The Forever Girl (Wildstone, #6)(40)

Denial had always been her best friend.

He’d been curious to see how quickly she’d sign the divorce papers. He’d expected to feel closure, but at the moment, he was regretting even handing her the docs, because he knew the truth now.

He was never going to find closure with her.

But there was no going back, which meant that once again, there was something out of his control and he was left waiting to see if she was going to pass on him like a bad habit.

Other than the group right here in this house, people didn’t walk toward him, they walked away. Hell, they ran. Even in his job, when people saw him coming, they ran. Granted, those were usually the bad guys. But his birth parents had walked. None of his foster families had kept him, including Caitlin’s parents. Okay, so their house had burned down and they literally couldn’t foster anymore, but still. Even the system had walked away the day he turned eighteen. But none of them had hurt him more than Maze.

No matter how hard he tried, he was always left standing alone with no one to count on except himself. But at least now he was choosing to be alone. His choice, his control, and he was okay with that. Or he had been.

Until he’d seen Maze again.

In the kitchen, he was surprised to find Heather at the table, head down, fast asleep. Sammie was in a Frozen princess nightgown, sitting in front of an open cupboard, empty food containers spread out before her. With one hand, she was gnawing on a piece of toast; the other was happily banging on a container with a wooden spoon. Roly and Poly were her avid audience, their buggy eyes locked in on her toast. Sammie grinned up at Walker and lifted both arms at him in silent, drooling demand.

There weren’t a lot of people who could get him to bend to their will, but this little thing could do it without trying. When he scooped her up, Heather’s head jerked upright. “Who? What? Where?”

Walker put a hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you go back to bed?”

Heather got to her feet. “No, I’ve gotta dress Sammie and then run to Home Depot for stuff for the reception. Maze’s been working her ass off, so I offered to take her list and do the store run.”

“The list?”

Heather fumbled in her jeans pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

Walker took it, kissed her on the top of her head, and nudged her out of the kitchen. “Go back to bed,” he repeated. “I’ve got Sammie and we’ll go to Home Depot.”

“They don’t open until six A.M.”

“It’s six thirty.”

Heather blinked sleepily. “Oh . . .” She smiled, but it turned into a yawn. “Time flies when you have a kid. But I can’t let you do this, it’s too much.”

She looked so exhausted that he didn’t want her on the road. “It’s okay, I’ve got this.”

“You only think you’ve got this. Trust me, running errands with her is a nightmare.”

Maybe, and granted, he knew zip about having a kid. But he did know a little something about being one. His childhood was a blur of never belonging or being wanted. He knew Heather’s past wasn’t all that different. The fact that she was raising Sammie on her own gutted him, but he was trying to stay a presence in their lives, for Sammie’s sake as well as Heather’s. And his own, if he was being honest. Besides . . . “How hard can it be?”

Heather snorted. “You’ll see, and bless you. Oh, and pro tip? She’s more cooperative if you play the Frozen soundtrack on repeat. Do you have it on your Spotify?”

Walker gave her a blank look.

Heather shook her head. “Never mind. Take my car. It’s got her car seat anyway, and the CD’s already loaded.”

Five minutes later Walker had Heather’s keys and was trying to get Sammie into the car seat. But Sammie didn’t want to get in the car seat, and apparently her superpower was the inhuman ability to turn herself into a limp noodle while screaming bloody murder at the same time.

“What’s going on?”

Walker turned and found Maze standing behind him, looking cool and calm, sipping coffee and looking vastly amused.

“Having fun?” she asked over Sammie’s screaming.

“Heather was too tired to adult,” he said. “So I said I’d go to Home Depot and get the stuff you needed.”

“And you got conned into babysitting while you were at it?”

“More like bamboozled. I actually volunteered.”

She laughed out loud, and damn, she had a great laugh. She bent to look into the back seat at Sammie, who was still using her vocal cords to their full extent. “Hey, kiddo, I’ll make you a deal. You let me buckle you in and I’ll buy you something at the store.”

Sammie went from crying to smiling in a single heartbeat. “Toy!” she squealed in delight, and let Maze buckle her in.

Maze straightened and gave Walker a victory smile.

“Doesn’t count,” he said. “You bribed her.”

“Doesn’t matter how, what matters is it worked.” She got into the passenger seat.

He slid behind the wheel and gave her a look. “You’re coming along?”

“Don’t want to miss you getting your ass kicked by a two-and-a-half-year-old.”

“There’ll be no ass kicking. It’s about setting expectations and having rules.”