A pained look crossed her face, and she let out a breath. “I can’t bring Daisy with me, Mace.” She whispered it as if she couldn’t quite believe the words coming out of her mouth either.
“What?” he asked, his voice hoarse. He couldn’t have heard her right. There was no way she was just dropping their daughter off at his house with no warning or discussion. He did his best to ignore the suitcase she’d brought with her.
“It will be best if Daisy stays here in the US. I’ll be working long hours in Japan, and frankly, I don’t know how I’ll be able to be a full-time mom over there.”
He just blinked, confused as all hell and ignoring that little kernel of hope in his heart that he might be seeing Daisy more than before. Because this was Jeaniene, after all, and nothing was ever as it seemed.
“My parents offered to take Daisy in, of course.”
“No fucking way. She’s my daughter. Not theirs.” Something Jeaniene’s family tended to forget. “If you’re going to leave Daisy and go gallivanting off across the world, putting work before your child, then you’re damn well going to make sure she’s with her father.”
Anger sparked in her eyes, but she didn’t curse at him. Jeaniene wouldn’t. “I wasn’t going to let them take her. Despite what they say, you are a good father. And it’s going to kill me to leave her here with only Skype and some visits if I can get those planned, but it will be the best for us in the end if I make partner. I’m doing this for her.”
He didn’t believe that for even a hot second, but he wasn’t sure he had words for what he was feeling right then.
Jeaniene looked down at her watch and then pressed her lips together into a tight line. “I don’t know all the details, and this will have to be done legally, of course. The firm will send you papers on what the temporary situation is, and then the two of us can decide what the permanent solution will be. I need to go if I’m going to make my flight.” Tears pooled in her eyes, but he ignored them. “Mace. I need you to watch Daisy until I can figure out what to do. This will be good for our future, I know it, but…but I also know this puts a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. If it’s too much, I can talk to my parents.”
He held up his hand, his chest heaving. He honestly couldn’t fucking believe what was going on. Jeaniene had done a lot of things that not only surprised him but had also pissed him off throughout the years, but this…this topped anything he could have ever even dreamed of.
“Let me get this straight. You’re moving to Japan. Now. No warning. No phone call to tell me what the fuck you’re planning. And you’re leaving Daisy here. Again, no warning. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t want her to live here. Not that I don’t want her with me. Always. It’s the fact that you don’t seem to fucking care that you’re abandoning your kid. But…you do you. Like you always do. But that paperwork you’re sending? You can be damn sure I’ll get a better lawyer than I had last time. And you’d better have something in writing now before you go so your parents don’t try to pull some shit, or I’m going to make your life hell. You get me?”
She raised her chin and met his gaze. “I get you, Mace. I always got you.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a stack of papers. “I got these done already. It will cover you from my family. We’ll deal with the rest soon. And as for Daisy? I’m doing this for her.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself at night.”
She shot him a look and stalked back into the living room where he guessed she was saying goodbye to their daughter. Mace let out a shuddering breath then gripped the edge of the counter, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
From one breath to the next, he’d become a full-time dad.
And he had no idea what the fuck to do about it.
Chapter 3
It had been a week since Adrienne watched her best friend’s life change dramatically, and she still wasn’t sure either of them had found their footing. She still couldn’t quite believe that Jeaniene had left the country as quickly as she had, leaving behind not only most of her belongings to be packed and either stored or shipped later but also her daughter.
What kind of mother did that?
Sure, Mace had said the woman mentioned over and over again that it was for Daisy’s future, but that didn’t sit well with Adrienne, and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to hold back laying into the woman if she ever saw her again. It wasn’t as if the two of them had been great friends when Jeaniene and Mace were together. The other woman had always been slightly jealous of Adrienne’s relationship with Mace, even though there was nothing more than platonic friendship between them. And Adrienne had hated the fact that there was tension because of something so silly and superficial. But it wasn’t as if Mace and Jeaniene had been serious—at least until Daisy came along. Then everything had imploded, and Adrienne had just done her best to stand by her best friend’s side and hold him up when things went from bad to worse.
Maybe if Adrienne had gotten to know Mace’s ex, she’d have liked her more, but from what she’d seen, she really had no evidence to support that probability. And that just sucked for everyone involved—most especially Daisy.
Now, it had been a week since Jeaniene left Daisy with Mace, and her best friend had been forced to figure out how to be a full-time dad without any notice or preparation, along with holding down a full-time job. Sure, Daisy had a room at his place and clothes and toys and things, but they had a rhythm for their weekends together, not anything close to what they needed now.
Thankfully, Mace lived in the same school district as Daisy’s former home; he’d made sure of that when he moved to his new place a couple of years ago. He hadn’t wanted to disrupt Daisy’s life at all, and there was no way Jeaniene would have moved for him. But it meant that Mace had moved even closer to Adrienne in the process, and she hadn’t minded one bit.
It also meant that Daisy didn’t have to change preschools and could stay with her friends when she moved into kindergarten and beyond. Unless everything changed dramatically again. But then they’d just have to come up with a new plan.
