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I sipped my drink and gazed out the window into the starlit night, grateful for the light that Lily had brought into my life. I made a silent vow to be the best father I could be—to give Lily the love, support, and understanding she needed, even in the absence of her mother. I truly hoped Dee was going to be a good influence in Lily’s life. I hoped she could see a strong woman who was brave enough to ask a total stranger for a job.
ChapterTen
Deanna
Iloved it. I loved my job. We were getting into a routine. Things were good. I loved hanging out with Lily. She was still warming up to me, but I felt like we were getting along pretty well. I loved hanging out in the massive house they called home. Ramsey said I didn’t need to do any of the cleaning, but I felt like a bump on a log sitting around waiting to pick up Lily. I did the laundry and cleaned up her room—not that there was a lot to clean up.
Ramsey had a housekeeper who came in a couple times a week. The house was so big, it never really looked messy, unlike my house. I left a shoe in the middle of the room and it looked like a disaster struck. I could leave twenty pairs of shoes around their house and you would never even notice. I went grocery shopping and made a couple of dinners. I was planning to do more shopping for them. Ramsey and I only talked a few minutes each night he got home from work and then I went home. I didn’t want to intrude on his time with Lily. I quickly learned it was very precious time for them.
Today, I was going to be taking her to the park to play. I found a soccer ball in the garage and thought it might be fun to do a little practice. Lily told me she was going to be playing in the spring. It was one of the sports she seemed to like. I wanted to encourage her to play.
I drove the fancy Mercedes to the school like I was taking my driver’s test and the tester was holding a cup of hot coffee with no lid. When Ramsey first showed me the car he wanted me to use to drive Lily around, I thought he was joking. I couldn’t believe me, Deanna Rich, the poorest kid in school, was driving around a black Mercedes. Not an old one either. It was new. There was only five-thousand miles on the car. It still had the new car smell.
I waved at one of the crossing guards as I pulled the car into the pickup line. The first few times I had to do the pickup I had sweated so bad I needed fresh deodorant. Ramsey warned me, but I thought he was exaggerating. I spotted Lily up ahead, talking to another little girl.
She saw me and quickly hopped in the backseat.
“Hey!” I greeted her without taking my eyes off the car in front of me. “How was your day? Did you have your spelling test?”
“It was good,” she answered.
“Do you know what grade you got on your spelling test?” I asked her.
“One hundred percent.”
I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw her smiling. “Good job,” I said. “I totally knew you were going to kill it.”
“Are we going to the park?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I don’t know how much time we’ll have to play before it starts to rain, though.”
The clouds had been building all day. They looked downright nasty. Even if we only got thirty minutes, that worked for me.
“It’s rains every day,” Lily complained.
“I know,” I said. “But it’s not raining yet. We won’t melt if it rains a little. I brought the soccer ball that was in the garage if you want to do a little practice.”
“Okay,” Lily said. “But my shoes.”
“I brought your play shoes,” I assured her.
I grabbed Lily’s play shoes, which were just Nikes with grass stains and a little more wear in them versus her school shoes. She quickly put on her play shoes. “I can’t get my uniform dirty,” she said.
“If you do, it’ll wash,” I assured her.
The afternoon sun was fading quick as the clouds crept in. Lily and I stepped onto the grassy field that was a little soft and squishy from all the rain. I could already feel the dampness seeping through my old shoes.
“Ready?” I asked her.
I was determined to make every moment we spent together unforgettable. And today, our plans took an unexpected turn when dark clouds rolled in, threatening rain again. Every day she asked to go to the park, but every afternoon it rained. I was going to get her to the park today one way or another.
Just as we started kicking the soccer ball back and forth, the first droplets began to fall. “Oh, come on,” I growled at the sky.
“It’s not too bad,” Lily said and kicked the ball back toward me.
I smiled. “You’re right.”
No sooner had I said the words than the rain picked up. I wiped my face and looked at Lily, expecting to see her sullen and disappointed again.
