“Okay,” he said. “You just need shoes.”
Viv ran out of the room. He followed her to the kitchen, where she jumped up and down next to Lauren, saying, “Swing! Swing!”
He washed his hands at the kitchen sink, dried them, and turned. Lauren hadn’t finished her lunch. “We can let you finish,” he said over Viv’s chatter about the playground.
Lauren put the lid on her salad container and spoke to Viv. “I’ll eat later once we’ve gotten some medicine into you and you’re feeling all better.” She turned to him. “Ready to go?”
Angel. She put Viv’s needs first. He nodded once, filled with gratitude again.
Viv ran to the front door. He got her sneakers on her, scooped her up, and turned to Lauren. “You mind driving my car? I thought it would be good for you to get the feel of it in case you need to drive her somewhere.”
“Sure thing.”
He handed her the keys and followed her out the door.
“Your car is easier to fit the booster seat anyway,” Lauren said when they got to his car. “My car is pretty compact.”
He glanced over at her tiny Toyota and back to her long legs. She must have the driver’s seat pretty far back to fit comfortably, but he didn’t say anything because he shouldn’t be noticing her long legs even if she did wear short shorts.
As usual, Viv fell asleep five minutes into the drive. He was refreshed and awake from his nap.
“Do you mind if I get her a bag of M&Ms?” Lauren asked. “I’d just give her one as a reward for taking the medicine. Also for the potty if she likes them a lot.”
He usually kept Viv away from candy except for three pieces at Halloween, but these were desperate times and so far Lauren’s instincts for Viv had been right. “Sure.”
“Okay, great.”
He studied her profile for a while as she drove. High cheekbones, a narrow upturned nose like a ski slope, her chin came to a point. His fingers itched for his sketchpad.
She glanced over at him. “You okay?”
A heart-shaped face. That was what made him want to sketch after not sketching for weeks. He needed to capture it—the angles, the curves, the shading for the hollow under her cheekbones.
“Alex?”
“Yeah. I’m good. Sorry, must’ve spaced out for a minute there.” He belatedly remembered his manners. “How’re you? Busy weekend?”
She rolled her eyes. “Not so busy. My dinner date didn’t even make it to dinner.”
He chuckled, suddenly remembering Hailey was performing a love service for Lauren. Cracked him up. “So love didn’t bloom?” He bit back a smile. “TM,” he added.
“It’s Make Love Bloom TM,” she said tightly. “And no, it didn’t.”
He suddenly felt bad for teasing. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “He was very cute, as Hailey promised, but she didn’t screen for oddities well enough. He had a python he considered family. Jeffrey. And rats to feed the python.”
“Creepy.”
“Even creepier, he wore a stuffed animal snake around his neck at the restaurant to test how I might feel about Jeffrey.” She frowned. “Obviously I failed the Jeffrey test. It was very, very odd.”
“Oh shit, and then Viv brought you a snake.” He laughed. “You’re a saint acting like it was awesome.”
She smiled. “Well, she didn’t know.”
He shook his head. “Did he have to actually wear a snake to dinner? Couldn’t he just have mentioned it?”
She slapped the steering wheel. “Thank you!”
He smiled. “So does Hailey guarantee the next one will be better?”
“It should be. It’s a group thing over at Marcus’s bar in the city.”
His smiled dropped. “Marcus Shepard?”
“Yeah. And Ethan and Ben. That’s all that could make it.”
That stung. Everyone knew he was busy with Viv, but he didn’t realize his friends weren’t even bothering to invite him to stuff. Not that he could’ve gone, but it would’ve been nice to have been invited. Just because he had a kid didn’t mean he fell off the face of the earth.
“Which guy is for you?” he asked.
She waved a hand airily. “It’s a speed round to check for sparks.”
“Sparks?”
“Oh, yeah. Very important. Without a spark, there’s no chance for…” She stopped herself. “Never mind. You’re going to laugh.”
“I’d never laugh at you.”
“You would. I’ve seen you kind of smirk and your eyes smile, so…never mind.”
“How do my eyes smile?”
