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“Um, what? I don’t usually theme her party at all since it’s just us and George’s family. Besides, it's next weekend. We wouldn’t have time to order anything.”
CJ snorted. “Obviously you don’t know me at all. There’s plenty of time. I texted the ladies in Lexi’s life thinking they might help me come up with ideas, but they’re so not helpful. Really, don't they know our girl at all? Obviously, it has to be a Cars’ themed birthday party.”
I bit my lip, stifling a smile at the mild outrage threading through his tone. “Obviously.”
“Right? I mean, their ideas are cute and all, and all of the decoration ideas and stuff they've been sending me would be adorable, but… Cars. I mean, they’ve met your daughter, right? She’d vroom, vroom all day long if I let her.”
I blinked. This man. He knew my daughter. He understood her. He cared about her. Things like this were what made it so damn hard to keep my thoughts of him innocent and pure. Needing to distract myself from his charm, I said, “I’m surprised my mom weighed in at all. She won’t be home until the end of spring. She was here for her first birthday, but she just took Lexi for a fun girls’ day to make up for missing her birthday last year.”
CJ shrugged. “Yeah, but she’s excited for the pictures, and we’re supposed to video call during cake.”
“That'll be nice. Thank you for arranging all of that, CJ.”
CJ smiled sweetly. “I’d do anything for our girl, you know that.”
My heart warmed at the generosity of this man. Why hadn’t I found someone like him before Lexi was born? This was the kind of partner I’d been praying for, and instead, he was my daughter’s manny. Sighing, I shook my head. “You're unbelievable.”
He shrugged. “I’m just doing my job.”
“First, I know better than that. Even though you live here, you're not supposed to be on call 24-7. Margie and I have spoken about it, and she’s wowed by your dedication. Plus, you've been staying on the weekends instead of going wherever you went before, which means you’re still cooking and helping out around the house. I had hoped…”
Extending his hand over the center counsel, he grabbed my wrist. “You'd been hoping what?”
Hanging my head, I squeezed my eyes shut. “It's dumb.”
He shook my arm. “Tell me anyway.”
“When I first decided to pursue having a child, I was alone. I’d dated plenty of men, but I hadn't found the one, you know?”
He frowned. “You and me both.”
I let my gaze rake from his baby blues down his torso. “I'm surprised no one’s snatched you up.”
“Well, people don't tend to find a man who watches children for a living all that appealing.”
I snorted. “Then they’re all idiots. You're exactly what I’d hoped for in a partner, but I found…”
He gave me a minute to collect myself, then prompted, “Found what?”
“So I started dating this man right around the time I found the perfect surrogate. My dad had been sick, but he and my mom had moved to Florida, and he seemed to be on the road to recovery.”
I felt like such a fool, but I trusted CJ. He’d proven time and again that he was in my corner and had my back. For whatever reason, I wanted him to understand why I hadn't pursued anything when we’d first met or after the kiss at the mall. Hell, I needed him to know how wonderful I thought he was. “By the time Lexi was born, my ex had shown his true colors. He wasn't interested in parenting her with me. In fact, he scoffed when I chose her name.”
“What? He didn't like the name Alexandra? It’s beautiful.”
I pictured Alan’s face, remembering the disgust, and shuddered. “He thought it was morbid because by then, my father had found out he was terminal. His name was Alexander.”
“You named her after him,” he said softly.
I nodded. “Yeah, I thought it was a perfect way to honor him. He was so excited to have a granddaughter.”
CJ pulled his legs up onto the recliner and scooted his body farther across the divide. Not for the first time, I wished we were sitting on the loveseat part of the couch. I wanted to lean into his larger body and soak up his warmth. “Did he get to meet her?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yeah, he lived long enough to see my baby hold her head up on her own.”
CJ's hand slid down my arm until he reached my hand, entwining our fingers together. “I'm sure meeting Lexi made his last days full of so much joy.”
“My mom says that she did.”
