10. Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Nate
W hen Adalie knocks on my front door on Thursday, Dani races to open it. I glance over from the kitchen where I’m starting dinner, but Adalie doesn’t even look at me, all her attention focused on my daughter. Her hands are full of bags, and I call to Dani to help her carry them in. They set everything down in the living room and I listen as Dani gives Adalie the tour.
“This is the living room. Dad and I play games in here sometimes, but it’s kind of boring otherwise. Over there is his bedroom. He has his own bathroom in there, but there’s another one here if you need it.” She leads Adalie closer, taking her hand and tugging her along. “This is the dining room and the kitchen. There’s Dad.”
Adalie smiles at me and I nod back.
“And this is the family room where we watch TV. Dad hung my painting and his right there.” Dani points to the wall beside the TV where I’ve hung the matching paintings side-by-side. “I told him it was silly to have two of the same picture up, but he said he doesn’t care because we did them together. The back deck is out there and in the yard, Dad has a hot tub and a tree house!”
“Excellent,” Adalie responds, barely able to get a word in edge-wise around my daughter.
“Uncle Taylor lives downstairs, but he’ll be up later. He always eats dinner with us. Do you want to go see my bedroom?”
Adalie glances at me, as though asking permission, and I give a slight nod, watching as they disappear upstairs. When they return a few minutes later, they’re both laughing and I’m a little disappointed that I missed the joke.
“Do you have a spot you’d like me to set up?” Adalie asks, returning to the kitchen.
“I figured you could work in the family room,” I say, pointing. “If that’s enough space.”
“Oh, yeah. That’ll be great. We’re starting with sketching. If we won’t be in your way, we could even sit at the island here or at the dining table.”
I shrug. “Wherever you’ll be comfortable. Did you want something to drink? I have coffee, water, milk, beer, and apple juice.”
“I don’t suppose you have any peppermint tea?”
I shake my head.
Still, she smiles. “Water would be great.”
I pour her a glass, then watch as Adalie sets up at the dining table and Dani sits, wiggling in her chair. I listen far more closely than necessary to a conversation about shading and perspective.
When they finish up forty-five minutes later, Dani promises to practice what Adalie has shown her every night.
“Don’t forget about your regular homework,” Adalie says before I can.
“I won’t. Thank you for these.” Dani lifts the sketchbook, hugging it to her chest, and gestures at the pencils Adalie gave her earlier.
“Go put them away and wash up for dinner,” I tell her.
“Can Adalie stay for dinner?” she asks as Taylor walks in the back door.
Of course, he hears the question and grins. “Yes, Nate. Can Adalie stay?”
I glance at her. Her eyes are wide, like she hadn’t anticipated the invitation.
“Oh, I don’t want to intrude,” she says.
“You won’t,” I say. “If you want to stay, you’re welcome to.” I turn to Dani. “Go put your things away.”
She hops up, pausing at Adalie’s side. “Please stay for dinner.” Then she runs upstairs.
Adalie begins packing up her other things, putting them into a couple of the bags she’d carried in. I go over to help, and she looks up at me with a grateful smile. I remember how I’d felt in my office when I mentioned I’d have gotten her a cake if I’d known it was her birthday.
“Thanks,” she says. “And I really don’t have to stay for dinner.”
I lower my voice so Taylor can’t eavesdrop. “What are your plans for dinner?”
“I was going to stop somewhere on my way home.”
I shake my head. “Stay, Adalie. We can discuss what we’re going to do next week.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
We get her things put away and Taylor brings four plates and the cutlery to the table.
“Dani likes family dinners,” he tells her. “And we quiz her on her spelling words.”
I set the table, and he returns to the kitchen for the food.
“You don’t have any dietary restrictions, do you, Adalie?” he asks. “I’m guessing not, since you said I could get whatever kind of pizza the other night.”
“No,” she says, setting her bags by the front door. “No restrictions.”
Taylor brings over the pot of spaghetti noodles and I go back to get the garlic bread out of the oven. Together, Taylor and I bring everything to the table while Adalie sits in the same spot she’d been sitting in before. Dani comes back and we sit and eat. Adalie doesn’t say much as we quiz Dani on her spelling words. When we’re done, we move on to our next nightly tradition, saying the best part of our day.
