Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
IT’S ME, I’M THE FACE-PLANT
DAHLIA
Earlier that day…
It’s a gorgeous day in Malibu—hard to believe it’s December. At home in Minneapolis, two feet of snow are piled up, and it feels much more like Christmas is around the corner than it does here. I don’t mind this Southern California weather, though, not one bit.
I straighten my skirt and shift Chloe to my other hip as we wait for Christian to answer the door of his ridiculous McMansion.
“See Daddy?” Chloe asks.
“Yes, you’re seeing Daddy any minute now.”
“Mama stay?”
“No, my love. Mama will go bye-bye, and you’ll stay with Daddy.”
Those words make my stomach churn, but there’s no way around this.
How do you explain to a two-and-a-half-year-old why you’re leaving her with someone she hardly knows?
Christian decided to move from Minnesota to California to pursue an acting career not long after she was born and has suddenly decided to give a shit about his daughter.
Which I’m glad about, and torn about, and hate…
all at the same time. That saying that both things can be true? Yes. That. All of it can be true.
Christian will have Chloe for the next two weeks, and I have to return to Minnesota to work, while I hope and pray that he’ll be able to take care of our daughter without me.
I’ve repeated the plan to Chloe more times than I can count now, telling her she’s staying with her dad and that it’ll be just the two of them.
That I’ll be back soon and we’ll talk on the phone a lot, etc.
My girl is chattier than the kids we’ve met who are her age, and of course, I’m biased, but she’s pretty brilliant.
Still, I’m not sure how much she understands about all of this.
I didn’t get any sleep last night at the hotel, worrying about my little girl.
He’s not the worst dad—absent a lot, yes—but Christian’s main flaw is that he’s deeply selfish.
When he snaps out of his vanity for more than two seconds, he remembers he has a daughter he loves, and he tries to do the right thing.
She’s stayed with him before; I just usually stay in a hotel nearby in case anything goes wrong.
And yes, I’ve been needed during those visits.
This is such a bad idea. Can I just turn around and pretend that we weren’t able to get a flight out of Minnesota?
A girl I don’t recognize opens the door, smiling wide when she sees Chloe.
She looks younger than me and is wearing a bikini top and a barely there skirt.
She’s beautiful and exactly Christian’s type.
A young, leggy brunette with big boobs. Like me, only maybe even younger, and I just turned twenty-two.
I’d thought I was special when the thirty-something sales guy at my dad’s company noticed me. It wasn’t until I got pregnant and he ghosted me that I found out I wasn’t the only one who thought she was special.
“Hi!” The girl’s voice is loud, and Chloe automatically buries her face in my neck. “Hi, Chloe! I’m Anastasia!”
She holds her arms out to take Chloe, and I look at her in confusion.
“Is Christian here?” I ask.
“He’s out back on a call,” Anastasia says, still smiling at Chloe.
She has yet to make eye contact with me.
“Can you let him know we’re here and that I need to make my flight? If he could—”
“I can take her,” Anastasia says, reaching for Chloe again.
Over my dead body am I leaving my daughter with a stranger.
I move past her. “That’s okay. I need to see Christian, but you can grab her suitcases.”
She sputters something as she follows close behind. I step out onto the patio and Christian’s on the phone, his voice carrying loudly despite the waves competing with him from behind.
He gives me a cocky grin when he sees me standing there, and my teeth grind together. He never makes this easy for me.
“I need to get to the airport,” I tell him.
He holds up a finger, and I swallow back a wave of irritation, not only because he’s making me wait but because he isn’t rushing to love on the daughter he hasn’t seen for two months.
When he finally gets off the phone, his smile is grating as he walks toward us.
“Hi, Chloe,” he says. All charm.
She lifts her head off my shoulder and looks at him. She’s missing a nap right now, so this could go in many different directions.
“Come to Daddy,” he says, holding out his arms.
I kiss her cheek and hand her to him. She studies his face solemnly before turning to me and reaching back out for me to take her.
“I love you!” I say lightly. “You are gonna have so much fun with Daddy.”
Chloe’s face puckers up as she starts to cry. My eyes immediately well with tears, and I swallow them back. I can’t do this…cannot cry. I need to make this okay for her.
