by Mia Ford
“Wow,” I said, taking the box from her. “Looks like a fun day.”
“I just figured if we are going to bring challenge to Bella, we should make it fun,” she said. “I don’t want her to get tired of learning. That happens later in life. This is when you can really instill a love of curiosity and education into a child, something I never had growing up. It was very textbook and memorization.”
“Yeah, she is too wild for that.” I laughed, walking back into the house. “I have a few errands to run this morning if you don’t mind, and I’ll be back with lunch in a couple of hours.”
“No, that’s fine,” she said, smiling. “Feel free to do whatever you need while I’m here, just like if she were in school.”
“Great,” I replied, setting the box down on the table and turning to her. “I put my number on the fridge, and if you need anything, just text me and I’ll pick it up from town. Oh, and I set up the extra room as a teaching room for you if you want to work out of there. I thought maybe it would be less distracting than the play room, but feel free to work anywhere.”
“Sounds great, have fun,” she said, turning and walking toward the play room.
I grabbed my keys and headed toward the door, chuckling at the sound of Bella’s laughter as she greeted Lacey. It was a sound that I hadn’t heard from Bella since she was about three years old, and it warmed my heart in a way that was almost foreign to me. I jumped into the jeep and headed into town, wanting to pick up some food for the house and a few things for Bella and me to do in our down time. She played a lot in her room, but it was the beginning of summer, and I wanted her to start getting outside more.
In town, I first stopped at the hardware store, needing some tools to build the playhouse I had in mind for the backyard beach that we had. I wandered through the tool section, picking out different things and not paying attention to much of anything. I rounded the corner and stopped for a moment, hearing a familiar voice.
“Fancy seeing you here,” my mother’s voice echoed behind me.
“Hey, Mom.” I laughed, giving her a hug.
“Where is Bella?”
“She’s with her tutor,” I said.
“Oh, that’s right,” she said, smiling. “Is it going well?”
“It’s great,” I said. “I was actually just picking up a few things and heading back with lunch for them.”
We talked for several minutes, but she was in a hurry to get over to the school where she was helping out with a luncheon for the teachers. We hugged tightly like always, and I moved on, finishing up the errands and heading over to the deli. It always made me feel better seeing my mom. She has always been my rock in tough times. I ordered several different sandwiches, not knowing what Lacey liked, and then hopped in the car, oddly excited to get back to the house. When I arrived, they had just finished their morning courses, and Bella was proudly hanging up a picture she had drawn on the fridge. Lacey smiled at me and helped set up for lunch, clearing the crayons and paper off into her box and setting it in the play room.
“How did it go?” I asked.
“I drew a pretty picture of a square and two triangles,” Bella said proudly.
“I see that,” I replied, smiling at Bella.
“A square has four sides, and a triangle has three,” Bella said, holding up her fingers.
“You are so smart,” I replied, leaning over and kissing Bella’s cheek.
“She is,” Lacey said, nodding as we ate.
“So how did you like NYU?” I asked.
“It was a great school. I just wish it wasn’t in New York City.” She laughed. “I mean, I grew up going to the city all the time, but living there was a completely different story.”
“Do your parents come here often?”
“No.” She sighed. “They haven’t been here since my grandparents were alive.”
“You are brave moving to a place where you don’t know anyone.” I smiled.
“It’s like home to me,” she replied with a bubbly tone. “I know some of the people, like at Aggie’s, and I have never been the person with a million friends.”
“Me either.” I smiled. “And I love Aggie’s. I went there as a kid to get their ice cream smoothies before it was cool to drink smoothies.”
“Ha, those are great,” she said, looking up at me kindly.
As she talked, I couldn’t help but become completely engrossed in whatever she was saying. It was like she was the only woman in the world when she was sitting in front of me. I liked her, and that in itself made me completely terrified. I could feel the mix of electricity and butterflies swirling around in my chest, making it almost hard to breathe. I hadn’t liked a woman other than my wife since I was a teenager, and that wasn’t anything like what Lacey seemed to do to me. There was just something about Lacey that was alluring, something that made me want to be around her. I had even noticed that morning that my normal grumpiness was gone at the thought of the fact that Lacey would be coming over to work with Bella that day. I even took extra time in the shower getting ready and picking out my clothes, something that never really happened to me.
After lunch, Lacey and Bella helped clean up, and the two of them went back to the new office to move on with the last couple of hours of lessons for the day. Lacey never seemed like she was in a rush and made sure that everything she did with Bella was thorough and purposeful. I couldn’t have imagined finding anyone that was better with my daughter. Throughout the day, as I sat at the table putting together the blue prints for the play house I was going to build, I listened to Lacey and Bella singing songs, counting, and calling out the names of different animals that she was learning about. It was adorable how enthusiastic Bella was to learn these things, and I knew that a lot of it had to do with the kind of woman that Lacey was.
“Well,” Lacey said, walking out of the office carrying her things. “That was a really great day. She is killing these lesson plans. I hope you don’t mind. I left the box in there so I don’t have to lug it back and forth every day.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “I made that room for you, so put anything you want in there.”
