Broken Course (Wrecked and Ruined #3)(87)

I move around the table and sit down in the chair next to the frightened girl. Jesus, Leo isn’t wrong. She looks just like him.

"So how old are you, Liv?" I ask, propping my purse on the table between us.

"Five," she answers, looking down at her lap.

"Wow. I thought you were at least twenty," I say seriously, and her eyes pop to mine—a small smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.

"Are you his wife?" she asks quietly.

"Not yet. We’re engaged though. So I’ll be his wife soon."

"Oh. Okay." She looks back down at her lap.

"What’s your middle name, Liv?" I try to keep her talking.

"Kaitlin," she responds but gives me nothing else.

"Really? Mine’s Kate. That’s kinda close."

She once again looks up at me, but her expression is timid.

"Let’s see what else we have in common. What’s your favorite color?"

"Purple."

"Mine’s baby blue," I respond, and I can see her trying to hide a smile.

"That’s a boy color." A full-blown smile creeps across her face and it renders me speechless. Definitely Leo’s child. Unexpected emotions begin to manifest in my chest as tears leak from my eyes.

"No, it’s not," I laugh and begin digging through my purse to keep her from seeing my eyes.

"Yes, it is." She lets out a small giggle before going quiet again.

"Hey, you like makeup?" I ask when I run across my compact at the bottom of my purse. I look up to catch her nodding quickly. It’s so freaking cute that it makes me laugh. "Okay, then. How about I give you a little makeover? Don’t tell your dad I’m letting you wear makeup though. Just a little secret between us girls, okay?"

"Okay," she whispers, and it seems whatever headway I made with the makeup has been quickly erased at the mere mention of Leo.

For the next few minutes, she sits while I apply a very thin layer of makeup. Most of the time, I just use the brush without any color on it, but she doesn’t need to know that. Finally, I let her pick between my three lip glosses, and of course she choses the bright red that is sure to earn us a few looks as we walk out of here. As a show of solidarity, I apply some too even thought it completely clashes with my pink top.

Just as we are finishing up, Leo comes walking back in carrying a plastic bag. I give him a questioning look and he only shrugs before aiming his attention back on Liv.

"Wow. Um. You look beautiful," he tells her, barely containing his laugh.

She quickly looks away, embarrassed by his compliment.

"So, you ladies will never believe where I’ve been. Did you know that there is a machine filled with candy here?" he says exaggeratedly, and my heart melts as her head snaps up to his. "You have to use quarters, but luckily, I met a nice lady who made change for me." He tosses me a wink.

I let out a relived breath. Yeah, he packed it down all right.

"Well, I decided I should bring you some candy to try to get us off on the right foot. I mean. Everyone loves candy, right?"

Liv excitedly nods.

"Then it occurred to me that I don’t know you so well. I had no idea which kind of candy would be your favorite." He leans over the table, puts his hand up, blocking his mouth from my view, and whispers, "So I got them all." Then he flips the bag over, dumping at least twenty candy bars onto the table.

I let out a loud laugh as her eyes go wide at the sugar coma waiting to happen before her.

"Liv, I’m sorry I was so weird earlier. I was just a little nervous. My name is Leo James and I’m your dad. I know I haven’t been around much, but I’m here from now on. Forever. Okay?" He leans forward to catch her eye.

"Okay." She answers, reaching for the candy.

"Oh, and there are some crackers in there too just in case you don’t have a sweet tooth." He reaches out and snags his own chocolate bar off the table.

"All right, you two. How about, before we dig into this mountain of candy, we grab some lunch. Everything settled?" I ask Leo.

"Yep." He barely tears his gaze away from Liv long enough to answer me.

As I gather my purse and makeup, from the corner of my eye, I see Leo sneakily slide a candy bar across to her before packing the rest back in the bag. She even giggles as she tucks it inside the backpack that’s beside her on the floor.

Just as we get to the door, Liv quickly moves to my side farthest from Leo and grabs my hand. She gives me a wary glance that makes my heart drop. I squeeze her hand reassuringly and her small body seems to relax. Leo watches our interaction and kisses my temple with gratitude. Although I’m not sure why he’s thanking me. I’m loving every second of this.





"THEY’RE ALL dirty," Sarah whispers as we get back to the hotel.


"What do you mean dirty?" I ask for clarification as my head starts to pound.

"Calm down." She pushes me into the bathroom and eases the door behind us.

Lunch was fantastic and entirely too short. I guess Liv hasn’t been sleeping very much recently. I have no idea if five-year-olds still take naps, but it was clear that she was in need of one as her eyelids drooped while we sat at the kid-friendly restaurant Sarah had picked out. As soon as we got back to the hotel, Sarah put on some cartoons, and within minutes, Liv was out.