Chapter 4
LET ME WATCH
“Are you all done eating?” Alana asked Becca.
The little girl was gobbling up her tiny pizza bites fast enough that she did worry about it being a choking hazard.
“I’m done!” Becca shouted. “That was yummy.”
“You ate two pieces.” She stood up and got a napkin and wiped Becca’s hands and face, then undid the belt holding her in the seat and picked her up to put her on the floor.
“You did too,” Becca said.
“I was hungry,” she said. “Just like you.”
“It’s time to play,” Becca said, reaching for her hand.
“I’ve got to clean up dinner first so when your father comes home he doesn’t have a mess. Why don’t you get your toys ready?”
“They are ready,” Becca said, nodding her head.
She grabbed the two plates and stacked them, picked up the empty sippy cup, and turned to see the little girl’s wide blue eyes pleading with her to go play. Or maybe it was the tiny prayer hands in front of her face.
“Then you can follow me to the kitchen and tell me what we are going to play first. How about that?”
“Okay,” Becca said, tagging at her heels. “First is my favorite. It’s Bluey. Just like my plate.”
She rinsed the plate and stuck it in the dishwasher, then did the same with hers.
“I’ve heard of Bluey before.”
“I like Bingo almost as much as I like Bluey. Bingo is the doll I’ve got second. I play with things in order. Do you want to be Bluey or Bingo?”
“You pick who you want and then I’ll take the second,” she said. “Do you want something else to drink?”
“Water, please?”
She popped the top that was holding the milk, washed the cup and top off and then filled it from the pitcher of water in the fridge and handed it back. No reason to dirty another cup in the dishwasher.
After opening a few cabinets, she found cleaner and ripped off a paper towel. Going to the table, she wiped that all down, rinsed out the sink and filled her glass with more water too.
“I’m ready,” she said.
Poor Becca hadn’t left her pose. Still standing with her hands in prayer, the cup between them this time.
“Yes!” Becca held her fist toward her. “Pump it.”
She frowned and put her hand on Becca’s tiny fist and pushed it up and down as if shaking.
Becca giggled. “Did I do it wrong?”
“Make a fist and hit mine back.”
“Oh,” she said. She was getting schooled by a three-year-old.
She did what she was told and got a fresh round of giggles from the little girl. Then was dragged into the living room to attack the toys in order.
Twenty minutes later, they’d gotten through half the introductions lined up when her phone dinged.
She pulled it out of her back pocket and saw the text from Brennan asking if everything was going well.
That was odd considering he was on a date. Must not be going well for him.
Secretly she was okay with that.
Rude on her part.
“Daddy wants to know if everything is going well. What do I tell him?”
“Stay out later,” Becca said. “We need more time.”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
Maybe if he wasn’t on a date with another woman, she wouldn’t have a problem with it because she was having a blast with Becca.
She typed back everything was great, then returned to playing.
Somehow an hour went by, the TV was loud, and the two of them were dancing with the characters on the screen.
The last thing she thought would happen would be turning around to see Brennan standing there grinning.
“Daddy,” Becca yelled. “Go back out. We aren’t done playing.”
Talk about embarrassing.
“Wow,” he said. “I’m happy you’re having fun with Alana, but I’d rather not go back out again.”
She picked the remote up to lower the TV.
Becca grabbed it and made it louder and snatched her hands. “We are not done with this dance. We have to do it again. He can watch.”
She was a deer in the headlights.
“Yes,” Brennan said. “Please, let me watch.”
Alana squinted her eyes at him, but she didn’t want to ruin Becca’s fun.
The music came on, and she moved her feet as Becca taught her, then her arms swayed, her hips rolled—that might be the worst part in front of the guy she had a secret crush on—and her hair whipped around.
Brennan clapped when the music ended. “If I do that too much, I get dizzy,” she said.
“Daddy says that too,” Becca said.
“Oh, Daddy does this dance too?” Talk about super sweet.
“Yes,” Becca said, running toward Brennan. “Show Alana.”
“Ahhh, maybe another time.”
He wasn’t getting away that fast.
“I’d love to see it,” she said, her smile huge. “It took me a few minutes to get it, but you’ve had more practice than me.”
He took his jacket off and hung it up, Becca grabbing his hand. He allowed himself to be yanked into the living room just like she’d been.
Becca, who was a pro at using the remote, got it right to where she wanted and Alana moved back to watch Brennan dance with his daughter.
It wasn’t the same song or moves, but one the two of them must have practiced.
They were hitting each other’s feet, doing a few fist pumps, spinning in circles and ending on a booty shake.
She wanted to roar with laughter over that last move but didn’t want to embarrass the sexy man in front of her.