Dani says it was sketching with Adalie. Taylor tells us the best part of his day was riding his motorcycle to work this morning and home this afternoon. When it comes to my turn, I want to say every time Adalie smiled at me tonight, but that would be weird, so instead, I choose an easy second: when Dani gave me a hug after school.
She laughs. “That’s silly, Dad.”
I just shrug.
Dani turns to Adalie. “You’re next. What was the best part of your day?”
“Sorry to kind of put you on the spot,” I say. “If you don’t want to—”
But Adalie smiles. “It’s okay. Mine is really easy. Like Dani, the best part of my day was sketching with you.”
Dani beams. And for the first time, I’m a little concerned. I can see in my daughter’s eyes that she’s already falling in love with Adalie. I mean, who can blame her? But I don’t want my daughter to get hurt.
Which is why nothing can happen between me and Adalie. She had been right before. The contract between Blue Vista and Hops Scotch would make things complicated between us. But that look on my daughter’s face is far more important to keep intact.
After dinner, Dani clears the table, helping Taylor put away the leftovers, then takes my phone upstairs to call her mom.
Taylor loads the dishwasher while Adalie and I sit at the island.
“Does she call her mom every night when she’s here?” Adalie asks.
I nod. “And when she’s with Katie, she calls me every night. We usually talk for about half an hour before she gets ready for bed.”
She smiles. She is so free with them, like it’s so easy for her to be happy. “It’s nice that you and Katie work so well. I can tell how happy Dani is. It can be hard for kids with divorced parents.”
“Katie and I were never married. We actually weren’t really dating. I don’t even think of her as my ex. Honestly, we were just young and irresponsible. But that changed really fast when she got pregnant.”
“Still. You seem to co-parent well, from the little I’ve seen.”
Her praise shouldn’t make me feel as good as it does, but I’m coming to the point where I no longer question my reaction to her.
Taylor finishes with the dishes and turns on the washer, turning to lean against the counter across from us.
“Nate mentioned you wanted to get out of your comfort zone. What kinds of things are you thinking of?”
She twists her hands together and looks at me to answer the question. She’d already told me she wanted me to help decide on the things we’d do, and I have a few ideas.
“How would you feel about bungee jumping?” I ask, watching as her face goes pale, freckles standing out on her nose. Her fingers still, clenching together until the skin goes white.
“Maybe we can start with something a little easier?” she says, her voice small. “Work our way up to jumping off a bridge?”
I snort. “Anything you say, princess. I have a different idea for next week, anyway. Can you skate?”
She wrinkles her nose in that adorable way again. “Not well.”
“I can work with not well.”
Taylor straightens and goes to my kegerator, the small fridge with two beer taps on top. He pours me the stout I made at my home brew set up in our storage space. He hands it to me before pouring the lager for himself.
“You gonna take her to the rink?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say, taking a sip. “I was thinking we could shoot a few pucks.” I turn to Adalie. “Did you want a beer?”
“No. I have to drive home.”
Taylor laughs as he brings his beer over to lean on the counter again. “You’re that much of a lightweight?”
She nods, a wry smile on her face.
I indicate my glass. “Did you want a sip? It’s one of my stouts. My favourite one.”
She does that nose wrinkle again and shakes her head, her curls bouncing. “I’m not going to like it.”
“How will you know if you don’t try it?”
She rolls her eyes and takes the glass, sipping, her lips pressed to the same place mine had been.
She hands it back, fluffing her hair. “It’s not horrible. But I still don’t like stouts.”
I can’t help but smile, taking another drink, my eyes locked with hers as my mouth covers the spot where hers has just been. Her hands drop to her lap and clench into fists. I’ve never met anyone with such expressive hands.
“I had another idea as well, but you may not want to do this one,” I say.
“What is it?” she asks curiously.
“Do you want to get a tattoo?”
Her mouth drops open and her eyes rake down my arms, covered in ink. She takes a long time to answer the question and when she speaks, I’m surprised by what she says.
“Your sleeves were done by two different people, weren’t they?”
“You can tell?”
She nods, lifting a hand, trailing light fingers over my right arm. “The line work is bolder on this one.” She switches to my left arm. “It’s more delicate here. The colours are brighter, too.”
I hold perfectly still, the light touch sending sparks through me that go straight to my dick.
“Who did this one?” she asks, still touching me, lingering on the clock on my forearm.
It’s hard to think with those soft fingers on my skin, reminding me of the softness of her lips when we’d kissed, making me wonder what it would feel like for her fingers, or lips, to be wrapped around my cock. I clear my throat. “Her name is Sam.”