“I don’t know. They just do.”
He pondered that. Truth was, the whole thing did strike him as funny, but he definitely wanted to hear more about it. For some reason, it mattered to him who might be with Lauren. Even after the short time he’d known her, he knew she was naturally sweet and should have someone that treated her special. Marcus would be terrible for her. He had three girlfriends right now. An open relationship with all of them, everything aboveboard, but Lauren deserved better than that. He debated if he should warn her off Marcus. On the other hand, Marcus was a great guy, smart, funny, owned his own business, and maybe if he hit it off with Lauren, he’d be willing to be a one-woman guy. He debated between butting in and letting things proceed as Hailey planned. Then he considered every guy he knew that Hailey also knew and if they’d be right for Lauren. If they’d treat her the way she deserved.
Next thing he knew, Lauren was parking the car in the lot between the drugstore and the park. He suddenly realized he’d just spent ten minutes figuring out Lauren’s love life and had rudely ignored her. She’d been quiet too, not interrupting his thoughts. Tammy had talked nonstop.
“You’re quiet,” he said.
She smiled. “I figured you could use some quiet time. I don’t imagine you get much.” She turned off the car and, right on cue, Viv woke with an angry wail.
“Bingo,” he said.
Lauren spoke loudly over the wailing. “Let’s bring Viv into the store so she can see the candy—” her voice rose to a near shout on candy “—we’re going to buy her.”
Viv quieted. “Candy?”
Lauren turned to Viv with a sweet smile. All of her smiles were sweet. “We’re going to get you some grape medicine to help with your teething. After you have some, you can have one M&M candy.”
“Daddy,” Viv said urgently, “up.” She couldn’t manage the seat belt herself with her little fingers. Thankfully.
Once in the store, Lauren made a big show out of buying the medicine. “Oh, Alex!” she exclaimed. “This grape medicine works perfect on two-year-olds!”
“Great!” he said, matching her enthusiasm.
Viv listened in rapt attention.
By the time they made it out of the store, after Lauren doing much exclaiming over the medicine and how the M&Ms were special for after the medicine, Viv was eager to get started.
And damn if Viv didn’t listen to all of Lauren’s instructions, taking the medicine with no problem and then letting the M&M melt on her tongue to avoid chewing. In fact, Viv looked very pleased with herself. Now why did she throw up the other stuff? Or maybe it was more like gagging. Either way, it hadn’t stayed down.
“You taste all that wonderful chocolate?” Lauren asked.
Viv stuck her tongue out, melted green and brown with some purple from the medicine. Gross.
“Yummy!” Lauren exclaimed. “Ready to go on the swings?”
Viv nodded, took Lauren’s hand, and walked toward the playground without a backward glance. He swallowed hard, watching them go. Their similarities in coloring, both of them with light brown hair, the happiness that radiated off the pair, hell, it looked like Viv had a mom.
Viv stopped suddenly and turned around. “Daddy!”
He got moving, catching up to them. “Right here.”
Viv grabbed his hand with her other hand and they were off. His chest ached, looking dow
n at his happy girl because for the first time it felt like Viv had a real family.
Chapter Six
Lauren had a great first day with Viv and Alex. Viv was just as sweet and adorable as she remembered and Alex was easy to be around. The pair didn’t have a schedule, more of a very loose routine. The only definite she discovered was a workout time in the afternoon. When it got close to the time, Viv seemed to know it because she looked to her dad, lifted her arms, and said, “Dance party.”
Alex looked to Lauren, pink creeping up his neck. Adorable! A man who blushed. “We’ll do that after dinner,” Alex told Viv.
“Oh, it’s okay,” Lauren assured him. “Just do whatever you usually do.” She turned to Viv, who was already jumping up and down in anticipation. Double dose of adorable. “Can I join in? I love dance parties.”
“Kei-Kei!” Viv shouted.
“Kei-Kei?” Lauren echoed. “I don’t know that one. Is it a new cartoon?”
“It’s a movie,” Alex explained.
“Ah. I missed that one.”