“You told her she was staying with me?” he asks. His voice rings with accusation.
“Yes, I did. We’ve talked about it a lot, but I’m not sure she knows what’s going on. She’s used to being with me all the time.”
“Well, not all the time. You do work,” he says, rolling his eyes.
From home, ninety percent of the time, and when I have to go in, she’s with my mom, who adores her, I want to snap back. I bite my tongue and smile at Chloe, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
“Mama will be back soon. I love you so much, Chloe. FaceTime me with her, okay, Christian?” I say it with energy injected into my voice, so she hopefully won’t pick up on how much I despise her father.
“We will,” he says. “You met my girlfriend, Anastasia?”
“Yes.”
Anastasia walks up to Christian and coos at Chloe. And then she turns and picks up a tall glass containing something bright red and takes a long swig.
“Want some watermelon?” she asks Chloe and moves toward me to get to the table and somehow manages to spill her huge candy-red drink down the front of my white blouse and gray pencil skirt.
I yelp. It’s cold and my clothes are dripping wet. I smell like Hawaiian Punch and vodka.
“Oops, sorry,” Anastasia says, not sounding sorry at all, and Christian has the audacity to laugh.
“I guess that’s one way to lighten you up,” Christian tells me. “Go get her something else to wear, Anastasia.”
Both Anastasia and I gape at him, but she rushes off. The few clothes I brought for this trip have sand from the beach, so they don’t sound much more appealing than what I’m wearing now. She brings out clothes, and I swallow my pride as I go into the house and change.
Ugh. I’d never wear anything showing so much skin, but I’m just flying home. I can handle a few hours and then pull my coat out of my suitcase to cover up when I land.
Christian’s inside with Chloe when I step out of the bathroom.
“Probably best to just go quickly,” he says.
I nod. For once, we’re in agreement.
“Call me if you need anything,” I say. “I can come back sooner than two weeks. I just have to get home for a few meetings this week.”
“We won’t need you,” he says.
I nod again, stiff like a robot, and blow Chloe a kiss.
Tears are running down my cheeks as I leave my baby there, and I hear her crying as I walk to the rental car.
The airport is a madhouse. I don’t like flying and always get so nervous before a flight, so even though I should eat something, I don’t. I’m too upset after leaving Chloe anyway. Maybe I’ll buy one of those boxed meals on the flight.
About an hour into the flight, I feel strange and get up to use the bathroom. I must move too fast because I see spots, and then everything goes dark.
I think I must be dreaming because there’s a soft “Are you okay?” just as I’m registering something underneath me and then look up to see the most perfect face. A face I noticed in the airport.
“What—?” I croak.
Inside, I’m screaming, What’s happening? Am I on a lap? How did I get here?
“I think you passed out,” Perfect Guy with Perfect Hair says in his perfect, sexy voice.
I am not well. I must have hit my head or something. I swore off men after Christian and have had no trouble sticking to that plan. It hasn’t been the slightest hardship because I haven’t had even a flicker of interest in anyone.
But I hadn’t seen this guy yet.
Except…I do remember seeing him at the airport and being arrested by his face. But I was too distraught about Chloe to pay much attention to him.
His hair is dark and shorter on the sides, wavy and flopping over his forehead on the top. His eyes are a beautiful hazel, but what’s most arresting about them is the way they’re lit up. His eyes smile, and I cannot look away.
I feel a draft up my legs, and that gets me moving. I don’t even know what I say out loud next, because with the guy’s hands steadying me, my brain is blitzing. It only gets worse when he helps me into the seat next to him.
My head falls back on the headrest, and I count to ten. When I look down, I gasp at how much of my legs are showing. Like, all of them. I’d completely forgotten I was wearing Anastasia’s mini…if it can even be called that. It barely covers my ass.
My eyes widen, and I choke back a cough. I put my hand on my head, and the guy turns to me in concern. I tell him that I’m so embarrassed.
And then the craziest thing happens.
Dylan—that’s his name, and God help me, I even like that—starts flirting with me. He has no idea what a big deal it is that I don’t shut him down the moment he tells me I’m beautiful. Not to mention the fact that he makes me laugh…
Who is this man, and how soon can I get off the plane?
I think I’m in trouble.