Page 10 of Chasing Honor

“Um. The ad said four hundred a month, utilities included. Is that right?” she asked once again looking around the house.

“Yep.”

“What’s the catch?”

“The catch?” I questioned, not understanding where she was going.

“Four hundred a month for this house is a steal. Do you have other roommates? Throw wild sex parties. Drink too much?”

“No, no, and no. It’s just Carson and me.”

“Carson?”

“My daughter.” I could see she had questions and before she could ask I continued. “There are a few rules. No boyfriends spend the night without me meeting and approving of them first. Always set the alarm when you leave. And clean up the kitchen after you use it.”

“Boyfriends?” she huffed.

“Or girlfriends. Whatever floats your boat. My daughter lives here. All I ask is that you respect that and understand her safety is all that’s important to me.”

That was true, but I’d made up the boyfriend part on the fly. Partly to see if she had a boyfriend and because the thought of seeing Honor with a man made my fists clench.

“I work from home. Is that going to be a problem for you?”

“You’re a photographer, right?”

“Yeah. I sell fine art still images. But I’m also a graphic artist.”

“Daddy?” Carson called from the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, Squirt?”

“Can I come down and get a drink?”

“Sure.”

Carson came bouncing down the stairs but stopped short when she saw Honor standing in the living room. She looked between the two of us then her gaze settled on me.

“It’s okay. Come meet Honor.”

Carson’s nose scrunched. “That’s a funny name.”

“Carson Rose. That’s not polite.” I scolded.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It is funny, isn’t it? My momma named me Honor because my dad was in the Army. He was actually on deployment when I was born and didn’t get to meet me until I was six months old,” Honor explained.

“My pop was in the Army,” Carson beamed.

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah. He retired. Now he just takes me fishing and plays football with me and helps me with my back-walk-overs.”

“He sounds like a great pop. You’re pretty lucky.”

“I am. My pop says I’m the luckiest girl in the world because I have so many people who love me. But who couldn’t help but love me?” Carson cocked her head to the side and batted her eyelashes. “Did it work? Gran says I need to work on it some more. But soon I’ll be good enough Daddy won’t be able to tell me no.”

“Is that so?” I chuckled. “Gran’s teaching you bad habits.”