by Hazel Kelly
Loved by Him
Hazel Kelly
© 2015 Hazel Kelly
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, copied, or stored in any form or by any means without permission of the author. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
All characters in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, brands, organizations, places, and situations is purely coincidental.
“It is a risk to love.
What if it doesn’t work out?
Ah, but what if it does?”
–Peter McWilliams
Chapter 1: Wyatt
I opened the screen door just before they came crashing through it.
“Dad! You’ll never believe it!” Sophie put her hands on her head. “Guess what Gigi and I found?!”
I shook my head. “I haven’t the slightest,” I said, looking back and forth between them. “What did you find?”
“A frog!”
“Wow,” I said. “How big is it?”
Sophie thrust her hands out and held them a few inches apart.
Gigi shook her head. “I think it’s a toad.” She scrunched her nose. “It’s all warty and brown.”
“Whatever,” Sophie said. “Can we feed it?”
“Sure,” I said. “You can do whatever you want as long as you stay outside for the next few minutes because I have to make a phone call.”
“Who are you calling?” Gigi asked. “Your girlfriend?”
I narrowed my eyes at Gigi. “That’s irrelevant.”
“Who’s your girlfriend?” Sophie asked.
“Addison,” Gigi said matter-of-factly.
“Really?” Sophie asked, raising her eyebrows at me.
Gigi nodded. “My dad said you’re sprung.”
I pursed my lips and inhaled through my nose.
Sophie cocked her head. “Sprung?”
Gigi crossed her arms and cocked her hip. “It means he likes her so much he can’t think straight.”
The whites of Sophie’s eyes took over. “Is that true?”
“What do you think the frog would like to eat?” I asked, bending down and putting my hands on my knees.
“Gigi said Goldfish,” Sophie said, looking at her cousin for confirmation.
“Actually,” Gigi said. “They were for me.”
“How about some worms?” I asked, walking over to the fridge and sliding the bottom drawer open. It was supposed to be for lettuce, but I’d found it was great for keeping my fishing bait fresh.
“Okay,” Sophie said.
I handed her the carton.
Gigi shrugged. “I guess we could try them.”
“An ant or a snail might work, too,” I said. “But you guys will have to find those on your own.”
Sophie nodded towards the window. “We should hurry so it doesn’t hop away.”
“It’s under a flower pot,” Gigi said.
My lips fell apart.
“Don’t worry Uncle Wyatt. The pot’s upside down,” she said. “Can I get those Goldfish, though?”
I sighed.
“Please,” she added with a smile so manipulative I can only assume she learned it from Karen.
I pointed across the kitchen to the pantry. “You can have anything in there as long as you stay outside for the next ten minutes.”
Gigi turned on her heels and was rummaging in the pantry a moment later.
“Hurry up!” Sophie said, holding the door open with one hand while her other hand squeezed the small container of worms.
“I’m coming, jeez,” Gigi said, emerging from the pantry with her hand already in the box.
When they were halfway across the yard, I pulled my phone out and hopped up on the butcher block so I could keep my eye on them.
Then I dialed Addison’s number, which I already knew by heart.
She picked up on the third ring. “Hi.”
Her voice was like crack. Not that I would know. “Hi,” I said. “Am I catching you at an okay time?”
“Sure,” she said. “I’m still at work, but-”
“I can call you back later.”
“No, you can’t. I’ll be here for hours. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to see how your week is going?”
“Not too bad. Though I still feel bad I didn’t say goodbye to you before you left on Sunday.”
“Don’t,” I said. “I wish I could’ve stayed and spent the morning with you, but I had to pick Sophie up and you looked so goddamn agreeable in your sleep that-”
“Don’t I look agreeable when I’m awake?”
I laughed.
“Very funny.”
“I’ll make it up to you with a nice breakfast in bed sometime-”
“When?” she asked.
“Soon.”
“I’ll consider it.”
I could hear in her voice that she was smiling. “I’m glad.” I crossed my dangling ankles. “While you’re at it, would you consider something else?”
“What’s that?” she asked, lowering her voice so much that I felt like all I had to do to be in bed with her again was close my eyes.
“I was wondering what you’re up to this weekend?”
“Trying to get me drunk again?”
I smiled. “Of course.” I ran my fingers over my head and looked out the window to make sure I could still see two little blondes crouched down at the back of the yard. “But I’d like to feed you again, too.”
“Well, I do like to eat food on the weekends.”
“But I think I can do one better than that.”
“Oh?”
“Have you seen The Lion King?”
“The movie or-”
“On Broadway.”
“No.”
“Well, it’s supposed to be epic-”
“You didn’t strike me as a theater buff.”