“Thank you for that,” she said, smiling. “Alright, I am going to hit the road. I think Bella might be a little tired. She was starting to drag at the end there.”
“She is just getting off of the two nap a day thing, getting ready for kindergarten, so she hits a speed bump about this time,” I said. “I’ll take her outside for some fresh air.”
“Sounds perfect,” she said, opening the front door. “I’m going to go on a walk down the beach myself later.”
“Have a great day,” I replied, showing her out. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Lacey looked up into my eyes, and my heart fluttered a little in my chest. Her eyes were striking, especially against that dark hair, and I couldn’t help but want to reach out and touch her. I kept my hands by my sides, though, and watched as she walked out to her car and got inside. I closed the door and stood there for several moments, staring into space.
“You okay, Daddy?”
“Yes.” I laughed, being pulled from my own head. “I am fantastic. How are you?”
“I’m tired,” she groaned.
“I know, but remember we have to be a big girl, getting ready for school in the fall,” I said, smiling. “Why don’t we put on some flip flops and go out on the beach for a little while?”
“Okay,” she said with excitement. “Is the water still cold?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Just another week or so, and it will warm up. I promise.”
“Okay,” she pouted. “I want to put my toes in the water when it gets warm.”
“It’s a deal,” I replied, watching her run to her room to get her shoes.
We went outside and played in the sun, building sand castles, collecting sea shells, and chasing the seagulls away from the shore. I hadn’t really been out there to the water’s edge for two years, but there was something about the last few days t
hat opened up my heart a little bit. I felt better than I had in a long time, and the sun really helped push that feeling further. When the sun sat low in the sky, I collected Bella and we went inside, she started to play while I prepared our dinner. I was making spaghetti. It was Bella’s favorite and easy to put together.
As we ate, Bella went on and on about all the things that she learned with Miss Lacey that day. I was really impressed that she not only was learning these things, but retaining them as well. She knew almost every animal at the zoo and just after one course lesson on animals.
“I really like Miss Lacey,” Bella said with a sigh. “I wish she could be here all the time.”
“I know you do,” I said, smiling, happy to hear how much she liked Lacey. “You will see her tomorrow, though.”
“Can she stay for dinner tomorrow?” Bella asked excitedly. “It’s Friday, which means its taco night. We can all eat tacos together.”
“I will think about it,” I said, smiling. “In the meantime, you need to get in the bath. You are covered in dinner. Did you actually get any in that belly, or did it all go down your pants?”
“No.” She giggled as I lifted her out of the chair. “Some went in my hairs.”
“I see that.” I laughed, walking her into the bathroom for bath time.
We went through our nightly routine, and she was asleep before I could even finish the book I was reading her. Ever since she started tutoring, she had been falling asleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow. I carefully walked out of the bedroom and pulled the door shut behind me. The house was quiet, and I could hear the waves splashing up onto the shore. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and walked out onto the deck, sitting down and propping my feet up. It was a beautiful, warm night, the first warm night since summer started, and I felt light and hopeful. Maybe Lacey was the start of something new in our lives, a sign that things were going to get easier.
5
Lacey
Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Fifteen…” she trailed off.
“Six,” I said, trying to help her.
“Sixteen,” she shouted happily.
“Very good, sweetheart,” I said, smiling. “You are doing so well. You will get them. You just learned them today.”
“Are we done already?”
“Yeah,” I said, laughing. “We’re done until Monday.”
“Aww,” she said, pouting.
“It’s okay,” I said, bending down to Bella. “You can have fun this weekend and then we will learn more fun stuff on Monday. And you can practice your numbers this weekend with your daddy.”
“Okay,” she sighed.
I smiled and shook my head, walking from the room. Bella continued to shock me with her intelligence, and every day that I left, I felt challenged to be a better teacher for her. Today was numbers, and she was struggling a bit with her ten through twenties, but I was confident that by Monday, she would have it on lockdown. Just the fact that she almost knew them at five years old was absolutely amazing to me. I put my papers in my bag, standing in the hallway, but I stopped when I heard footsteps approaching. Caspian turned the corner and smiled at me, his charming smile sending electricity through my chest.
“Hey there,” I said, smiling. “We survived our first week, and Bella blew my mind every step of the way. She is going to practice her numbers this weekend.”
“One through ten?”
“One through twenty,” I said, wagging my eyebrows.
“What?” he asked, laughing. “That is amazing.”
“I know, right?”
“Well, we need to celebrate,” he said, smiling. “It’s Taco Friday.”
“Sounds fun.” I laughed. “You guys are going to have a blast.”
“Why don’t you stay for dinner?”
“Oh, I… uh…”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Bella said, walking around the corner and jumping up and down.
She stood there staring at me with her hands clasped in front of her and her little nose curled up. She looked just like her father, except for her brown hair which I was assuming she got from her mother, at least from the pictures I saw in the hallway. I smiled and looked up at Caspian, whose face was almost squeezed identically to his daughter’s.
