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“What are you doing here, little miss Mia Fletcher?” He looks over her shoulder and meets my eyes for just a moment. To push a point home. To give me a heads-up when I had no damn clue.
“Shit.” Exhaling when our eyes meet again, Fletcher rubs a hand over his face and turns back to close the door. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d have comp—”
“It’s alright.” Arch speaks before I can. “You’re here to meet Chloe, aren’t you, Moo? You wanted to meet the pretty kitty?”
“Daddy said she has blue eyes! And white fur. And—”
As they walk away, I remain in place and begin the slow injection of my factor. The needle is already in, and the medication has been mixed. Stopping at this point would be annoying and unnecessary.
“She calls you Daddy.” I search Fletch’s expression and wonder why the little brown-eyed girl has been a secret up till now. “You have a daughter, Charlie Fletcher?”
Slowly, he unzips his coat and peels the fabric away. “You have a needle in your arm, Doctor Mayet?”
“You knew about mine,” I remind him. “Maybe you haven’t seen it, but you knew.” I look toward the hallway in the direction Archer took a little girl I had no clue existed. “Wanna tell me about it?”
“Her name is Mia.” Dropping his coat on the counter, then his keys, phone, and a stuffed monkey, Fletch comes a little closer to inspect my work. “She’s my daughter. She’s the light of my damn life.”
“I know that by looking at you two together.” Glancing up, I study his eyes and smile. “She looks a lot like you, Fletch. Same nose. Same jawline. Cheekbones. Honeycomb eyes, and goofy, oversized ears.”
Finding some of his usual playful self, he reaches up and cups his ears. “Don’t talk about ‘em. I’m sensitive.”
“Uh-huh. Did you just happen to meet her tonight, or were you keeping the secret from me?”
Dropping his hands again, he leans his hip against the counter and studies my hand as I work. “I was married to her mom.”
“Married?” Stunned, I inject too fast so I hiss from the stinging pain racing through my veins.
“You were married? In what universe?” I whisper frantically and slow my infusion. “You’re a slut. I see it with my own eyes every night I’m at Tim’s.”
Fletcher chuckles and watches the hallway, waiting for Archer and the girl to make their return. “I’m a slutnow. Because I enjoy banging women and not being responsible for them afterward.”
“Pig.”
“Scorned and wiser,” he counters with a sly grin. “Her mother is a little messed up, but we’re doing our best to raise Mia right. And in the meantime, I fuck around because I can, but I double-bag it and make sure I don’t make any more of those.” He nods toward the hallway and smirks. “Though, she’s kinda perfect, so it ain’t like I’m mad about the one I got.”
“You’ve asked me out a hundred times, Detective Fletcher. You didn’t think to inform me I’d become a stepmom if I accepted?”
He sniggers under his breath. “There was never a moment you considered accepting my offer.” Allowing his laughter to fade and his gaze to stay trained on the doorway, he turns so his shoulder brushes mine. “You’re here? I thought you were on a hiatus.”
“More like forced distance neither of us wants.” I lower my voice as Archer and Mia’s grow a little louder. “We’re unable to agree on some pretty big things in life, which is what’s forcing the hiatus. Can’t really have a relationship if we don’t agree on the fundamentals. But there’s something special here, so we’re both doing our best to make the other reconsider their position.”
“Who’s winning?” he asks. “You or Malone?”
“Right now?” I draw a deep breath as factor slides into my veins and stings as it passes through. “Neither of us. We’re both kinda stubborn.”
“Ya think?”
His question is taunting and hypothetical, so I don’t intend to answer, but I’m saved from doing so anyway as Chloe saunters along the hall, and right behind her scampers a little girl in cute leopard-print boots, with hair wild and curly now that her hat has been removed.
I watch Mia and the cat interact, while on the other side of the room, Arch stops and leans against the wall. Broad chest and surprisingly doting gaze, now that a little girl has entered our world.
I never once wondered what Archer would be like with a child around, but now I see it. I get to be a witness to theMoo-Moos andUncle Arches.
“Mia said Mommy has a friend visiting right now, so she and Daddy are having a sleepover at Daddy’s house.” Arch folds his arms and studies his friend, but every second or so, his eyes drop to my arm. “Everything cool in Copeland City, Fletch?”
“Same old, same old,” Fletcher responds. Then, “Moo? Can you come to Daddy for a second?”
“Okay!” She shoots up from her place on the floor and barrels toward her father until he catches her on the fly.
