Chapter 2
Two
Kenna
Three months ago
Halloween, Ardnoch
“That’s Grant and his mum!” Michael yelled from the living room.
Hearing the childish panic in his voice, I darted around his room looking for those damn twin ninja daggers me and his dad had been reluctant to buy for his costume. Seeing the plastic blades peeking out from under his bed, I grabbed them. “Found them!”
Rushing out into the living room, I tried not to smile at how cute Michael looked as a dragon ninja.
I’d spent hours on YouTube watching tutorials on how to paint scales onto his cheeks and forehead.
Makeup littered the kitchen island, his dirty dinner plate on the counter, and he’d somehow managed to dump half the contents of his bedroom into the living area.
“Thanks!” Michael beamed up at me.
A few minutes later, Grant and Innes were in the house. Grant was also dressed as a dragon ninja, but his scales were blue while Michael’s were green. He also didn’t have face-painted scales, much to his chagrin.
“Thanks for outparenting me,” Innes teased. “I’ll never hear the end of this.”
I chuckled as the boys stood together for the photos I insisted on taking. “You work full time, Innes. It’s amazing what you accomplish.”
“Thanks for saying that.” She grinned at the boys as Michael slung an arm around Grant’s shoulders and they posed with their plastic twin daggers. “The school is going to murder us if anything happens with those daggers.”
“Or take them off them before they even get past the doors.”
“Great,” she muttered. “I’m looking forward to two very annoyed dragon ninjas if that happens.”
Laughing, I took a few quick photos. Unfortunately, Haydyn was working late, so he’d asked me to make sure I got some snaps of Michael before he left for the school Halloween dance. Michael wouldn’t be back tonight as it was a Friday and he’d be sleeping over at Grant’s after the party.
We were making sure Michael had everything he needed for his sleepover when a car pulled into the drive. Ears perking, Michael rushed away from me to the window. His whole being lit up. “Dad’s home!”
Warmth filled my chest as I watched Haydyn hurry out of his SUV.
He must have gotten out of his meeting early so he wouldn’t miss Michael.
For the last few months, I’d watched Haydyn juggle a full schedule as a senior lecturer at the university, as a researcher, and as a freelance advisor on projects, not just around the UK but internationally.
He did all that as a single parent. Yes, he hired a nanny because his life would be impossible otherwise, but I saw how hard he worked to make sure Michael never felt like he was missing out.
I’d found him physically attractive from the moment we met, but getting to know him had only intensified that attraction.
My stomach fluttered like a schoolgirl’s as Haydyn burst through the door just as Michael flew at him. He laughed, embracing his son tightly before holding him back to study his costume. “Well, don’t you look amazing!”
“I thought you were working.” Michael grinned up at him.
Haydyn gently gripped his son’s chin to tilt his face in the light. “I had to see my dragon ninja, didn’t I? And look at you. You look awesome.”
“Kenna did my scales. They’re sick.”
Haydyn sighed wearily at Michael’s use of the word sick but grinned, nonetheless. “So they are.”
“We better get going,” Innes said, nudging Grant toward the door.
“I’ll pick Michael up tomorrow.” Haydyn stepped aside.
“I promised them breakfast at Flora’s, so there’s no rush.”
“Okay, thanks, Innes.”
“Bye, Kenna!” Michael waved at me and rushed out the door.
As soon as it closed on them, Haydyn turned and surveyed the room before his eyes fell on me.
There was that stupid fluttering again. I shrugged sheepishly. “I wasn’t going to leave it like this for you. Let me tidy up.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“No, let me clear this all away.” I gestured toward the hob as I began cleaning the island. “I left some pasta and garlic bread for you.”
“You’re an angel,” he murmured as he strolled by. I tried not to inhale the scent of his expensive cologne. A few seconds later, he said, “There’s a ton here. Have you eaten?”
I glanced up from tidying. The answer was no and I was starving, but I’d been too busy feeding Michael and getting his costume ready. “Oh, I’ll eat at home.”
“There’s plenty, and I can only imagine how rushed off your feet you’ve been today. I’m putting out two plates.”
Ten minutes later, I was seated across from Haydyn at the small bistro table off the kitchen. It didn’t take much to convince me to stay. Mostly because I wanted to be around Haydyn, but also because I was avoiding my cousin’s apartment as much as possible. Things were not good there.
