“What?” She turns to me, mouth hanging open as soon as she sees her parents. “How did you . . . ?”
“I wanted our families to get to know each other. This is us, sweet girl,” I whisper in her ear just as her parents approach us.
“Hey, you two.” She grins, giving each of them a hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“It was all Ridge.” Her mom turns to me. “Thank you for the invite.”
I put my arm back around Kendall and pull her to me. “You’re family.” I can see recognition in her eyes from my simple statement. Yeah, I love her and this is permanent.
“Can I hold him?” her mom asks.
I nod and transfer Knox to her arms. He’s good for a few minutes, until his little lip juts out. Kendall is next to him in a flash. “Hey, bud. It’s okay,” she says softly. His eyes follow her voice and then he grins when he finds her.
“Like father, like son,” her dad says, coming to stand next to me.
“She’s amazing,” I tell him.
“That she is, just like her mother.”
“You’re a lucky man.” He is if her mother is anything like her.
“So are you,” he replies.
“I love her.”
“I know. I can see it. You remind me of me.”
“Then you know what I want.”
“I do. She’s my baby and she’s not had the best of luck with men, so take care of her.”
“With everything in me.”
He laughs. “Good talk.” He squeezes my shoulder and leaves me to join my dad back at the grill.
The rest of the day is filled with family and friends, and lots and lots of food. Mom always makes way too much. I keep Kendall and Knox close, touching her every chance I get.
“Hey, I’m going to go check on Knox and help them clean up,” she says, trying to move off my lap. I hold tight.
“He’s fine. Mom is in the house, and I have the monitor.” I point to where it’s sitting on the patio table.
“Ridge.” She laughs. “I’m going to go help your mom.” Her voice is final, so I kiss her shoulder and let her go.
“You haven’t let her out of your sight all day.” Dad says, taking the seat beside me and handing me a beer.
I wave my hand, declining. “Can’t. I’m driving home, and I have Knox tonight. Already had my two for the day,” I tell him.
He nods, a look of approval on his face. “I’m proud of you, son. You’re a damn good father.” He takes a long pull of his beer. “I like her.” He points his bottle to where Mom and Kendall are standing in the kitchen. Her parents left a couple hours ago.
“I love her,” I tell him.
He laughs. “You always did know what you wanted.”
I don’t say anything, because he’s right. I’ve always gone after what I wanted, and Kendall is no exception.
“Hold on to that, Ridge. I can see she cares for you too. It takes work and a hell of a lot of love, but I promise you if she’s the one, it’s all worth it.”
“She’s worth it,” I assure him.
He nods and that’s the end of that. A man of few words, my dad, but when he does talk, you listen. He always has something profound to say.
Today, he didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know.
Kendall is everything.
Chapter 40
It’s Monday and I’m back at work. The long weekend was amazing, and I’m sporting a permanent smile on my face. Dawn has reminded me of the fact every time she comes into my office. The last time she stopped in, she needed a paperclip. I threw it at her and told her to stop making excuses to razz me and get her lazy ass back to work. She laughed all the way down the hall.
Trying to keep focused is proving difficult today, after the weekend. My phone vibrates and I sigh in frustration, knowing it’s probably Dawn. I’m never going to get through this report at the rate I’m going. Pulling my phone from my scrub pocket, the frustration leaves as I see Ridge’s name light up my screen.
Ridge: Mom and Dad are taking Knox to my aunt and uncle’s. They won’t be back until after dinner. You and me, mini date night?
I smile.
Me: Mini date night?
Ridge: Dinner, just the two of us. By then, Little man will be home.
Me: Yes. Where? Should I meet you?
Ridge: Anywhere. I’ll be at your place at six.
Me: See you then.
Ridge: Love you, sweet girl.
My heart melts.
Me: Love you too.
Looking at the clock, I see it’s only one. Four more hours before I can rush home and change to get ready for my mini date with my man.
“Hey, Kendall,” Dawn says from my office doorway.
“Really?” I ask, laughing.
“Hey now, this time, I have a reason. And it’s not just to tell you you’re glowing.” She smiles knowing her description gave her the opportunity to tell me yet again. “Mark just texted and wanted to know if you and Ridge—and Knox, of course—wanted to grab dinner tonight.”
“Ridge just texted me. His parents are going to have Knox until later this evening, and we’re going to dinner,” I tell her.
“Seriously?” She laughs.
“Let me call him.” I grab my phone from my pocket, pull up his name, and hit send.
“Hey, beautiful,” his deep voice answers. I try like hell not to let Dawn see how easily he affects me.
“Hey, Dawn wants to know if we want to do dinner with her and Mark.”
He chuckles. “Mark just asked me the same thing. I was getting ready to text you. I’ll leave it up to you, babe.”
“It’ll be fun,” I tell him.
“Sounds good. We’ll be at your place at six or a little after.”
“Perfect. I’ll let Dawn know.”
“Sounds good, baby. Love you.”
My face floods with heat. “Love you, too,” I say, ending the call.
“What? You’re telling him you love him and didn’t tell me?” she asks.
“It was over the weekend. It just happened, and I haven’t seen you. You were with Mark, remember?” I remind her.
She blushes too. We’re a mess. “So, the guys will be at our place around six,” I tell her.
She holds up her phone, showing a text from Mark probably saying the exact same thing.
“Come on, five o’clock.” She grins as she leaves my office for what feels like the hundredth time today.
At four fifty-nine, Dawn is standing in my doorway, tapping her foot.
“This has been the longest day in history,” I say, shutting down my computer.
“It really has. The patients were even slow. I didn’t think five o’clock would ever get here.”
“I know. The long weekend ruined me.”
We drove separately this morning, since she stayed at Mark’s last night. Ridge begged me to stay, but I had laundry to catch up on. He offered to go pick up every piece of clothing I owned and bring it back to his place. Crazy man. Needless to say, after a very tempting goodnight kiss he relented, and I went home. It was hard to sleep in my own bed after being in his for the past several nights.