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I struggled to keep my voice calm as we drove away from the Starbucks. Kaylee was in the back seat, humming happily while sipping on her hot chocolate. I wished our daughter wasn’t with us so I could give Jordy a proper piece of my mind.
“Dearie?” I said over my shoulder. “Are you listening to your headphones?”
She nodded while staring at her iPad.
“Good. Turn the volume up a smidge, would you?”
“Hear me out,” Jordy said. “They can come with us to Europe. Both of them!”
I struggled to keep my voice even as I said, “You want to bring our eight-year-old daughter along with us on a foreign contract?”
“I’m not saying we bring Kaylee on location. I’m just saying they come along with us and stay in the nearest major city. Where our base of operations is. Think about it, Archer. We would get to see them almost every night.”
“Kaylee,” I hissed at him. “We would get to seeKayleeevery night. Notthem.”
“Right. That’s what I meant. Come on, man. What are the odds she’s working at the same Starbucks we happened to stop at? Thathasto be a sign. Right?”
I shook my head in disbelief. Jordy had a habit of falling for women like this. It was the most predictable thing about the man, and it drove Harrison and me crazy. Seeing him do it yet again was incredibly frustrating. Like watching a car crash in slow motion and being unable to stop it.
Like hell I can’t stop it.
“We can’t do this,” I said.
“Why not?” he demanded.
“Because it’s reckless,” I replied. “And we shouldn’t be making large decisions so impulsively.”
“Do youwantto go months without seeing our daughter?”
“Of course not. But that doesn’t mean…”
I trailed off as Jordy reached into the back seat and removed Kaylee’s headphones. “Sweetie, do you love your daddies?”
“Of course,” she said simply, as if he had asked her if the sky was blue.
“Would you be sad if you couldn’t see us for a long time?”
“So sad!” she squealed. “Who would tuck me in at night?”
I glared over at Jordy. “That’s a foul thing to do, and you know it.”
To his credit, he winced. He did have some shame, even when he was being pushy.
The frustrating thing was that he thought I didn’t want it as much as he did. Which, of course, was not true. I desperately wanted to spend every day of my life with Kaylee. My heart ached at the thought of being apart. I had been dreading this trip as much as Jordy. I just didn’t flail about looking for half-baked solutions.
But if Kaylee came with us…
I allowed myself to consider it for a moment. Seeing Kaylee every day in Europe. Or if not every day, often enough to make a difference. Tucking her in at night. Reading her a bedtime story. Being there when she woke up in the morning and gave me the first sleepy hug of the day.
It was tempting. My soul ached for it. Not to mention a woman like Trish being around, the woman we had been eying at the gym for months…
“No,” I said.
“She’s coming by the house in an hour,” Jordy replied.
“She most certainly is not,” I said. “We have packing to do. The equipment needs to be shipped out tomorrow so it will be waiting when we arrive. Not to mention all the other logistics I need to see to.”
“Let’s all talk,” Jordy insisted. “Nothing else. Just talk.”