Since I was driving, I stuck with a glass of water with my meal while Haydyn poured himself a glass of wine.
“Long day?” I asked to distract myself from the sight of his fingers caressing the wineglass stem.
Haydyn swallowed a bite of pasta and met my gaze. “I’m close to finishing up a project, and it always feels a little manic toward the end. Plus, midterm papers.”
I nodded. I’d kept Michael busy the past week because Haydyn had so much marking to do.
“You’ve been a lifesaver these past few months,” he told me, eyes on his plate. “I was worried when Michael hired you, but it worked out.”
I chuckled at his teasing, even though it was technically true that Michael offered me the job before Haydyn could. “I’m glad you’re happy with his decision.”
He shot me a smirk, but before he could say anything, his phone buzzed on the table. He reached for it and frowned at the screen. With a sigh, he turned it over and dug back into his pasta.
Finding myself more and more curious about my boss, I blurted out, “Everything okay? Someone bothering you?”
Since I’d started working for the Barrs almost three months ago, there had been no sign of Haydyn dating.
If he was seeing someone, it was happening in the hours he spent in Inverness.
Otherwise, he was totally dedicated to his son.
Michael talked about his mum, Deena, after his visits with her, but I still didn’t know the story there.
Haydyn was a professor. However, that income didn’t account for their luxurious home, car, and the designer clothes they both wore.
Or the fact that Michael had everything a kid could ever need or want, including the fancy holidays Haydyn took them on every summer.
There was so much I didn’t know about them, and I could only piece together the bits of information I’d gleaned over the last few months.
Tonight was unusual for Haydyn because, although he was friendly with me, he tended to keep his distance as much as possible.
Perhaps it was the sudden lowering of his guard—him inviting me to share dinner—that made me ask my slightly nosy question.
Haydyn looked up from his plate, his gaze searching mine. He looked handsome but tired. “It’s a text from Deena asking to see Michael tomorrow. She asked to have him this Halloween, and I’ve already said no because she went behind my back last weekend and asked Michael to spend Christmas with her.”
I knew Michael was spending Christmas with Deena because he’d been excitedly talking about it all week, but I hadn’t known the decision was made without Haydyn. “Oh. That’s not cool.”
He pressed his lips together in a hard line before continuing, “Now I can’t tell Michael no because he’s excited, but I never planned for her to have him during such an important holiday. It’s been less than a year since she came back into his life.”
“She’s getting pushy.”
“Aye.”
“You can tell me if this is none of my business, but how long was she out of Michael’s life?”
Haydyn smirked unhappily. “His whole life, Kenna.”
My lips parted in shock. “Are you kidding?”
“Nope.” He took a sip of wine, and I could see it was to distract himself from the anger still brewing within.
“I came home when Michael was six months old to find him alone, screaming the house down, sitting in his own filth. Deena had packed her things and left us. I could maybe get over her leaving us if she hadn’t left my baby alone.
She could have called a neighbor and asked them to stay with Michael until I got home, but she just left him. Anything could have happened.”
At the fear in his eyes, I couldn’t help but reach over to cover his hand with mine. “I’m so sorry.”
“She had postpartum depression,” he said. “I didn’t know that until she wrote to me last Christmas, asking for forgiveness and to see Michael. There was a lot of back-and-forth between us for a few months before I asked Michael what he wanted to do.”
“And he wanted to meet his mum.” I lifted my hand off his and my palm still tingled from the touch.
“Aye.” Haydyn dug into his pasta again.
“Did she explain where she’d been? Why it had taken so long?”
He nodded. “She’d started drinking to deal with her depression. She’s been sober for two years.”
“So she got sober, married a solicitor, and now she wants to be in Michael’s life because she’s ready to be in his life.” Annoyance cut through me.
“Don’t people deserve second chances?”
“Yes, but she also has to remember that it’s just been you and Michael for ten years, and she can’t waltz in and start making decisions without your consent.”
Haydyn’s gaze gleamed and that familiar spark of tension lit between us. The one we’d both been trying so hard to ignore. “I’m trying to play nice so she doesn’t go after custody.”
I didn’t want to worry him, but he needed to be realistic. “Haydyn … she’s going to go after custody, eventually.”
His expression tightened. “They always favor the mother.”