“Alright, I mean, how can I say no to those faces?”
“Yay!” Bella took off down the hall shouting.
I laughed and smiled at Caspian who nodded his head toward the living room. I couldn’t help but think that Bella was absolutely adorable, not to mention the fact that her father was sexy as hell, so dinner wasn’t going to be that hard to get through. I didn’t have any friends in town, and I figured why not make one, even though he was also my employer. Bella and I played with dolls while Caspian finished up dinner.
During dinner we talked about Bella’s week in tutoring, her new school, and her next visit planned with Grandma Betty. I couldn’t help but notice that during the whole thing, Caspian was acting differently. He was kinder, looser, and his charm was shining through like I hadn’t seen before. As Bella sang us a song, I looked up at Caspian and caught a glance from him that dropped my heart into my stomach. The gleam in his eye, the hidden sexual tension, and the way his lip quivered as he fought whatever thoughts were flowing through his mind reminded me of something that almost knocked me off my chair. It was him, the guy from my dream, but it couldn’t be. I hadn’t even met him yet. I could feel my cheeks growing red, and I looked away, almost immediately feeling like I shouldn’t be sitting there with him and his daughter.
“So, I went on a walk on the beach last night,” I said when she was done.
“Yeah, how was that?” he asked.
“Beautiful as always.” I smiled. “I walked past this little surf school called, ‘Hart Surf School.’ Do they have any relation to you?”
“Yeah,” he said, his mood changing. “I own it, but I shut it down two years ago.”
“Why?” I asked. “I mean, there has to be a serious need for surfing instructors with all the tourists that come out here.”
“It’s really a story for another day,” he said, looking at me with a kind smirk before glancing over at Bella.
“Of course,” I said, blushing. “Dinner was amazing. Thank you so much.”
“You are welcome,” he said, relaxing a bit.
“I love Taco Fridays,” Bella said. “We should have Taco Saturday tomorrow.”
“No, I think tomorrow will be takeout,” Caspian said, laughing. “Daddy doesn’t cook Saturday.”
“Is it movie time yet?” Bella asked.
“It sure is,” Caspian said.
“Lacey will you stay?” she asked. “We are watching Frozen tonight.”
I looked over at Caspian, who smiled and then looked back over me, obviously okay with me staying. I nodded my head yes at Bella, wanting to stick around longer, but not sure why. Caspian was back to loosening up, and that dream was stuck in the back of my head, pushing at me like a movie playing on repeat. It was uncanny how closely Caspian resembled him, though it might have just been my attraction to him twisting things in my mind. Either way, I was making a choice to stay, and Bella was more than excited to have me there.
I helped Caspian clean up after dinner, pulling down Tupperware and putting away the leftovers. It was kind of crazy how comfortable I felt there, like I had known them for a very long time. Caspian smiled at me as I reached over him to grab the towel, wiping the taco sauce off my hands. He pulled down three bowls and filled them with ice cream, wagging his eyebrows at me and smiling as he turned and walked toward the living room. Bella stood up with wide eyes and started cheering when she saw the ice cream.
“Alright, calm down.” He laughed. “You have to sit here until you are done and use your napkin. I don’t want another ice cream sundae issue like last time.”
“Promise,” she said, sticking her pinky out.
He twisted his pinky around hers and rubbed her nose with his. I smiled, thinking
about how my grandfather used to use pinky swears with me when I was a little girl. I had to admit I had never thought about a man with a child before, but watching how good he was with her made him that much more attractive to me. He looked up and smiled at me, waving the bowl of ice cream. I laughed and walked over, stopping when he held the bowl back and stuck out his pinky. I bit my bottom lip and looked at him for a minute before smiling and pinky swearing with him.
I sat down next to Bella on the couch, and Caspian sat on the other side, looking over at me and smiling as the movie began. I had to admit, there wasn’t another time that I could think of that was more fun than I had watching Frozen with Bella and Caspian. She sang along with every song, and when the signature one came on, Caspian joined in, swooping Bella up in the air with the blanket around their shoulders, spinning her around the room. I sat there laughing at them, watching the two of them live the life they had long before I showed up. I was pretty glad, at that moment, that I did show up. These two had added something special to my life and in less than a week.
By the end of the movie, Bella was curled up and passed out in my lap, my hand cascading through her beautiful brown hair. She was even adorable when she slept, and I could have sat there like that all night long. I didn’t know if it was because I liked kids or because this particular one was so sweet, but I felt myself getting attached to her. Caspian came over and scooped her up into his arms and carried her into her bedroom. I could hear him whispering to her that he loved her, and then tiptoeing from her room and shutting the door behind him. I stood up and carried our ice cream bowls to the kitchen.
“You can just leave those there,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets. “Thanks for staying. Bella really had a good night.”
“I did, too,” I said, smiling. “It was a lot of fun. And I mean, your rendition of that song was on point.”