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“Oh.” She glanced at the charcoal sandwich speculatively. “Well, can you take the burnt part off?”
My teeth were already on edge, but I knew she was just trying to be helpful. “I don’t think that would work, honey. It’s the whole sandwich.”
“Just take off the burnt piece, then cut the other piece in half. Ethan only eats a half sandwich, anyway. As long as it’s triangles, he won’t notice. And you can share mine.”
My heart swelled, and I swallowed down the sudden lump in my throat. When did she get so grown-up and smart?
“That is agreatidea, Olivia. Come here.” I drew her into a hug and squeezed her tightly. “Thank you.”
She grinned and wrapped her little arms around my neck. “No problem, Daddy.” She paused for a second. “But I should probably finish my homework,” she added, a little out of breath.
“Of course, honey.” I planted a kiss on the top of her head, then released her. “Go ahead.” I turned and started dissecting the sandwich, then checked on the tomato soup.
She waited until she was safely settled back into her seat to add, “Even if Ellie is your boss, she should be your girlfriend. I like her.”
I was still mystified about the reasoning behind this conversation, but I also didn’t want to shut her down. “Thanks for the vote, kiddo. I’ll think about it.”
“She likes you.”
Even though I knew it was coming from a nine-year-old, I desperately wanted it to be true. “What makes you say that?”
A smirk stretched across Olivia’s cheeks and she sat up straighter. “She watched you a lot at Fall Fest when you weren’t looking. She smiled at you a lot.”
“She did?”
“Uh-huh.” Her gaze dropped to the paper in front of her again.
It felt like there was a driver behind this conversation that I was still not seeing. “Livvie, why do you want Ellie to be my girlfriend?” I asked in a light tone.
She didn’t look up from her homework when she answered casually, “Because she’s nice, and she took us horseback riding.”
That’swhat this was all about. The bubble of excitement in my chest deflated in a way that only the innocent commentary of a child could manage.
“Ahh, so you think I should date Ellie so you can go ride horses again?”
“Yup.” She wrote the answer to a math problem carefully on the sheet without glancing my way.
That’s my kid.
* * *
The next day,all that kept spinning through my mind were Olivia’s words.“She watched you a lot when you weren’t looking. She smiled at you a lot.”
But did that actually mean anything? Ellie smiled a lot in general. She smiled at everyone. It was part of why she was so damn charming—Ellie never met an enemy, just a friend she didn’t know yet.
Obviously, she was smiling more at me now than she had the first couple of weeks we worked together, but that didn’t really signify anything since she was clearly pissed at the situation then. So just because she was more comfortable with my presence now didn’t mean there was any interest attached.
But what if there was? In the military, there’s a very strict chain of command. Definitive rules on who you can date, and what happens if the person you want to date is in the no-fly zone.
The boss is definitely in the no-fly zone.
But technically, Ellie wasn’t my boss. JJ was. And if I stayed on, it was just as likely that I would be in a different department. More than likely, if Ellie wanted to date me, too.
However, Aspen Ridge was run by people who were all basically family. Would any of them really be fine with me dating Ellie?
Just thinking about it was enough to tie my stomach up in knots.
It was baffling. There was no way this would work. I had to put her out of my mind and just hold out until I got out of this office. With any luck, in a couple of months I’d be working in a completely different building and I wouldn’t have to catch the tantalizing scent of her perfume wafting down the hall and drawing me into lurid fantasies.