Alex rubbed the back of his neck, mumbling, “It came out last summer. We have the DVD.”
“Who is Kei-Kei?” Lauren asked Viv. “Is she a strong superheroine?” She lifted her arms and made some muscles.
“No!” Viv said through her laughter.
“Is she a powerful wizard doing her magic spells?” Lauren asked, waving an imaginary wand.
“No!” Viv shouted, seeming delighted to know something Lauren didn’t.
Lauren lifted both her palms in surrender. “Then who is it?”
“A princess!” Viv shouted.
“Oh, a princess. Fancy.”
Viv nodded. “Daddy?” She lifted her arms.
Alex glanced at Lauren, the pink creeping from his neck to his cheeks. “You want to take a break?” he asked Lauren. “Get some fresh air?”
She bit back a smile, knowing he found it hard to deny his daughter her Princess Kei-Kei fix. “I’m good.”
He gave her a hard look before mouthing, “No laughing.”
She shook her head, pursing her lips to stop her smile.
He jabbed a finger of warning at her. A small laugh escaped. She loved that he was willing to look uncool for his daughter’s sake.
“Kei-Kei,” Viv urged.
Alex sighed. “You got it.” He pushed the coffee table out of the way, snagged a blue mat from the hall closet, setting it on the hardwood floor, and cued up the music on his phone. The music came out of some small speakers she hadn’t noticed mounted high in the corners of the room.
A cute tinkling melody began. Lauren tilted her head, listening. Movement caught her eye. She turned to see Alex standing on the mat, doing curls with Viv lying across his forearms. Nothing embarrassing that she could see. He actually looked kind of studly.
“This is how you dance?” Lauren asked.
“That comes later,” Alex said, doing another Viv curl. His biceps popped with a few veins showing prominently. It was primal, visceral, hot yet, holding his own daughter, tender too. Her eyes stung, touched, and she looked away, listening again to the music. The chorus played a happy refrain, “Fruity toot, we are elves.” The elves part was long and drawn out.
She smiled, crinkling her nose at the cuteness. “Elves?”
Alex did another Viv curl. “Yup. Princess Kei-Kei and the Elves.”
“Up!” Viv exclaimed.
Alex shifted Viv, lifting her over his head like a toddler barbell.
“Wee!” Viv exclaimed.
Lauren laughed.
Alex glared.
“Oh, I’m not laughing at you,” Lauren assured him. “I’m laughing with you.”
“Nobody else is laughing,” he said, doing another lift.
She pressed her lips in a flat line, trying to hold it in.
“It gets worse,” Alex said grimly, bringing Viv down to chest level.
“Yay!” Viv exclaimed as her dad brought her swiftly up over his head.
“That looks like fun,” Lauren said. “I wish someone could exercise with me like that.”
“Dancing!” Viv exclaimed.
Viv thought her daddy’s workout was a dance. Looked like it was working for both of them.
Next Alex dropped to the mat, doing push-ups with Viv on his back, her little arms wrapped around his neck. She hoped he could breathe okay. Every time he lifted up, Viv exclaimed in delight. If that wasn’t motivation to do more push-ups, she didn’t know what was.
She did some push-ups next to them, mostly so she’d stop noticing all the fine muscular lines of her employer’s body.
Alex spared her a quick glance before continuing his push-ups. Viv must be used to it too because Alex got a lot of reps in. Lauren only made it to ten.
Next was stomach crunches. Alex put Viv on his feet and got to work. Lauren did too, but she had to stop because the hardwood floor was a little rough on her back. She quickly shifted to sit on the sofa for the best view of the pair.
After Viv counted to ten, not entirely correctly, Alex told her to do it again. Then he told Viv to hang onto his bent legs. She did, wrapping her arms around his calves. He lifted her that way. Wow, now that was a good workout.
Viv squealed with every lift. “Horsee!”
Alex finished, lying on the floor, breathing hard. Viv leapt off him and started dancing crazy, her little arms flailing in the air, her feet stomping.
Lauren leapt off the couch. “Is this the part where we dance party?”