“I’m not,” I said. “But Sophie gave me a hard time the other day about how she’s never seen me dressed up and-”
“Please tell me you’re in the show.”
“Not exactly.”
“You have the mane for it.”
“Thanks,” I said. “But fortunately, I think she’ll be sufficiently impressed by formal dress.”
Addison laughed. “Okay.”
“Anyway, I know she’ll love the show, and I’ll probably even enjoy it if she doesn’t insist on singing along to every song-”
“Good luck with that.”
“So I thought if you were around…”
Silence.
“Addison? You still there?”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“I realize it might not be your top choice for a night out, but I’m dying to see you after last weekend-”
“Uh-huh.”
“So what do you say?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know if you’re free or-”
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”
“Really?” I asked. “I thought it was one of my better ones.”
“Are you sure you really want to take me out on your date night with Sophie?”
“It’s not really a date. It’s more like an excuse to see you. Plus, it’ll give me a night off dinner duty.”
“Right.”
“And Sophie doesn’t mind?”
“Of course not.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well, I haven’t mentioned it to her yet so-”
“Have you considered the fact that she might not be that keen to share your attention?” she asked. “Cause I really don’t want to impose-”
“Are you kidding?” I asked. “If anything, she’ll probably think I’m the on
e imposing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means she thinks you’re enchanting and probably won’t even notice I’m there.”
“I don’t want to give her the wrong idea-”
“About what?”
“I don’t know,” Addison said. “About us? About my and her relationship?”
I furrowed my brow. Outside, Sophie and Gigi were taking turns trying to throw Goldfish in each other’s mouths from across the lawn. “I don’t mean to be dense, Addison, but I really don’t see what the big deal is.”
“The big deal is that I don’t want to be some wicked witch that comes between you and your daughter-”
What the fuck was she talking about?
“And I don’t want her to think I’m-”
“What?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Some kind of role model.”
I took a deep breath. Goddamn this woman and her crazy delusions. Why did she have to make everything so difficult? Had she already forgotten the Saturday night we just had? Or was she still freaked out that I had a kid? Or maybe it was just sex to her? Her odd reaction would certainly lead me to draw that conclusion.
“Not to be difficult, but-”
I laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You.”
“Me what?”
“You apologizing for being difficult.”
“That’s not very nice.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not always a walk in the park either but-”
“I have to go,” she said.
“Wait.”
Silence.
“Addison?”
“Yeah?”
“Hear me out for a second,” I said. “I just want to say two things.”
“Start with thing number one.”
“Okay,” I said, sliding off the butcher block and crossing my free hand across my chest. “The first thing is that you are the most difficult, confusing, infuriating woman I’ve ever met.”
“Charming-”
“But even though I don’t understand it myself, I’m absolutely crazy about you to the point that I don’t even mind what a pain in the ass you are because you have been nothing but worth the trouble since we met.”
“I’m not sure how to take that, but-”
“Give graciously a try.”
She groaned. “What’s the second thing?”
“The second thing is that I don’t know what you heard me say a few minutes ago, but allow me to set the record straight.” I cleared my throat. “I’m not asking you to be a role model, I’m not asking you to come between me and my kid, and I am most definitely not asking you to be Sophie’s mother. Okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m only asking if you want to go out to dinner and a musical, and while I’m as surprised about that last part as you are, I promise you that’s it. Nothing complicated. I don’t have a hidden agenda. I just thought it might be fun for me to take my two favorite people on a fancy night out.”
“I’m sorry, Wyatt. I didn’t mean to-”
“So do you want to come along or not?”
“Okay.”
“Great,” I said. “I’ll figure out when we need to pick you up by and shoot you a text as soon as I’ve made dinner reservations and-”
“Wyatt?”
“What?”
“Did you already buy the tickets for the play?”
“I did.”
“What if I’d said no?”
“I don’t know. I guess I would’ve donated them. Or taken Gigi along.”
“Right.”
“Though to be honest, I wasn’t worried about that happening.”
“Because you feel lucky or just because of your general arrogance?”
“Neither, actually.”
“So what was it then?” she asked. “What made you so positive that I would go along?”
“Besides the fact that I told you I was going to be all dressed up?”
“Yeah.”
“Because,” I said. “You’re totally sprung.”
“Unbelievable.”
“And even more than that-”
“What?”
“You know I am, too,” I said. “So there’s absolutely no reason for you to spend your Saturday night with anyone else.”
“Hmm.”
“Am I right or am I right?”
“I’ll see you on Saturday.”
I smiled. “Looking forward to it.”