“If she likes Sam’s work,” Taylor cuts in, reminding me he’s there, “you should take your shirt off. Show her your back.”
I shoot my brother a glare while Adalie removes her hand from my arm.
“That’s okay,” she says, grabbing her phone. “I would like to get a tattoo, I think.” She slides the phone over to me, a picture from Pinterest pulled up. “I’ve been considering this one or something like it for a while now. This is exactly the push I need to get it.”
It’s an image of delicate flowers curving around a woman’s shoulder.
“This would suit you,” I say. “And Sam would do a good job.”
Taylor holds out his hand so he can see. I give him the phone.
“Oh, yeah. This is right up her alley. She’s got an Instagram if you want to check out more of her work.”
They chat for a minute, finding the account and Adalie follows it to look at later.
“I’ll get the consult appointment scheduled,” I say. “It might be a bit. She’s pretty popular.”
Adalie lets out a breath. “That’s okay. It’ll give me time to work myself up to that as well.”
Dani bounds down the stairs, my phone in her hand.
“Mom wanted me to say hi to everyone,” she says. Then she turns to Adalie. “You’re still here.”
“I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye,” Adalie says with a smile. “But I do need to head out. It’s getting late and I have a long day tomorrow.”
“It’s paint night again at Blue Vista,” Dani explains to me, though I already know since I’d heard them talking about it earlier. “Can we go, Dad?”
I glance at Adalie. She gives me a small nod, not big enough that Dani would notice, but enough that I know we’d be welcome if I say yes.
“We’ll see,” I say. “Can I tell you tomorrow?”
“Of course,” Adalie says. “We’d just need to know before 5pm. But since you guys don’t want to eat dinner, it won’t be a problem.”
Dani bounces on the balls of her feet, her hands clasped together.
I raise my eyebrows and she calms, turning to Adalie and giving the woman a hug. “Hopefully I see you tomorrow, but if not, I’ll see you in two weeks,” she says.
Adalie hugs her back.
“All right, pipsqueak,” I say. “Head upstairs and have your shower.”
“Goodbye, Adalie. See you later,” Dani calls.
I follow Adalie to the door, lifting two of the three bags she brought with her.
“Why did you bring all this stuff if you were only sketching today?” I ask.
She smiles a little ruefully. “I like to be over-prepared. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”
“Do you need any more help?” Taylor asks.
I shoot him a glare. “No. I’ve got it.”
He chuckles, but I ignore him, bringing the bags outside to Adalie’s car.
It’s a small, light purple Mini convertible. She opens the trunk, and I set the bags inside.
“Cute.”
She laughs. “Thank you. It’s actually the one thing I could include on my out of my comfort zone list that I did for myself.”
“What do you mean?”
She closes the trunk and pats the roof. “When I needed a new car, I went to the Vancouver Car Show with Derek. I looked at a bunch and fell in love with the Mini Cooper. Mostly because it’s cute. My parents told me it was completely impractical, which is probably true. I didn’t care. I wanted it and I have the money. I bought the top end model and took it to a shop and paid extra to have it repainted lavender purple. It would have been cheaper to have it wrapped, but I didn’t care.”
I laugh at her story, and she looks up at me with those sparkling green eyes, her soft lips tilted up in a smile.
“I was right, wasn’t I?” I say, walking around to open her driver door for her. “You’re stubborn. Willing to take a dare.”
She stops in the vee between the door and her seat. “I wouldn’t say so. But some others might.”
“Good night, Adalie. I’ll let you know about tomorrow.”
She gets in and I watch as she drives away. When I get back inside, Taylor is sitting on my couch, watching another hockey game.
“So when are you going to ask her out?” he asks without looking up at me.
“I’m not.” I sit down, knowing I only have a couple minutes before Dani is done showering and getting ready for bed. “Dani likes her.”
“I would think that would be more reason to ask her out. Not less.”
I don’t answer him. He has a point. If I could meet someone, start a relationship, figure out if it’s going somewhere, then introduce her to Dani, it would be imperative that Dani and that woman like each other. I’ve never gotten to where I liked a woman enough to introduce her to my daughter. Yes, I am attracted to Adalie. But we’ve skipped past the relationship part of it, and Dani already likes her. If we start dating now, and things go bad, Dani would end up hurt. I won’t let that happen.