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But, as soon as I called out her name, her face snapped in my direction, and she waved.
I motioned for her to come toward me, which she did.
“Look at you!” I said. “God, I haven’t seen you since you were about this tall,” I said as I held up my hand to about my waist. “You’ve grown so much.”
She laughed. “You sound like my dad.”
“First off, I’m not even in the same category as your dad,” I told her. “There is no comparison. How is he doing?”
“He’s alright. You know, stubborn as a mule and a smartass on top of it.”
“Sounds about right,” I said. “Are you ready to take this on? As we discussed?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”
“I’m counting on you to make it happen,” I said. “I want you to connect with Libby, and I’m sure she will respond to the effort you put in.”
“I’ll do my best,” she said.
“Your best is all I’m asking for,” I told her.
I tried not to stare, but it was nearly impossible for me not to. She really had grown into a beautiful young woman, and I had no idea she’d gotten tattoos. If there was one thing I really was attracted to on a woman, it was tattoos. I felt it was just adding art to the most beautiful canvas in the world, and I could barely keep my eyes off her.
But it wasn’t just her tattoos that got my attention. She had the deepest green eyes with hints of amber. I could get lost in them forever.
“Is Libby at school?” she asked.
I was glad to change the subject back to my daughter. It was like the reality check I needed in the heat of the moment.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll pick her up in about two hours. I figured I would come get you and take you back to the house. That way you can settle into your room and get comfortable with the house while I go pick her up. I also figured it would be good for her to be able to come home and meet you where she’s comfortable, too.”
“She already knows I’m going to be there though, right?” Erin asked. “I’m sorry, you probably know I was an only child, I’m not quite sure how much twelve-year-olds pay attention to things like this.”
“She knows. Don’t worry about her. She’s going to be a handful because she’s feisty and she knows what she wants. She’s opinionated, but she’s smart as a whip and she’s a lot of fun. I don’t know how open she’s going to be with you at first, but I want you to give her time and not take her distance personally. If she is distant, anyway. I’m not sure how she’s going to behave. If it’s more than you can handle, say so and I’ll find someone else.”
I knew I was being gruff, but that was how I did things. I didn’t fuck around. There were some things that were just black and white in my world, and this was one of them.
Inside, however, I was already hoping against hope it was going to be a good fit. I already liked her a lot. A lot more than I thought I would. In fact, there was a warning going off in the back of my head, telling me – no, warning me – to keep things where they should be. And that was my head out of my ass and my dick in my pants.
This was my best friend’s daughter. She was young enough to be my own daughter. I didn’t really think about it that way with my daughter being twelve years younger than Erin, but I had to remember that she was altogether off limits. I wasn’t going to let things even start to go in that direction.
“It’s beautiful here,” Erin said. “I thought it would be a lot more like North Carolina, but this is downright pleasant. Am I here to work or am I on vacation?”
I laughed. “It’s fine with me if you get used to it. Somehow having you here is like having your father here. Not that he’s girly or anything.”
Now it was her turn to laugh. “I’m going to tell him you said that.”
“He won’t be surprised. We spent an awful lot of time roasting each other while we were in the service,” I said.
“I bet. He’s certainly got the stories about that time in his life. Though he hasn’t really talked about it in a while. I’m sure there comes a point in your life when you just want to put it all behind you.”
“But you never can,” I told her. “It’s just one of those things that becomes part of you. You live with it, you carry it, you hopefully make peace with it, and if you don’t, then you die with it. But there are good sides, too. Like when you get to look at your beautiful family and know that you put in your time with the service to make sure they have the best lives they possibly can.”
“And I will forever thank you and my dad and every other service member for it,” she said.
“Here we are,” I told her, almost glad to change the subject.
“That didn’t take very long,” she said with wide eyes.
