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“Where are we going, Daddy?”
“It’s a surprise. Here.” Leaning over her, he opened the glove compartment and pulled out a pair of sunglasses.
“Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” She stroked the rose gold frames with reverence. “The Tom Fords I’ve been drooling over. Oh, my God. But you said they were too expensive.”
“I said youcouldn’tbuythem. I never said you couldn’thavethem.”
“That’s a distinction without a difference,” she said, slipping them on and immediately flipping the visor down to admire her reflection. In the waning sunlight, they were even more gorgeous than they had been in the store.
“Maybe. Do you like them?”
“I love them.” Even through her excitement, she couldn’t help but feel there was something she was missing. “James, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine.” Taking her hand in his, he lifted his fingers to his lips. “Can’t a Daddy spoil his little girl every now and again?”
“Spoiling me is letting me have ice cream for dinner. This is… extravagant.”
“Livvy, just relax. I thought we could use a quick vacation and I wanted to buy you something pretty. End of story.”
“Okay.” It most definitely wasnotthe end of the story. But she also knew that tone of voice; her Daddy was done talking about it and if she kept pressing, she’d just end up getting in trouble. Not wanting to ruin their weekend before it even started, she let it go.
And since he was so intent on spoiling her, she took the liberty of hooking her phone up to the car’s audio so she could blare her ‘Road Trip’ playlist. James shook his head, but she caught him singing along with nearly every song.
They passed their usual exit and she turned to him, raising her voice to be heard over the music and the wind. “Aren’t we going home?”
“Nope. Already packed your bags.”
“But what if you forgot something?”
“I didn’t. Just relax and enjoy the drive, Livvy.”
Oh, well. If he had forgotten something, it would just give her an excuse to go shopping once they got where they were going. Determined to enjoy the trip, she settled back against the soft-as-butter leather seats and sang along with the playlist at the top of her lungs while they drove.
Their destination became clear about twenty minutes into the drive, and Olivia bounced excitedly in her seat. “The beach? Are we going to the beach?”
James glanced over and winked. “I thought we could check out some of the houses I’ve been looking at.”
“We haven’t been to the beach in forever!”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t the words so much as the tone that had her looking over. “I didn’t mean it like that, Daddy. We’ve just been busy.”
“I should never be too busy to take my little one to her favorite place.”
“Well, we’re going now, so that’s all that matters. Ohh, can we go to that little seafood place we like tonight?”
“Whatever you want, Livvy.”
Satisfied with his answer, she settled in again. The drive only took a couple of hours, and he seemed happy to let her control the radio, which hardly ever happened, so she took advantage and played all of her favorite songs.
Dusk was setting in, turning the sky brilliant shades of red and purple by the time they pulled into the driveway of a stunning house right on the water. “Isn’t this one of the ones you showed me the other night?”
“Yup. The owners are still renting it out while they’re trying to sell, and they happened to have an opening this weekend. I thought it would give us a chance to see if we really liked it.”
“I love it! Let’s make an offer.”
Laughing at her exuberance, James shut off the car engine and winked. “Let’s take a look around before we make any decisions, Livvy.”
