“Sure. She’s your daughter. She needs you. That comes first.”
He didn’t know what to do with all that genuine understanding. “And you’re not mad?”
“Not at all. Why would I be?”
He didn’t know, but if he was having this conversation with Steph, it would be a whole other story. “I just really want to see you tonight and I wanted it to be perfect.”
It took her a moment to respond. “I’m looking forward to seeing you, too.” The shy words touched him. And gave him hope that he hadn’t blown this with her. “How about I keep my dress on, you see what’s what with Emmy, and let me know if we’re still on for later tonight or if we need to reschedule.”
Damn his luck. “You wore a dress?” He’d love to see her in a sexy outfit.
“Adria informed me it was proper date attire. Truthfully, it’s been so long, I’m glad she reminded me.” Her soft self-deprecating laugh lightened his heart. She was taking this really well and not making a fuss over the fact she’d taken the time to get dressed up and it might be for nothing, depending on what he found when he got to Steph’s place.
“I’m sorry, Trinity. I meant to be on time, to wine and dine you, to hopefully make you laugh, and maybe if I played my cards right and you had a good time, you’d agree to a second date.” And maybe he’d get a chance to kiss her. He spent a lot of time thinking about it and a lot more.
“There’s still time. Take care of whatever you need to do with Emmy, then text me and let me know if we’re still on for tonight, or next week sometime.”
Next week?
That was too damn long to go without seeing her again.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“I’ve been waiting all week to see you tonight. I really am sorry. I’ll call you as soon as I know what’s what.” With that, they said goodbye and he pulled into the parking space outside Steph’s apartment.
Emmy ran out the door just as he exited the car and headed in her direction. Three steps away from him, she stopped short, fisted her hands at her sides, and gave him her angry face, which was still adorable to him. “I want to go home with you.”
He didn’t even have her room ready, but she could crash with him in his bed until he got that sorted out. Still, it was Steph’s night to keep her, so he couldn’t make any promises.
The door to the apartment stood open, so he walked right in and found Steph in the kitchen nursing a bottle of beer. Boxes were still stacked up in the living room. Laundry sat on the floor in a pile in front of the stacked washer and dryer. The whole place smelled like Steph burned something in the oven.
And she took one look at him and her eyes narrowed with rage. “What are you all dressed up for?”
“Daddy has a date with the brownie lady,” Emmy announced.
He didn’t know how she remembered that, or why he’d even told her. Probably because he was excited about seeing Trinity and he’d shared it with her.
Steph’s eyebrows went up. “A date? We haven’t even been in town a full week and you have a date? I know, literally, no one here.” Steph loved to exaggerate. She’d met everyone at work and even told him she’d met a couple interesting customers at the grocery store. She’d even set up a playdate for Emmy with another mom at school.
He didn’t owe her an explanation and knew from past bad experiences not to give out information she’d only twist and use against him. So he didn’t answer her question, but asked one of his own. “Why haven’t you answered your phone?”
“Because if I did, you wouldn’t have come to get her.”
Yep, he’d played right into her hands because if his daughter needed him he’d come running every time. “Why are you home from work early?”
Her gaze narrowed on him. “I’m not. I get off at four thirty.”
“I thought you said five and that’s why we set the pickup at school for five fifteen.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Don’t I deserve a little downtime at the end of my shift before I pick her up?”
Yes. Of course she did. But didn’t she also miss her daughter after a long day?
“Why do I need to take Emmy tonight?”
Emmy took his hand. “She burned dinner and said I have to eat it. I don’t want it.” Emmy wrinkled her nose and shook her little head.
Exasperated by the stupid reason she’d called him here, he took Emmy’s side without hearing her out. “Seriously, Steph. You can’t expect her to eat burnt food.”
“It’s that or nothing.”
“You bought plenty of food when you moved in.”
“You’d think so, but she eats like crazy. And those brownies you bought are gone, too.”
“Mommy ate them.” Tears filled Emmy’s big round eyes.
It killed him when she cried. “This is ridiculous. You work at the grocery store. There’s no reason you can’t grab something on your way home.”
“I worked all day. I didn’t think about picking anything up when I left. I was tired. I’ve been taking care of her all week and trying to put things away here.”
At a glance, it didn’t look like she’d done a damn thing since he left after the delivery guys brought everything inside. She’d been so excited to decorate, yet she hadn’t done anything. Even the sink was filled with dirty dishes. He could practically make out exactly what they’d had to eat all week just by looking at them.
“Steph, we talked about this. Emmy needs a clean and organized home to live in.”
She slammed her hand down on the counter. “I’m doing the best I can. It’s been a long week. And you said we’d spend more time together as a family, yet you’ve been nowhere to be found because you’ve been out hunting up a new girlfriend apparently.”
He wanted to refute that outright, but she had him on being out of touch since they had dinner their first night here. “I’m sorry, Steph. You’re right. I did say we’d do more family things, but my dad was sick, and I had to move him. I’ve had a hell of a week, too.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, but the anger in her eyes dimmed. “Yeah, well, you seemed to find someone who likes you. I’m pretty sure half the checkout people hate me.”
“I’m sure they don’t. You just started.” Though Steph didn’t always make a great impression. At a glance, she was beautiful. But get to know her . . . A couple of his friends outright warned him away from her. Others gave him a raised eyebrow that said clearly, “Really? Her?”
Still, he understood that she was maybe overwhelmed with the move and all the changes in her life.
“They resent that they weren’t promoted to manager and I got the job.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, you got it for me.”
“And you’ll be brilliant at it if you give it a chance,” he said encouragingly.
She relaxed even more at his praise. She swept her long straight hair behind her ears and sighed. “I forgot the groceries.”
“Okay. Why don’t you two go out and grab something?” It seemed the simplest answer.