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Watching him with her pulls at something deep inside me. I’ve mourned the loss of my husband, but I don’t know if I’ll ever mourn the loss of the father he was supposed to be to our little girl. I know what it felt like to have his eyes smile at me, what it felt like to be on the receiving end of one of his hugs, but Paisley, she doesn’t. Not just Steve, but any man. Now here we sit, with the all-star, the king of the Blaze, Easton Monroe, and he’s lavishing her—hell, if I’m honest—both of us with his attention, and my daughter is soaking it up like a sponge. Me, on the other hand, I’m fighting it—this pull I feel every time he ruffles her hair or returns her hug. Every time he smiles down at her then turns that megawatt grin on me, I’m fighting it, but I don’t know how much longer I can.
“There,” he says, setting down the napkin. “Now can we go, Mom?” he asks. I raise my eyebrows in question, and he shrugs. “We want to play Skee-ball.”
“One game, then we need to get going. It’s almost your bedtime,” I tell her. She nods her little head up and down like a bobblehead doll. Reaching into my purse for some singles, I turn to hand them the money, but they’re already gone, racing toward the games.
Just as I’m about to join them, my cell phone rings. When I see Chloe’s face on the screen, I know that if I don’t answer, she’ll keep calling back. “Hey,” I greet her, keeping my eyes on Easton and P.
“Where are you?”
“Pizza place just down from the stadium.”
“Oh yeah?” she asks coyly. “How was it today? Did you run into him?”
“I did. I saw Drew as well.”
“So I heard. I also heard the three of you left together.”
“We did.”
“And?”
“And what?” I’m evading, and we both know it.
“Spill it, woman.”
“He offered to take us to dinner and offered pizza. You know little miss loves her pizza.”
“Uh-huh, what next?”
“She was excited, and he’s been so good to her all day, I didn’t have the heart to tell her no.”
“What about you? Has he been good to you?”
“He’s… not at all what I pegged him to be. You should see him with her, Chloe. He jumps right in, cutting up her food, wiping her mouth. They’re now playing Skee-ball.” Once my words register, worry starts to kick in. “What am I doing? I can’t let my daughter get attached to him. Stupid,” I mutter to myself.
“First of all, it’s one day. Second, you’re not stupid. You need to open up, live a little. Drew assures me that East is a good guy.”
“Said the ax murderer’s mother,” I bite back.
She laughs. “You know better than that.”
She’s right, I do. There is just something about him, this feeling I get when he’s around that I know deep in my bones he’s a good guy. I would never let him get this close to Paisley otherwise. “Still,” I try to argue.
“Stop.” Chloe whispers something then comes back on the line. “You sound happy, Larissa. For the first time in a long time, I hear hope in your voice. Sure, you risk both of you getting hurt, but life can be painful. That little girl is stronger than what you give her credit for. She’s just like her mama.”
“I need to go,” I say, wanting to go to them.
“Call me later.”
“Yeah, let me get P home and in bed.” We end the call, and I stand to go find them. What I find has a few more of the bricks around my heart crumbling to the ground. Easton is sitting behind one of thos
e NASCAR driving games with Paisley in his lap, hands clutching the steering wheel.
“Turn to the left,” he tells her, laughing as they crash into a wall. “Your other left.”
“I don’t know which way that is.” She giggles. Her laughter is infectious, and I feel a smile spreading across my lips. An outsider looking in would never know that she’s not his daughter. They both have dark brown eyes, their hair’s an even match for color, and the way he is with her, that alone speaks volumes to me. I stand there and watch them laugh and cut up until the game ends. When Easton climbs out from behind the wheel, Paisley is in his arms, and he places her on his hip. She rests her head on his shoulder, and it takes everything in me not to let the sob that’s clogging my throat break free.
“Hey, there’s Mommy,” he says softly to her.