And it was true. As soon as she hung up, I’d already forgiven her for being difficult and started looking forward to spending Saturday night with the two most fun people I knew.
And it was great to hear her voice, even though I still couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t being entirely upfront with me somehow.
But I couldn’t blame her.
Cause neither was I.
After all, the truth was I did have an agenda.
Because no matter how right Austin was about me being smitten, if Sophie and Addison didn’t enjoy each other’s company, there was no point in dragging this out- no matter how much chemistry Addison and I had.
So there was a lot riding on Saturday.
Maybe too much.
But I had to know if they could get along.
And the sooner the better.
Because if anyone was going to get hurt.
It sure as hell wasn’t going to be my daughter.
Chapter 2: Addison
When I knocked on Deborah’s door on Friday, she was already gone, which seemed odd because I thought she would’ve come by to tell me about my promotion that afternoon at the latest.
But I figured something had come up or that it had simply slipped her mind. After all, it was understandable that it wouldn’t have been her top priority, especially since bonuses wouldn’t be announced until the first of October which was over a month away.
Still, it would’ve been nice to be in a celebratory mood on my date with Wyatt the following night. Or outing, rather, since it couldn’t really be called a date with Sophie there.
And as much as I was looking forward to it, I was nervous, too. Would he be different with me around her? Not that I couldn’t handle a little less innuendo with my meal, but I was interested to see how he would juggle both of us.
And I hoped it was Wyatt that would do the juggling because if Sophie asked me to take her to the bathroom or cut her steak, well, that would be weird, wouldn’t it?
Okay, maybe not the bathroom thing. It wasn’t like I had a problem looking out for her. It was just that relating to children wasn’t exactly my forte.
I don’t know if it was because I loathed almost every single adult I knew growing up or because I was afraid I might break her wholesome, naïve outlook with a single slip of my tongue, but I couldn’t help but feel kind of awkward around kids. I mean, I’d never really felt like one.
Even on Saturday when Wyatt said how much fun all the Santa and tooth fairy stuff was, I couldn’t relate. When you grow up knowing it’s other people’s charity and not Santa that makes Christmas come or not, it’s hard for merriment to come naturally. Not that I begrudged children their fantasies. On the contrary, it was probably more accurate to say I envied them their carefree nature. And what kind of grown woman envies a child?
No wonder I made it my business to avoid them.
It was only four thirty when I arrived back at my office after trying to catch Deborah, and after seeing how many people had skipped out early, I was thinking maybe I ought to do the same.
Sure, I usually liked when it was quiet and often stayed at the office until six or seven to get a jumpstart on the next Monday so as not to ruin my Sunday nights… which I usually used to get a jump start on Tuesday, but I was pretty tired after conducting client interviews all week, and there wasn’t really anything left for me to do that couldn’t be done at home.
So I decided I’d go wild and see if I could get out of there by five t
hirty.
And I was just about to pack up my things when I heard a knock on my door.
I looked up.
Chris and his permanently smug face were leaning in the doorway with raised eyebrows. “Glad I caught you.”
I wished I could’ve said the feeling was mutual, but I was confident my gagging on the words would’ve given me away. “What can I do for you?” I asked, suddenly determined to look much busier than I was.
“I just wanted to say thanks for being such a formidable opponent and that I’ll be sure to put in a good word for you when it’s time for the next round of promotions.”
I furrowed my brows. “Sorry?”
He straightened up and his face dropped. “You haven’t spoken with Deborah?”
“No. I haven’t.”
“Oh.”
“Is there something you know that I don’t?” I asked, abruptly aware of the stillness in the room, the buzz of the florescent lights, the sound of people’s voices disappearing onto the elevator down the hall.
“I didn’t think so, but I guess if you haven’t talked to her then-”
“About what?” I asked, my neck suddenly hot. “Talked to her about what?”
“The promotion,” he said. “I guess the partners decided I was the man- sorry, person- for the job so-”
“Congratulations. You must be so pleased.”
He smiled, but it was more an expression of relief than joy. “Thanks,” he said, taking one step inside my office. “I am.”
“Well,” I said, putting my hands under my desk and pinching myself so my voice wouldn’t start to shake on me. “I guess I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Actually,” he said, scratching his head, “I was wondering if you might want to grab a quick drink. You know, to celebrate?”
I raised my eyebrows. “To celebrate your promotion?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. Why not?”
“I don’t think that would be appropriate.”
“Why not?” he asked. “We’re a team, right?”
If by team you mean arch enemies.
“Or I’ll see you Monday.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, have a great weekend,” he said, taking a step backwards out the door.
“You, too,” I lied, imagining a bus coming full speed down the hallway and taking him out.