by Sam Crescent
He sighed.
His software company had taken off a couple of years after he graduated college. He’d paid off all of his debts and hadn’t looked back.
Opening the fridge, he saw it wasn’t stocked. No doubt, she was budgeting.
He made a note to pick up some groceries. Katie was an eater, and he didn’t want Ann going without because she fed his girl.
Beer and soda in hand, he walked back into the yard. Snapping the can open, he stepped up close to Ann.
She was warm but he didn’t touch, even as he wanted to. She’d pulled her hair down over one shoulder, exposing the other.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
Katie came bundling out with a pair of shorts over her swimsuit. Her hair brushed and in a ponytail. He often wondered where her desire for a pony had come in.
Stepping away from Ann, he took a seat, watching his little girl as she walked up to Ann.
This was dangerous.
Katie kept on talking and he couldn’t hear everything as a plane flew overhead. It was funny, though, as Ann started to laugh.
She finished grilling the steaks, put them on a plate, and walked back to the table. “I’ve already made the salad. I’ll be back.”
She left and he watched her walk.
“Do you like her, Daddy?” Katie asked. “She’s really cool.”
“I know.” He avoided the question about liking Ann. His little girl didn’t need to know how Ann appeared in his thoughts, regularly. All dirty.
She came back to the table and sat down opposite him and Katie. “Help yourself. I hope you like everything.”
Before he got a chance to, she was already cutting up Katie’s steak for her. He served them all some potato salad, followed by some crunchy coleslaw. The food was delicious. Katie often talked about Ann’s cooking but he’d never really gotten a taste.
“I’m going to school soon,” Katie said with a pout.
“I know, I remember you saying. Next week, right? Start of September?”
“I don’t want to go.”
“How come?” she asked.
He watched her. Ann seemed genuinely curious about his little girl. She smiled at her, and damn it, he was charmed as well.
Fuck.
This was dangerous. Back in the city, he had a whole flock of women he could call up who knew the score, and who he fucked on a regular basis. This was supposed to be a fresh start for the both of them.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to go. People will laugh at me.”
“They will not,” Ann said. “You’ve got to give people a chance.”
“Did you hate going to school?” Katie asked.
“I was afraid but it was awesome. Honestly, I had so much fun. You’ll find a best friend, maybe two or three. It’ll be fun. Birthday parties as well. Learning is always fun. I love to learn.”
His little girl smiled. “You think so?”
“I know so. You’re a lovely girl, Katie. I would have totally been best friends with you, like we are now. If I could, I’d go to school with you. I’m a little old though now.” Ann turned to him, a smile on her lips. “If your dad is okay with it, afterward you can come and tell me all about it. I can make muffins for us to eat. Ice cream, milkshakes, muffins.”
“Yes, Daddy, can I? Can I?”
“I don’t see why not. So long as you give school a chance.” He hadn’t wanted to send her to boarding school. His life had changed one day, as he’d sat in a restaurant for a business meeting. Katie was with one of her nannies, and as he sat there, he’d looked across the restaurant to see a father and daughter eating dinner. Only, the little girl had been staring at her dad, looking close to tears while her father was on the phone. All throughout dinner, he’d sat on the phone. Each free moment, he’d been drawn to the couple and not once did the dad stop on his cell phone.
It reminded him of himself and Katie. Even when he went home and they ate dinner at the table, Katie would talk but he’d only half listen. Seeing what he was doing in plain sight, he knew he had to make a change.
This was the change he made.
He still ran his company but he’d employed a manager to do the main running of the place, while he oversaw everything else, from his computer at home.
It was taking some adjustment, but he was determined to make it work.
“Then it’s a date,” Ann said.
He watched and listened as Ann made arrangements with Katie. They were really getting along. After their meal, Katie ran into the living room, curling up on the sofa while Ann did the dishes.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said as he started to dry.
“You cooked. You should put your feet up, and relax. Dinner was lovely.”
“Thank you.” She washed a couple more plates. “I want to apologize. I don’t mean to overstep any kind of boundary. I’m sure your wife—”
“I’m not married.”
“Oh, well, Katie’s mother—”
“Is dead. We never married. In truth, we couldn’t stand each other. It was a one-night stand out of anger that turned into a pregnancy. Katie’s mother died in childbirth.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Katie’s mother wasn’t a nice woman. They often ended up fucking after a long, drawn-out battle, and he’d hated himself afterward.
He’d never wanted her to die, but she asked for him to take care of their little girl, no matter what. She even got a contract for him to sign, not that he needed any kind of legal requirement to take care of his flesh and blood.
“Ann, I’m not a man who will be forced to do things he doesn’t want to do. You hanging out with my daughter is fine, but heed this warning, when you move on, there will be no chance of you coming back. My daughter is my first, only, and main priority, and that is how it will stay.”
End of sample chapter
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