I felt like the biggest ass ever. I knew better. My actions could be considered sexual harassment. Yet I had been unable not to touch her. I’d never felt so compelled in my life. That ended now. I would keep my hands to myself and end all thoughts of this woman. She was my employee, and that was it—for now, at least.
There were other tasks I needed to deal with. Like a much-needed conversation with my father. He had a lot of questions to answer. No better time than the present. Though I wasn’t in a rush for what would end up being very unpleasant. I couldn’t think of one excuse my father could have for keeping the truth of my daughter’s existence from me.
The old man was clever. When I made it back, he was in bed, his eyes closed firmly shut. A part of me wanted to call him on his bluff. The other found myself drawn to the sounds in the kitchen. Sunshine was at it again when I came in.
“Sunshine is making me a grilled cheese,” Zoe said with much enthusiasm. “And we are making my lunch for school tomorrow.”
School. I hadn’t thought about that.
“Zoe attends Mountainside Elementary,” Sunshine said. “You’ll need to drive her there in the morning.”
“And Uncle Nate said you’ll get my dollhouse and bring it here.”
The dollhouse. It was a reminder that my brother had known my daughter longer than I had, even though he hadn’t known she was mine when he’d bought the dollhouse and played Santa.
“I’ll definitely get it for you,” I said.
Avery had left instructions for me to see Haley’s mother if I needed to get anything for Zoe from Haley’s trailer. I suspected Avery had keys, but out of respect for Haley hadn’t given them to me. My guess was the conversation with Haley’s mom would not go well, which was why I wanted to talk to Dad first to get his version of events before the confrontation with Haley’s mom happened.
My phone rang. The name of one of my clients was on the screen. I held up a finger. “I’m sorry. I have to take this.” I stepped out front. “Ty, what’s going on?”
I spent the next five minutes convincing him to play it cool about his contract, that I had it under control. When I hung up, I saw I wasn’t alone.
“What’s a delay tactic?” Zoe asked.
There was no way to stop a chuckle as I thought about what I’d said over the phone. The sentence had gone something like, Delaying tactics are good for team owners on a budget.
I crouched down so I could talk to her eye to eye. “A delaying tactic is when someone takes too much time to do something.”
“Like when Grandma says she’s going to get up and make me breakfast and she doesn’t for a long time?”
That didn’t ingratiate me toward her grandmother. I wasn’t sure what to say but answered truthfully. “Something like that.”
“What is a budget?” she asked.
I tapped a finger to my chin, thinking of how to explain it. “A budget is when you have a list of things to buy, but only a certain amount of money to spend.”
“Mommy has a budget. Sometimes she buys me Lucky Charms and sometimes she can’t.”
“Yeah…” That made me sad. There was no reason my daughter couldn’t have Lucky Charms whenever she wanted them. That would change right away. “How about we go get some Lucky Charms now?” I said.
“Really?” she said.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if her mother would approve of having Lucky Charms for dinner with the grilled cheese sandwiches Sunshine had made. But we only live once. It was more important for me to put a smile on Zoe’s face. I held out my hand, and she put her small one in it.
When we reached the kitchen, I said, “I know Uncle Nate bought Lucky Charms.” It had been our favorite cereal growing up.
Zoe pointed to the pantry. When I opened the door, I saw it was on the top shelf. I bent to scoop up my girl, which made her giggle. “Grab the box,” I said. After she did, we stepped out of the pantry to find Sunshine with her arms across her chest.
“What’s going on here?” Though she tried to be serious, she couldn’t keep the smile from her face.
“We’re having cereal for dinner.” I grinned for good measure.
SIX
Sunshine
I was in so much trouble. My boss had a grin that could start a fire with wet wood. The man was delicious. I had to stay strong.
“I’ll leave you to it,” I said, because they looked so darn cute together.
I went upstairs and made the mistake of opening the drawer that held the pile of unopened mail that I was avoiding. I pushed it closed because there was nothing I could do about the situation. Tomorrow, I told myself. Luckily, Mitchell was a natural at the Dad thing. He’d taken charge of most of Zoe’s bedtime duties.