loves you. But I'd have to ask her first. If she says no, then there's nothing else I can do."

"She'll say yes," Livy whispered.

Even though Steve heard, he didn't answer her. He didn't want to get her hopes up, but he also didn't want to crush them. "Do you want to watch another movie?"

Livy shook her head. "I want to color with you."

"Ok, I'll go get the coloring books, drawing notebooks, and crayons," Steve said as he got up from the couch.

The rest of the day was spent with the both of them coloring and drawing. When dinner time rolled around, Steve ordered pizza, and once it was there, they popped in another movie to watch. Steve enjoyed this day spent with Livy. They hadn't done something like that since Livy entered school, and he truly did miss it.

____________________________________________________________

I know this chapter is way shorter than my recent chapters, but I couldn't add any more to this. I was planning on doing a time jump in this chapter, but once I finished this part, I knew I couldn't do it. It didn't seem right, so I made this chapter a pure Steve and Livy chapter. I'll hopefully be updating again on Wednesday.