4. Leo
Chapter Four
LEO
I opened the front door, automatically tossing my keys on the small table beside it and calling out, “Mom?”
She appeared at the end of the hallway, holding her finger over her lips. “She’s asleep,” my mom mouthed.
I chuckled, my heart tightening a little in my chest. “You know, Dora sleeps like the dead once she actually falls asleep,” I pointed out as my mom walked into the living room area.
My mom pressed her lips together. “I know, but sometimes she has trouble falling asleep.”
She stopped in front of me, clasping her hands together as she peered up at me. Her once blond hair was silvery white now. Her eyes were still bright blue.
“I am so proud of you for doing this,” she said.
“For being the father I should’ve been all along?” My tone was dry and laced with more than a little bitterness.
She let out a soft sigh. “You know what I mean. You couldn’t be a father to a child you didn’t know existed, Leo,” she said pointedly.
“I know.” I was working on the anger I felt toward my ex who never told me she got pregnant. I didn’t find out until I got a call from the state’s child welfare agency. My ex had given them my name when she was taken to the hospital after a drug overdose.
In a span of twenty-four hours, I went from having no idea I had a child to having a six-year-old daughter. It was an adjustment. An understatement if there ever was one. “Thanks to you and Dad, I can make this work.”
“You would find a way to make it work if it weren’t for us, but we’re so grateful we can help,” she replied.
I’d had to make choices on the fly when I found out about my daughter, Dora. I knew I couldn’t be a hotshot firefighter forever, but it was my job. My parents were my daycare and more.
When the job opened up here in Willow Brook, I’d had a heartfelt conversation with them when I became an insta-father to a six-year-old girl who had been through more than I could imagine. I was so unaccustomed to being a father that I didn’t talk about it much. It was only this morning that I learned from Graham, one of the superintendents on my hotshot crew, that he’d become a single dad straight out of high school after an unplanned pregnancy and his daughter’s mom taking off and leaving him with the baby.
He’d told me if I needed any advice to ask him. He’d also offered to babysit if I ever needed help.
I smiled down at my mom. “No need to worry about that. I’m more than grateful to you and Dad. You can actually go home and get some rest,” I prompted gently.
“I made you a casserole and prepped some lunches for Dora,” she said.
“Mom! You don’t have to do everything.”
She shrugged. “Leo, I’m retired. Let me be a doting grandmother.”
Something between a sigh and a chuckle slipped out. “Thank you for everything.” I gave her a quick hug before she left.
Sometimes, life worked itself out. In this case, I was grateful my parents had moved back to Willow Brook when the job opened up for me here. I was also grateful I could live in the old rental property beside their house. This way, I didn’t feel like I was bunking in their house, which wouldn’t have been horrible, but I wanted my independence. I’d lived on my own ever since I’d graduated from high school.
The convenience of living a five-minute walk from their house made it easy for them to help with Dora. Even better, it meant I didn’t have to change jobs. I knew that was a foregone conclusion at some point, but this way when I was out at fires, my daughter’s life wasn’t too disrupted. As it was, she had already been through more disruption than I wanted to contemplate. I knew I still didn’t have the whole story and likely never would because her mom had died.
I walked on quiet steps down the hallway and peered into Dora’s bedroom. She was sound asleep with an arm flung over her head and one of her feet poking out from under the covers with her beloved stuffed elephant hugged against her side. The elephant was the first stuffed animal I’d gotten for her. I picked it out the same night I’d learned she’d be coming to stay with me. I’d been in a panic and gone to the local department store to race through the kids’ section.
I crossed over to her bed and leaned down to press a kiss on her forehead before I slipped out of the room and closed the door behind me.
Dora was so attached to the elephant she’d named Ellie that she’d cried one day when my mom washed it. Back in Juneau, the child protective worker had referred me to a therapist who helped with the transition. I hadn’t told Casey this, seeing as we’d had only one fake therapy session together, but I’d been thinking of trying to get a therapist here for more feedback on how to handle things with Dora.
Although Casey and I definitely weren’t even a real couple, I figured I might as well take advantage of the therapy sessions to talk a little bit about Dora. It would fill the time in the appointments.
I laughed under my breath. Casey would eventually find out that I was a single dad, but maybe that detail would dump some ice-cold water on the simmering chemistry between us. Not that I intended to act on it. I had other priorities. There was also whatever the hell Casey’s backstory was and why she needed someone to pose as her fiancé.