Chapter 19
Hunter
Two days should not have felt like a month.
I had gone longer than that without seeing Catherine before.
Now forty-eight hours felt like punishment.
The kind of problem a man should probably address before he found himself standing in an airport arrivals area, scanning every person coming through the doors for his daughter and trying not to look at the woman standing fifteen feet away with her family.
Catherine was with Cole, Holland, and Jaden, waiting for Mila.
She wore jeans and a fitted white T-shirt under an open button-down, her hair pulled back, her sunglasses pushed on top of her head.
She looked casual, pretty, and completely off-limits.
She looked over at me once. My chest tightened like I’d taken a hit.
“Stop looking so serious,” Cole said, coming up beside me with two coffees in his hands. “You look like you’re waiting for a contract negotiation.”
“I’m waiting for a ten-year-old girl with a duffel bag full of dirty laundry and probably twelve stories that start with you’re not going to believe this,” I chuckled.
Cole laughed. “Fair.”
Catherine smiled, and I had to look away. That smile was dangerous now. Everything about her was dangerous.
Then the doors opened, and a group of kids in camp sweatshirts spilled into the arrivals area with rolling bags, backpacks, and the kind of loud, exhausted energy only kids could have after two weeks away.
“Dad!” Isla ran straight at me.
I caught her hard, lifting her off the ground as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Her hair smelled like sunscreen, airplane, and shampoo. One of her sneakers kicked my shin, and her backpack hit my shoulder, but I didn’t care. My kid was home.
“Hey, Bug,” I said, holding her tight. “Missed you.”
“I missed you too. I only cried once.”
“You cried?” I asked with alarm.
“Just the first night because I missed you,” she said sweetly.
“I missed you too.”
I set her down, and she immediately launched into a story about ziplining, a raccoon named Kevin who may or may not have stolen chips, and how Mila screamed so loud on the ropes course that one of the counselors dropped a water bottle.
Mila appeared two seconds later and ran into Jaden with enough force to nearly knock him over.
“Mila!” he yelled.
“Jaden!” They hugged like tiny war survivors.
Holland laughed, Cole shook his head, and Catherine watched them with soft eyes that did something terrible to my chest. Isla tugged on my hand.
I looked down. “What?”
She glanced around, then leaned closer and whispered loudly, “Did you find me a mommy while I was gone?”
Across from us, Catherine’s head snapped up. I side-eyed her before I could stop myself. Her eyes widened. Her mouth pressed together, but I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
“Isla,” I said under my breath.
“What? You said you’d think about dating,” she said.
“I didn’t say that,” I whispered.
“Yes, you did,” she whispered back.
“I said maybe one day.”
“Now is the day,” Isla continued. I was mortified.
Catherine turned away, shoulders shaking.
I cleared my throat. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Isla narrowed her eyes. “That means no.”
“That means we’re in an airport.”
She looked deeply disappointed in me. I deserved it. A few minutes later, after goodbyes, I loaded Isla’s bag into my car and got her buckled in. My phone rang on the dash. It was Mom, probably wanting to welcome Isla home.
I hit the button on the steering wheel. “Hey, Mom. You’re on speaker.”
“Is my girl home?” my mom asked.
“Grandma!” Isla shouted. “I loved camp.”
“I’m sure you did, baby. Tell me everything.” My mother listened like every word was breaking news.
“I want to come see you tomorrow,” Mom said when Isla finally paused for air.
Isla lit up in the back seat. “Really?”
“Of course. I missed you.”
“Can we go to the zoo? Or somewhere fun? Dad is fun, but he also makes me unpack.”
“Unpacking is important,” I said.
“See?” Isla said. “That’s what I mean.”
Mom laughed. “We can go somewhere fun. Maybe the zoo, if your dad says yes.” Mom hummed, and that wasn’t a good sign. One of her famous Sloane Russell inquisitions was about to start.
“Quinn mentioned something interesting,” she said.
Oh shit.
My stomach dropped. “No,” I said immediately.
Isla leaned forward. “What did Quinn say?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Mom ignored me because she was Sloane Russell and had never respected a boundary she didn’t personally approve of. “She said you might be dating someone.”
“Mom.” She clearly didn’t realize that this was an adult conversation and not one my daughter should be involved in.