While Mace and his parents were holding most of the baggage, Adrienne was doing her best to help, as well. The Knights watched Daisy during the day when Mace needed to work, and the girl wasn’t in her half-days of school. Mace needed the hours, and Adrienne needed him working as well since they’d just started the business. But Ryan and Shep had agreed to allow Mace to have whatever hours he needed for the time being. And in the evenings, when she wasn’t working, Adrienne headed over to Mace’s place and made sure they had a good meal on the table. It wasn’t that she was a better cook than Mace—in fact, she thought he was far better—but she’d known that figuring out the timing of meals, bath time, and when to go to bed in the middle of the week, all while trying to keep from making anything too straining on a little girl wouldn’t be easy.
So she did what she could to help, and tried her best to stay out of the way. She loved Daisy and would do anything to make sure Mace could be the best dad he could be. And if that meant stressing out over things out of her control like usual, well, that was something she was just going to have to do.
“You’re woolgathering in the corner over there again,” Mace said, startling her.
She hadn’t realized he was back from picking up food for them over at the deli a couple of doors down. They used to bring in their lunch every day at their old job since finances were always an issue, but since they’d all been a little too busy thinking about anything except work and Daisy lately, things like packing up lunches had gone to the wayside far too easily.
She turned to see Mace holding out a bottle of water and her wrapped sandwich, and she let out a breath. “You scared the crap out of me.”
He raised a brow. “If I had, you’d have screamed like you did that one time we went to that corn maze.”
She glared but didn’t take her food since she didn’t want it in her booth. “I did not scream that lou
dly. And if I had, no one would have blamed me. There was a clown. With a chainsaw. Chasing me.”
Mace just grinned and leaned against the half-wall that made up her booth. “I’ve never actually seen you run that quickly or jump that high over that hole in the ground that was supposed to slow you down. It was like you were doing hurdles or something.”
“Clown. Chainsaw. Chasing.” The held up her hand, pointing up her fingers as she ticked off her list. “The three C’s of doom.”
“I’m sure there are other C’s out there that could make it better.”
And for some reason, the way his voice growled just that certain way he did to make her laugh, she blushed. Her cheeks heated to the point where she knew he probably saw it but, hopefully, he’d think it was anger. She was not going to be embarrassed—or worse, turned on—because of the man in front of her.
There were lines she didn’t cross, and that was one of them.
And, recently, she’d had to be extra cautious what direction her thoughts traveled when it came to Mace. Apparently, opening up her own business while dealing with a slew of other things had made her lose sight of what was important.
“Whatever you say, Knight.” She swallowed hard and moved back a bit so she could have some breathing room. Mace was just so big that he ended up taking up more space than anyone else she knew. And considering how big her brothers and cousins were, that was saying something.
He winked and went back to the side table where he’d left his sandwich. Ryan was at his station working and would close up once Adrienne and Mace left, and neither of them wanted to bother the man since he was focusing. Sure, all of them were good at working while the place was busy, but she’d let him work in peace if she could.
She and Mace dug into their food while keeping an eye out for any walk-ins. Since it was the middle of the week and raining, she didn’t think they’d get any, but she had to stay vigilant. It had been a full day of family already. Shep was home for the evening with his family, and Shea had already been by with Roxie since the two of them were the shop’s accountants. Soon, Adrienne and Mace would head home and leave Ryan to handle any last-minute things, but she trusted the man. After all, she couldn’t open and close every day.
Just most days it seemed since she was the one without connections or anyone to come home to after a long day of work and stress. That hadn’t bothered her before as she’d always been focused on her dreams and might have kept an eye out for a man who could be the one, but it hadn’t been a priority. Now, though, for some reason, things weren’t like they had been before. Maybe because she’d accomplished her dream of owning a shop, and even though she had to work even harder to maintain it, that part of her checklist was done? Not to mention the fact that Shep was back in town with his perfect family, and Roxie was already married. She hadn’t felt left behind before, but the more she thought about it now, the more those creeping feelings kept coming back.
Mace had Daisy at home now, and Thea…well, Thea was a workaholic at her bakery much like Adrienne was at the shop, so maybe the two of them were their own peas in a pod.
“Again with the woolgathering,” Mace said, brushing his shoulder against hers as they sat on the couch in the front of the shop.
“What does woolgathering even mean?” she asked, quickly pushing her earlier odd thoughts from her mind.
Mace frowned. “You know, I don’t really know, and that makes me feel like kind of an idiot.” He pulled out his phone and started scrolling. “Let’s look it up.”
She rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but smile as he looked up the definition and taught them something new for the day. Well, at least she’d never be bored with him by her side.
“That man come back?” Mace said after they’d cleaned up and started working on cleaning the rest of the place.
She shook her head, knowing exactly whom he meant. “No, but I don’t think that one time will be the last time we hear from him. Shep’s been looking into who he could be, but honestly, it’s a dead end right now. He didn’t introduce himself. He just threatened us with weird, vague shit.” It still didn’t feel right to her, and she knew there would be more from that visit soon. She just hated the fact that it was a waiting game until they figured it out.