“Yes!” Viv hollered.
Alex slowly got up from the floor, sweating from his workout.
Lauren started dancing with Viv, copying her, which got Viv really excited and laughing. Alex laughed too. She hoped he was less embarrassed now that she was making a fool of herself right alongside his daughter.
“Daddy, dance! Sing!”
“Oh, there’s trouble in these woods,” Alex sang in his deep baritone.
“Trouble on the double!” Viv sang at the top of her lungs.
They sang together on the next line, Alex moving his hands like karate chops while Viv jumped from side to side, looking fierce. “So we’ll fight with our might and all our powers!”
Lauren grinned and did some of her own karate chops. She didn’t know the words and she didn’t care. She was just happy to witness their beautiful daddy-daughter moment.
~ ~ ~
Viv slept that night until four a.m.—the longest stretch since she’d started teething. She woke Alex, standing next to his bed and pulling his hand. “Grape medicine,” she said.
“I’ll get it.” He snagged the medicine from the bathroom cabinet and quietly gave it to her with no M&M, hoping if he kept it low-key, she’d go back to sleep.
“Night-night.” She lay down on the floor next to his bed and went back to sleep.
He debated if moving her would wake her. Finally he couldn’t bear to have her little face on the same rug his feet were regularly on. He scooped her up, transferring her back to her bed as gently as he could.
The moment her head hit the pillow, she said, “Yummy.”
He smiled to himself. Probably dreaming of M&Ms.
He went back to bed and fell into a deep sleep.
“Wake up!” a tiny voice ordered. Now that Viv had a big-girl bed, she could move about freely. He’d moved her from the crib months ago because she was scaling the side of it and flinging herself to the ground. That was also why the entire house was toddler-proofed right down to baby locks, latches, and doorknob covers that required an adult-size hand to squeeze and turn. He always left his bedroom door open for her.
He stretched and opened his eyes. Nearly seven and he didn’t feel like the walking dead. “Hey, pumpkin.”
“Hungry.”
“How about, can you make breakfast, please?”
“Please!”
“Can you make breakfast, please?”
Her face scrunched up in confusion. “Daddy do.”
He let it go. “Yea
h, okay. Let’s change your diaper; then we’ll have breakfast.”
By the time he had Viv ready for her day and guzzled down his first cup of coffee, he actually felt good. It was a miracle. And he knew exactly who to thank for it.
He was beyond grateful for Lauren’s part in helping them navigate the two-year-molar hell. Hope spread within for the first time in what felt like forever. He’d get so much done today. He’d get a chance to create, work on those fantasy covers, which he loved when he actually had energy. He could shut the door to his art studio since Viv seemed comfortable with Lauren.
Maybe too comfortable.
Because Viv felt good enough to be her usual hell-on-wheels self.
~ ~ ~
Lauren rang the bell to Alex’s house, a large zipped tote bag at her feet full of outdoor toddler activities. She was determined that Alex would get some quiet time to work today. The door sprang open to a smiling Alex. She stared, momentarily dazzled by the change that beaming smile had. He looked vibrant, energetic, happy. His brown eyes were warm and pain-free. He was clean-shaven, the masculine angles of his jaw strikingly handsome. Wow. Had she done that?
“Morning,” he said cheerfully.
“Morning,” she said. “You look…great.”
“Thanks. I feel great. Viv and I both slept well. Thanks so much for your help with her medicine.”
“No problem.”
“I’ll get that.” He snagged the bag. “It’s heavy.”
She stepped inside. “It’s my goody bag for Viv. Where is your little cutie?”
He turned around. “She was right here a minute ago.” And then louder. “Viv!”
Viv appeared, her hair down, barefoot in a red and white striped short-sleeved shirt with pink and orange polka dot leggings. Somebody dressed herself today. She ran and hugged Lauren’s legs quickly before inspecting the bag.
Lauren lifted the bag, tucking it over her shoulder. “Let me get your hair back first. You can have a braid like mine.” She turned to show her the braid. “We’re going to be very busy playing with the stuff in this bag.”
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