“I won’t chicken out,” he promised his brother. “It’s not like I went into this blind.” Gabe had told him to take the offer, but only after Jake had considered it himself and laid out the pros and cons.
In the end, it had been Jake’s call.
“By the way,” he said. “I got the newest investment statement yesterday—thanks again for doing that for me.” Jake put any extra money he had into Gabriel’s hands because Gabriel was a genius when it came to money. Already, Jake had enough put away that Esme could study whatever she wanted in the future. He also owned his own place and had the funds to ride it out if a run of bad form kept him off the field for a period.
He was determined that his baby girl would have the same kind of solid foundation his parents had given him.
“No thanks needed. I’m fucking proud of you, Jake.” Blunt words from a brother Jake had idolized as a boy—and, honestly, still did. “A lot of people would’ve given up at the first hurdle, but you just put down your head and kept going. Now go look sexy.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
Laughing, Gabriel hung up.
Afterward, Jake pulled on jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, then ran his fingers through his hair to put it into some sort of order—not that it mattered. According to the run sheet he’d been emailed yesterday, he’d be in “hair and makeup” as part of the torture session he was contracted to attend today.
The run sheet had been signed Juliet.
Just his luck that the woman overseeing the shoot had the name of the one who was haunting him. Juliet would probably cackle with delight at the odd coincidence. Jake wasn’t laughing.
Thankfully, this Juliet was likely to be a no-fuss marketing manager who looked nothing at all like his Juliet.
His Juliet.
Two words he’d never predicted he’d string together. But not only was she haunting his dreams, he kept thinking of her at odd times throughout the day. Especially of how she’d shared her cake with him, of how it had felt to walk back to the party with her in a silence that was easy, and of how she’d caused him to come alive inside in a way that made him feel hungry and guilty at the same time.
Scowling, he wandered into Esme’s bedroom. The sight of his daughter fast asleep, arms and legs flung out like a tiny octopus, made short work of the scowl. He grinned, still not sure how such a small human managed to take up so much room. She still snuck over to sleep in his bed now and then. On those nights, he could guarantee he’d wake to find himself clinging to the edge of the mattress while she sprawled all over.
Crouching down beside her bed, he brushed strands of silky black hair off her face and kissed her on the soft warmth of her cheek. “Time to wake up, Boo,” he said, as he’d been doing for years.
Mumbling a grumble, she turned in to him, arms rising to wrap limply around his neck.
Gathering her up, he held her against him and stroked her hair as he carried her into the bathroom. First he set her down on the counter, then he wet a cloth with warm water and wiped her face. She screwed up her nose, stubbornly keeping her eyes closed. Well used to this, he put the facecloth down on the counter and gave her ribs a gentle tickle.
A giggle, her lashes rising.
Without her glasses, her brown eyes looked so big and vulnerable.
Yawning, she watched in silence as he put toothpaste on her sparkly blue toothbrush branded with the face of a fairy princess. As she grimaced so that he could see her teeth, he began to brush her pearly whites.
She woke up properly halfway through and took over the task.
He knew it wouldn’t be much longer before she wouldn’t want to be carried into the bathroom this way, before she wouldn’t want her daddy to wipe her face to wake her up. Jake would miss this morning routine but knew they’d find a new one. He was proud of the strong and independent little girl she was becoming.
After lifting her down from the counter to her feet, he left her to finish up her “morning business”—a phrase she’d picked up from Emmaline, who’d picked it up from Sailor. A younger Emmaline had always woken early and, fuzzy blue blankie tucked firmly under her arm, had toddled after Sailor around the house, asking him what he was doing.
“Morning business,” had been a sleepy Sailor’s stock answer.
Smile returning, he went into Esme’s bedroom to tidy up. He made sure to put Mr. Mouse in his customary position against the princess-branded pillow, where he’d be waiting for Esme when she got home from school. It still kind of stunned him that the baby girl who’d fit into his hands was going to school, but she was six years old now and an old hand at the student deal.
Room tidy, he told her he was going into the kitchen to make breakfast, and she said, “I’m gonna wear blue today!”
There’d been a time when Jake chose her clothes, but she’d begun to want to dress herself six months ago, so now he just kept an eye on things to ensure she hadn’t left a button undone or put on a shirt inside out.
Once in the kitchen, he prepared a warm glass of milk, then made toast. With Esme, it was either toast or cereal for a week or two at a stretch. At the moment, it was toast. With her grandmother’s homemade marmalade and not a hint of anything else.
Woe to him if he contaminated it with his own natural peanut butter.
That done, he got to work making her lunch. It didn’t take long, and he was soon closing the lid of her princess lunchbox, which he then put in her princess backpack. He had no idea when this blue-princess phase was going to be over, but it showed no signs of losing steam.
At least it made birthday gifts a cinch.
“I’m here!” she announced, bouncing into the room.
She’d chosen to wear her favorite black leggings with blue sparkles, paired with a long-sleeved T-shirt with—of course—the blue princess’s face emblazoned on it. Over the top, she’d put on a denim jacket that Ísa had given her for her birthday.
In her hand was a hairbrush and a sparkly blue hair tie.
While she scrambled up into a chair at the kitchen table to eat her breakfast, he took the hairbrush and began to smooth her hair back into a ponytail. Man, but he loved her current choice of style. For a while it had been the blue princess’s freaking French braid, and he’d had to watch online videos to figure it out, then hit up his sister-in-law for further instructions.
Her hair done, he joined Esme at the table to eat his own breakfast: heavy on the protein at the moment because he needed to bulk up a touch more for peak form. “I have a meeting later today,” he said as they ate.
“Will Grandpa pick me up from school?”
“No. Uncle Sailor. He’s going to take you and Emmaline with him to an out-of-town nursery.”
Beaming, she bounced up and down in her seat. Not only was Emmaline one of her “most favoritest” people, getting to ride along with Sailor was an adventure. He always found a strange plant to show the girls, or a new fruit for them to try. Last time it had been an experimental kiwifruit variant that had a burst of red at its heart.
“I’ll pick you up after dinner.” He tweaked her nose. “You can tell me all about your adventures.”
After breakfast, she helped him clean up.
“Time to head out,” he said afterward and grabbed his keys and phone for the walk to the local primary school. Once there, Esme gave him a kiss on the cheek before running off to join friends, who were playing on the swings before class.