Speaking of Kinley…
Me: Hey, I’ll be there to pick you girls up at three for Lexi’s appointment.
Kinley: Okay, but, Evan, you got this.
Me: Are you bailing on me, Mills?
Kinley: Never! But you got this daddy thing down.
Me: At home, but out, not so much.
What if we’re out and she needs something, or something happens that I can’t handle. What if the doctor asks a question I can’t answer about my own daughter? Kinley went with me on her first appointment. I asked her to go again on the second, and for this one, I didn’t ask, just told her the day and time and made sure she knew we, as in the three of us, needed to be there.
Kinley: We’ll be ready.
Me: Thank you.
I shove my phone back in my pocket and go back to the paperwork surrounding me. I love the business, working with the horses, even the cattle, but the accounting part not so much. It’s a necessary evil.
Glancing at the clock, I have three hours before I have to pick up the girls, and I still have to meet with the staff about some new horses coming in this week. With a heavy sigh, I dig into the pile of receipts, no longer able to put it off.
“Let’s get dinner,” I suggest to McKinley once we are back in the truck. Lexi passed her two-month check-up with flying colors. She had to get vaccines this time. That was so fucking hard. She wailed and I wanted to push that damn nurse away from her. Instead, I scooped her up in my arms as soon as she was done. Her cries turned to a whimper, and when McKinley started talking to her, she stopped all together. It appears that not only am I enamored with Kinley, but my daughter is as well.
“Sure. You sure you’re ready for this?” she laughs.
“Yeah, you’re with me. I wouldn’t do it by myself, not yet anyway.”
She just shakes her head at me. “Evan, you know what you’re doing, and I know for a fact you would rather cut off a limb than hurt that little girl.” She points in the backseat.
I don’t say anything, because she’s right. “What sounds good?” I ask instead.
“Well, we need to go somewhere family friendly.”
“Pizza?”
“Perfect.”
It’s always easy between us, just something else to add to my ever- growing list of how amazing she is. Like I need that list to grow.
“I’ll grab a high chair for her seat,” Kinley says, holding the door open for me. She has her purse and the diaper bag slung over her shoulder, while I carry the car seat. I stand and watch in fascination as she talks to one of the waitresses, who nods her head. “She’s going to bring it over,” she says, smiling as she stops to stand in front of me. “She said we could sit anywhere. I say away from the door. We don’t want all that cold wind on Lex.” She turns to walk toward the back of the restaurant.
All I can do is follow her.
“Here you go,” the perky young waitress says. Kinley sets the car seat on the chair and it fits snug. Huh, I would have never known to do that. “Your daughter is adorable,” she says to Kinley.
“She’s not…thank you,” she says softly.
The waitress hands us menus and tells us she’ll be back. “I’m sorry,” Kinley says immediately.
Looking across the booth, I see her face is red with embarrassment.
“Sorry for what?”
“I let her think Lexi is mine. I shouldn’t have done that. I just…It was easier than explaining that we’re friends. Shit, I should have just said she’s my niece.”
Reaching across the table, I clasp her hands in mine. “McKinley, look at me.” My thumb traces her knuckles as I wait for her to look at me. “Please,” I give her hands a gentle squeeze.
She looks at me from under her lashes.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. You are the closest thing to a mother this little girl has ever known. Fuck, Kinley, we could only be so lucky if you held that role for her, for both of us.” I clamp my mouth shut, already saying too much.
“Evan.” My name falls from her lips.
“No,” I cut her off. “Forget it. You did nothing wrong. It’s no one’s business.”
“This is a small town,” she counters.
“Yeah, and I don’t really have two fucks to give any of them. You, McKinley, have been there for us---” I point to a sleeping Lexi in her car seat “---from the minute I found out about her. Let them say and think what they want.”
“Y’all ready to order?” the young waitress asks.
We order a pepperoni to share and water to drink. I wait for the waitress to leave before I lighten the mood. “So how are things in the studio?”
“It’s going really well. I’m beyond thrilled with my clientele. Word of mouth seems to be the best advertisement.”
“You do good work; that speaks volumes.” I’m not just blowing smoke up her ass. She really is phenomenal at what she does. A slight blush tints her cheeks and I know I’ve distracted her from our earlier conversation.
The rest of dinner is easygoing. We’re both relaxed and talk about our week so far. Lexi wakes and I feed her a bottle while I listen to Kinley talk about getting her website up and running.
“Thanks for today, for letting me pull you from your work to go to her appointment with me, and for dinner. It was nice to get out, and Miss Lexi did great.”
“You’re welcome. It’s not a hardship to spend time with either of you,” she says.
I want to pull her across this seat and kiss the hell out of her. I want her to come home with me and curl up beside me in my bed, on her side of the bed. Yes, I still refer to it as her side. I’m truly fucked when it comes to this girl. My attraction only grows stronger each day. How am I going to continue to fight this?
“I’ll let you two get home.” She climbs out of the truck and opens the back door. The truck is so tall she has to climb into the backseat, but she does it without complaint. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Lexi. You be good for Daddy.” I watch in the rearview as she kisses two fingers and places them on Lexi’s cheek.
Like I said, truly fucked!
Once I get home, I get Lexi settled on the floor on a blanket underneath her baby gym—that’s what Kinley calls it—while I sit on the couch and go through my mail. When I get to the envelope from an attorney in Tennessee, I’m confused. Ripping it open, I read the words three times just to make sure I’m comprehending what this lone piece of paper is saying.
They want my daughter.
What. The. Fuck!
Lexi coo’s on her blanket and I have to fight back the tears threatening to fall—tears of anger and worry because they want to take my baby girl. Reaching for my phone, I swipe the screen and hit the first number on my favorites list.
“Yo, what’s up, bro? You were just here, you should have come in to say hello,” Aaron says.
“They want to take her.” My voice is hoarse.
“What? Wants to take who? What the hell’s going on, man?” he asks. I can tell he’s worried, as he should be. He can hear the pain in my voice.