Beautiful Broken Promises(79)
I felt the damn emotions bubbling up in my throat. There had been a time when I didn’t know if I would get these moments with her. I tried to clear my throat before I said, “Wow, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”
“You look handsome, daddy,” she chuckled.
I took her hand and escorted her to my waiting car. As she crawled into the backseat, an unwelcome thought occurred that her dates with me better be the only times she ever crawls into a backseat. Damn, I really am going to need that shotgun.
When we arrived, I tossed the valet the keys and helped Kate out of the car. At first, we were given strange looks, but as Kate quietly made her way through the entrance with a wide, ecstatic smile gracing her face, they all began to smile with her. We rode the elevator five hundred feet above the ground and Kate held my hand eagerly the entire journey.
She’d known exactly where we were when I pulled up. Every time we drove past downtown Dallas, she’d asked me about the big building that looked like it had a ball on top. I told her it was called Reunion Tower and that it had a fancy restaurant for adults way up there. That never persuaded her from asking if she could go up there one day.
Out of pure dumb luck, we recently contracted a job with the head chef and owner of that fancy restaurant. He actually ended up being this really cool Austrian man that told me he would be more than happy to accommodate Kate and me when he was in town at the restaurant.
So, while everyone here would be savoring their extravagant, seven-course meals, Kate will have chicken nuggets made by a famous chef and I’ll be devouring one of his legendary steaks with French fries.
Kate gasped when the elevator doors slid open and she took in her first glance at the view. There were floor-to-ceiling windows that perfectly displayed a fully illuminated downtown Dallas—it really was spectacular.
When the hostess greeted us, I immediately knew she had been informed of our arrival. She smiled brightly at Kate and guided us to a small table set up alongside the tall glass windows. Kate pressed her hands and face up against them and took in the vast city surrounding us.
“This is awesome,” she stated, her voice filled with awe. “I think I see our house!”
“It is impressive,” I chuckled. Not long after we were served our waters, the food was placed before us. A huge thank-you note would be necessary after this night was done. They were treating my four-year old perfectly.
“Kit Kat, do you like living in Texas?” I asked before she bit into a piece of chicken.
“It’s my favorite. I don’t want to move anymore,” she stated.
“Would it be alright if one day we moved to a different house but still stayed in Texas?”
“Would I still see Auntie Audrey and Uncle Jace?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“What about Uncle Jaxon?” I nodded, and she proceeded to list off the rest of my friends, all of which she considered family members. I continued nodding and she finally said, “Yeah, that would be okay.”
“I would do anything for you, you know that, right? No matter what, you’ll always be my number one girl.”
“Daddy, would you beat up a boy that pulled my hair?” she asked.
“I don’t think I’m allowed to beat up little boys, but if there’s someone doing something to you, I might need to have a very serious talk with him.”
“Bubba punched a boy at the park today.” The way she stated it as if it were no big deal almost made me chuckle.
“Why would he do that?”
“Because that boy pulled my hair!” Her immediate defense of her brother didn’t surprise me. Those two were always on each other’s side. “It’s not fair. Mama made him sit in time-out and he’s not allowed to have dessert tonight, but daddy, he said that he’s supposed to protect me. I didn’t want him to get in trouble though.”
I knew there was a right way to approach this subject, but damn, I sure wanted to go find that little guy and hug him tightly—and then take him out for a triple scoop of ice cream. “Kit Kat, mama was right. It’s not okay to just hit people, but I will tell Braden that he’s doing a good job of watching out for his sister.”
“Okay,” she replied, only half satisfied with my answer.
I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “How about we sneak some dessert back to him?” Raegan was going to kill me.
She lit up like the Fourth of July and practically bounced out of her seat. “Yes! Please, can we?”