Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Girl, I’ve got you,” Kace said. “Benny’s got it all. Nathan, you can go meet up with your guys at the guest house. Everything’s chill here.”
My chest tightened. Kace was going above and beyond, acting like the guardian angel that we hadn’t asked for. “Are you sure?”
“Go, Dad,” Maddy said, giving me a sympathetic look. “I already derailed your morning enough.”
“Nonsense,” I told her. “Have fun. I’m going to go make sure your uncle isn’t tearing the whole guest house down already.”
Kace and Maddy were already getting into a conversation about some video game as I walked off. Once I was back outside, I turned around to glance through the glass.
They were laughing about something now, and for the first time all morning it looked like Maddy was truly starting to feel okay.
My heart felt like it was about two sizes too big for my chest.
Kace didn’t have to be doing any of this. He was just naturally this way; always kind, always generous, and always wanting everyone around him to be feeling their absolute best. It was a complete breath of fresh air, especially after years of worrying that my past would be a red flag to women I went on dates with. I had always worried that I came with too much baggage. That my daily life of being a dad would be too much. That the women I dated wouldn’t understand that my daughter would be my number one priority.
…Not that I was dating Kace.
I bit the inside of my cheek as I walked through the heat of the morning sun. The back path in Kace’s yard was alive with birdsong, butterflies, and a gentle breeze, and suddenly I found the morning catching up with me. I tried to put the brakes on the swirling current of emotions as I made my way toward the guest house.
For the first time all morning, I got to contemplate the night I’d spent with Kace.
Fun. It was just fun, like everything else we’d done. Nothing more complex than that. He didn’t want to “date” me, and I sure as hell hadn’t even begun to think about the implications of being attracted to a man for the first time. Why the hell had my mind jumped to comparing Kace to past dates I’d been on?
“There he is,” Shawn called out from beside the guest house as he glimpsed me coming down the path. “She’s here? She’s okay?”
“Maddy is fine,” I said. “I’ll talk with her later about safety with older boys, and I might revisit that house to do my best Liam Neeson impersonation for those guys. But all I care about now is that she’s safe.”
Shawn gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. “Thank God. Maybe I’ll tell Maddy about my horror story from Las Vegas and put the fear into her.”
I snorted. “My daughter does not need to know that her uncle almost lost hundreds of dollars to a guy in a hotel claiming he was a doctor.”
“He claimed he was a physical therapist,” Shawn corrected me before turning to Charlie to tell him the rest of the story. “And it turned out the only physical therapy he wanted was to have me run drugs from one hotel to another, and somehow pay him in the process.”
“Scammers are going to scam,” Charlie said. “I’m glad Maddy’s okay, Nathan.”
I clapped my hands together. “I want to get to work.”
“Plenty of that for you here,” Charlie said. “Let’s do it.”
The boys already had Abbey Road playing on our work stereo, and Tristan and Jack were across the house, already starting demolition. Finally I was where I felt most at home: helping out on the beginning of a big, new project. I hummed along to “Oh Darling” as I finally got to work with the guys, ripping out the partially damaged drywall that was in the guest house bedroom.
Sweet fuckin’ relief.
I let myself get lost in my work as the day went on. My thoughts drifted back to Maddy in moments, and Kace in others.
It felt damn good to know that my daughter was safe here. Safe and probably happier than she would be at home. I had felt safe here last night, too. Being at Kace’s house was like a big hug in the form of a home, and that was something I never thought I could feel about a big, modern, glass mansion.
Shawn had brought us homemade sandwiches for lunch, and as I took ten minutes to wolf one down, I checked my phone. I had a text from about an hour ago.
>>Kace: Maddy is awesome, and she’s doing great, Nathan. Turns out you’re not just a hot dad, you’re also an amazing dad. Now get back to work.
My heart soared. I’d given up wondering why texts from Kace got me so excited. I jotted back a quick thank you message to him.