Yours for Christmas (Fool's Gold #15.5)(20)
He picked her up and carried her into her mother’s bedroom. Bailey lay asleep on her bed. Kenny returned to the living room and sat on the sofa with her on his lap.
“You see she’s okay, right?”
Chloe nodded.
He smiled at her. “You’ve had a lot to deal with, munchkin. Moving to a strange town, then losing your dad. You’re about to move into a new house. And while the new house is going to be wonderful, it’s still a change. And sometimes change is upsetting. Even a good one. We like our routines.”
She watched him, her big green eyes focused on his face.
“When your mom fell, you were scared.”
Chloe nodded.
“You know she’s okay, right? That it’s just a sprain and she’s not in danger.” What he wanted to say was Bailey wasn’t going to die, but he didn’t know if that was too much. “Normally you’d be okay with it, but right now it’s harder.”
Another nod, this one a little slower. Some of the worry faded from her eyes. “It’s like when I’m tired and I get cranky when I wouldn’t usually?”
“Yeah. Just like that. There’s a lot going on and then you saw your mom hurt. It scared you. It would scare anyone. I think that’s probably why you had the dream about your dad.”
He touched her nose. “You know your dad loves you. He’s always going to love you. Just because he’s not here, doesn’t mean the love goes away. It’s like the blue sky. Just because you’re not looking doesn’t mean it’s suddenly purple or green.”
She smiled. “Because he’s my forever dad?”
Soft, sweet words that hit him in the gut. Longing so fierce and intense that it stole his breath caught him in a vise grip and didn’t let go.
Because that was what he’d wanted with James and what he still wanted. He was one of those traditional guys who had always assumed he would get married and have kids. Not special dreams, but his all the same.
The problem was after Natalie, he’d been reluctant to trust again. There had been girlfriends, but none of them had truly touched his heart. In fact the first woman to get his attention in that way happened to be the mother of the little girl sitting on his knee.
Chloe slid to the floor and yawned. “Thanks, Kenny. I feel better. I’m going back to bed.”
“I’ll walk you.”
He got her settled, kissed her on the forehead, then retreated to the sofa. But he didn’t bother lying down. He knew he wouldn’t sleep. Not when everything he wanted was so damned close, and yet completely out of reach.
CHAPTER SEVEN
BAILEY WIGGLED INTO her Spanx camisole and smoothed it into place. Tonight was the triple-date dinner at Henri’s with Kenny. Not that they were dating. They were friends joining two other couples, one of whom was married, while the other was engaged. No big deal.
Except thinking about that over and over didn’t seem to be getting the message to the butterflies currently practicing their Nutcracker ballet in her stomach.
She’d been lucky with her sprain. The following morning she hadn’t needed her crutches at all. The swelling had gone down quickly and by the second day, there wasn’t much pain. She’d been careful to wear flats for the week so she could save her ankle for tonight.
She pulled her holiday sweater over her head. It was black with stylized bows knit into the pattern. All of the bows were white, except for one red one. She had her faux diamond-stud earrings she’d purchased on sale and a pair of too-high sexy black heels she’d gotten at a clothing exchange.
Bailey studied her reflection in the mirror. She’d done her best with her makeup. Her hair was good—long and thick with a curly wave. She thought she looked nice. But what would Kenny think?
She’d given up on the just-friends thing. She had a crush on him and all the sensible talk in the world wasn’t going to change that. The truth was they would be seeing a lot of each other over the holidays. She would enjoy every minute of that. But come the first of the year, she was going on a Kenny diet. She had a feeling that giving him up was going to be a lot harder than giving up carbs, which happened to be the second of her resolutions for January.
She didn’t have a choice. Not only had he made his feelings extremely clear, but she’d also actually taken the time to do an online search of him the previous night. The results had not been easy to see. While there weren’t many pictures of Kenny with the woman he’d thought of as the mother of his child, there were more than enough of him with beautiful, talented, sexy, thin women. Models and actresses. A couple of athletes and a woman who had founded a successful nonprofit while still in her teens.
If one ignored the beautiful and successful part, he didn’t seem to have a physical type. There were blondes, brunettes and a smattering of redheads. Some were short, some were tall. But not one of them had been curvy. Or plump. Or fighting an extra twenty pounds. There also hadn’t been any executive assistants or schoolteachers or hairstylists. In a word, Kenny didn’t seem to favor normal when it came to the women in his life.
Which made the need to get over him even stronger.
She got her coat and her least sensible handbag, which was still a pretty utilitarian black shoulder bag, and walked into the living room. Chloe was staying with her friend Allison for the night, saving Bailey the cost of a babysitter.