“I don’t want you alone here at night, Adrienne. Not when we don’t know what that man’s issue was other than being a stuck-up suit with a sneering problem.”
That made her pause, her hands fisting in front of her on the counter. “Excuse me? Did you tell Shep or Ryan that you don’t want them alone?”
Ryan’s client had just left, so he looked up from his notebook before holding up his hands in surrender. “No, he didn’t, and for the love of God, keep me out of it.”
Mace flipped him off, but Adrienne could only glare at her so-called best friend. “Addi.”
“Don’t fucking Addi me. I know you’re overprotective, but remember, I can take care of myself. Plus, this is a brightly lit area, and even if I’m the last one out of the shop, it’s not like I didn’t do that for years at the old place. Don’t get all dude bro on me, Mace. I’m not going to take kindly to that.”
Ryan snorted. “Dude bro?”
She flipped him off since he could be just like Mace and Shep and go all overprotective if they thought one of their women was in danger. Not that Adrienne had ever been in danger when she walked into the parking lot. Like any sane woman walking alone at night, she walked to her car with either her pepper spray in her hand or her keys in her fist. Of course, when she told Mace that, he just glowered harder.
Men.
“I’m just saying…”
“Don’t say anything. I’m not going to wait for a strong man to save me just so I can walk outside, but I’m also not going to be stupid. I know there are people out there who like to prey on women. Hello? I’m a woman, and the fact that I walk to my car like I do and I’ve never been attacked should tell you something. But I’m also not going to live my life afraid of what might happen and end up hurting the business and create issues with everyone else’s hours because of it.”
Mace sighed before leaning against the wall. “I get it. And I know I shouldn’t have even said anything, but that dude creeped me out, and frankly, I don’t trust what he might do.”
Her stomach twisted, but she ignored it. “That man is more likely to sue us for some petty shit we didn’t do, Mace. That is what we should be worrying about.” The idea of just that kept her up late at night—not that she said as much to Mace and Ryan.
“Okay, you two, there’s nothing you can do about it now,” Ryan said, coming between the two of them. “You’re both off the clock anyway, and since you’re leaving at the same time, Mace can get all protective and walk you to your car, Adrienne, and you can glare the whole time, knowing that you’re not changing up your schedule so he can do it.”
“I’m starting to wonder why we hired you,” Adrienne said with a growl before going back to pick up her things. The rain had picked up, and it was freaking cold outside, so she needed her coat.
“Because I’m God’s gift to tattooing, and I take your ribbing easily.”
Mace was the one to laugh aloud at that, and Adrienne couldn’t help but smile. “Whatever you say, Ryan. Whatever you say.”
Mace went to pick up his things as well, and soon, the two of them were walking side by side in the pouring rain out to their cars. They’d parked far away, so she was drenched by the time she got to her door. Their vehicles were next to each other as usual, and she gave him a mock salute as she slid into the driver’s seat.
He grinned and got into his truck, shaking his head the whole time. Yeah, they fought, but they were best friends for a reason. She understood why he worried about her and knew she would be even more vigilant when she walked alone, but there was no way she was going to change everyone’s hours to suit the whims of the overprotective.
She turned her key in the ignition and then cursed as it just clicked. No trying to turn
over, no weird sounds, just a click.
“What the fuck?” She tried again, taking deep breaths so she wouldn’t lose her temper and start beating the shit out of her steering wheel. The only thing that would end up broken would be her hand—and whatever was already screwed up under the hood.
“Damn it!” she yelled again as it continued to click with no results.
Someone tapped on her window, and she screamed much like she had in that corn maze, even though she knew it had to be Mace being all overprotective again.
She opened her door after letting out a long sigh, then grabbed her bag and made sure Mace was out of the way before standing up.
“If you ask to check under the hood before I get a chance to, I might knee you in the balls.”
Rain poured down on them, and he just shook his head. “It’s probably the battery, right?”
“What did I say about the hood? No guessing. No trying to fix the problem until I can see what’s going on.”
“Come on, Addi, it’s fucking pouring, and you’re on the way home anyway. Let’s just leave your car here instead of dealing with whatever is wrong with it when neither of us has any skill whatsoever when it comes to engines. We’ll call Roxie’s husband to come and take a look at it tomorrow, and I’ll give you a ride to work in the morning.”
Roxie’s husband, Carter, was a mechanic, and even if it was just the battery—though she wasn’t sure since she knew nothing about cars—the weather sucked enough that she’d end up electrocuting herself rather than jumping her vehicle.
“Fine.” Rain slid down her neck and in between her breasts, her coat doing nothing against the October chill or the precipitation. She knew she’d sounded petulant, but she was so tired of her damn car and its issues. She needed a new one, badly, but she’d used most of her savings for her house and the shop. Sure, she had some left, but she knew she needed to keep a bit for a rainy day—pun unintended. Mace shut her door behind her before turning to open his passenger side door for her. She sighed, hugged him quickly because she felt like a brat, then climbed up into his truck.
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