“Oooh,” Isla said from the back seat. “Is it the mommy thing?”
I gripped the wheel tighter. “No one is talking about the mommy thing.”
“The mommy thing?” Mom asked, way too interested.
“We’re not doing this in the car, Mom,” I said.
“So there’s something to discuss?” Mom asked with too much excitement. I knew she meant well, but she wasn’t helping right now.
“No.”
“That no was too fast.”
“Mom.”
“I’m just saying, if there is someone—”
“We’ll talk later,” I cut in, keeping my voice even for Isla’s sake. “Right now, I want to hear about camp, and then I’m getting Isla dinner.”
“Fine,” Mom said, but I could hear the smile in her voice. “I’ll come by tomorrow morning. Love you both.”
“Love you, Grandma!”
“Love you,” I said, then ended the call before she could interrogate me further.
The car was quiet for three whole seconds.
Then Isla said, “You’re acting suspicious.”
I looked at her in the rearview mirror. “You’re ten.”
“I have instincts.”
“You have jet lag.”
“What’s jet lag?” she asked.
“It’s when you travel between two different time zones. It can leave you feeling tired,” I explained.
She yawned. “I’m tired.”
“I’m sure you are, Bug. I ordered your favorite popcorn chicken from Chick-a-Lola. You can eat, shower, and sleep,” I said.
That got me a big “Yesss,” from Isla.
We ate at the kitchen counter. The same counter Catherine had been on two nights ago.
It was a bad thought. Isla was telling me about campfire night, swinging her feet under the stool, completely unaware that her father was having a moral crisis over a piece of kitchen furniture.
I looked at the empty stool beside her and pictured Catherine there.
Not the way she had been that night, flushed and breathless and mine in a way I still couldn’t think about without my body reacting.
Instead, I thought of Catherine sitting beside Isla, laughing at one of her stories.
Catherine stealing one of my popcorn chickens.
Isla asking her too many questions. The three of us eating takeout at the island like it was normal.
Like a family. I shut the thought down so hard it almost hurt.
I had learned nothing since Amy, because here I was, hiding a relationship with my coach’s daughter, imagining her at my kitchen counter with my kid, and setting myself up to get wrecked all over again.
Worse, I was lying to Cole and Holland. I was sneaking around with Catherine behind his back. The guilt sat heavy in my chest.
“Dad?”
I blinked. “Yeah?”
“You’re doing the serious forehead thing,” Isla noted. She was too perceptive.
I forced my face to relax. “Sorry. Tired.”
After dinner, I made her unpack half her bag, because I was still her father and had standards, then she showered while I started laundry. By the time I tucked her in, she was fighting sleep and losing badly.
“Zoo tomorrow?” she mumbled.
“We’ll see what Grandma says.”
“That means yes,” she cheered and then yawned. “Did you miss me a lot?”
I sat on the edge of her bed and brushed her hair back from her face. “More than a lot.”
“Did the condo get lonely?”
“Yeah, Bug. It did.”
She smiled sleepily. “Maybe you do need a mommy.”
I closed my eyes for one second.
“Goodnight, Isla.”
“Goodnight, Daddy.”
I kissed her forehead and waited until her breathing evened out before I left. The condo was quiet again. I went to the couch, sat down, and stared at my phone for longer than I should have. Then I texted Catherine.
Me: Hi
Catherine: How is Isla?
Me: Exhausted. Happy. I wish I could hold you in my arms right now.
Catherine: I want that too.
My chest tightened. Those four words hit harder than they should have.
Me: My mom is taking Isla out tomorrow. Probably the zoo or something. She wants a grandma day.
Catherine: That’s nice.
Me: Come over after camp.
Catherine: Hunter.
Me: I know.
Catherine: Your daughter just got home.
Me: She’ll be with my mom. I wouldn’t ask if she were here.
Catherine: I want to see you.
Me: I want to take you out on a real date.
Catherine: But?
Me: But if we’re seen together, it becomes a mess before we’re ready.
Catherine: I know.
Me: I’m sorry.
Catherine: Don’t be. It isn’t your fault.
Me: You deserve better than sneaking into my condo.
Catherine: Maybe. But I still want to come.
I exhaled slowly.
Me: Then come.