Seriously, nothing could be more endearing than what she’d just witnessed.
She clapped her hands and they both took a bow.
“Now that I’ve shown off my choreography,” he said.
“That’s your dance?”
“Daddy and I made it up last week. That’s our song.”
“Very sweet.”
A pink hue filled his face. It probably matched the one she’d had when she noticed him watching her dance.
“Can we do another?” Becca asked.
“No,” he said, tapping her on the nose. “You need to wind down and get ready for bed.”
Becca’s bottom lip came out. “But I want to play more with Alana. Did she tell you to stay longer?”
He looked at her. “No.”
Guess she was caught there. “You said you’d be home by the time Becca would be ready for bed.”
“I would have been sooner if I had my way,” he said drily.
She wasn’t sure what that meant and couldn’t very well ask in front of the little girl.
“Can I get my jammies on so Alana can see my Bluey ones?”
“Sure,” he said. “You know where they are.”
Becca ran toward the stairs off of the living room, Brennan popping his head out to watch his daughter climb them holding onto the railing.
“She’s such a sweetheart.”
“She is. She’s exhausting too.”
“I got one heck of a workout tonight.”
“That’s me every night. I appreciate it though.” He pulled his wallet out. “I should pay you for the pizza at the very least.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. She’d told him earlier at the office that she didn’t want to be paid. At first, it felt almost insulting—but she got it. He didn’t want her to think he was taking advantage, and in his own way, he was trying to be fair.
It put them both in an awkward situation.
He put his wallet back. “I appreciate this.”
“Not a problem. I had so much fun.”
“Becca is good at that. She’s such a happy child.”
“She is.” She was glancing around the living room and hoped it didn’t appear as awkward to him as it did to her without Becca as the middleman between them. “She had two pieces of pizza and two half cups of milk. She said she gets a snack at seven.”
“Shit, I forgot about that.”
“I didn’t think a banana would be that big of a deal and that is what she asked for.”
“Sliced with peanut butter on the side?” he asked.
“She told me exactly how she wanted it.”
“I’m coming,” Becca yelled.
Brennan moved closer to the stairs, waited for his daughter, then caught her when she jumped off the third from the bottom.
Had to be another one of their things.
“Those are cute,” she said of the blue and white footy pajamas.
“They are my favorite,” Becca said. “Can you read me a story before bed?”
“I’ll do it,” Brennan said. “I’m sure Alana needs to catch her breath after her night with you.”
“Daddy says that too.”
“Now I know how you stay in shape,” she said. The heat filling her body might match the pink to his cheeks again.
She should have kept that comment to herself.
“It burns the calories,” he said.
“Can you come over Saturday to play with me?” Becca asked her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’d love to, but I’ve got plans.”
“What?” Becca asked.
“That’s rude,” Brennan said. “Alana doesn’t have to share that.”
She shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m working the Christmas Toy Drive at the firehouse. This Saturday and next they are dropping toys off.”
“It’s nice of you to do that,” he said.
“The firemen get the toys at Christmas?” Becca asked.
She smiled. “No. It’s for kids.”
“Not all children get a big Christmas,” he said to the little girl in his arms. “Not like you do. People buy and donate toys to go to those kids that might not get gifts.”
“That’s sad,” Becca said. “Everyone should get toys. Can we buy some to bring them?”
“I think that’s a great idea,” he said. “We’ve got time to order a few and get them here by Saturday. We can do that right before bed.”
“Yes,” Becca said, putting her fist up. “I love shopping.”
“Oh boy,” Alana said.
Brennan rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it.”
He put Becca down on the ground. She ran to Alana and lifted her arms.
She bent down to scoop the little girl into her arms and was rewarded with an enormous, squeeze-the-air-out-of-you hug.
“I had fun tonight and now I’ll see you again. Can we play after?” Becca asked.
“Let’s not put too much pressure on Alana. I’ll figure out a time for us to go on Saturday to drop the toys off.” He reached for his daughter, Becca not wanting to go and hugging her tighter, putting her little head down.
“I can carry her to bed if you want,” she said. It didn’t look as if Becca was getting down without a tug of war.
“Yes, please,” Becca said.
“It’s not worth a meltdown,” he said.
Brennan turned and started up the stairs so she followed along.
When they rounded the corner, she saw the doors opened to four rooms. Three bedrooms and a bathroom.
It was easy to tell which room was Becca’s and which was Brennan’s. She looked away quickly from his large bed stuffed into the room.
“Do you need to go to the bathroom or brush your teeth?”
Becca nodded her head and slid down, then ran to the bathroom and shut the door.
“You can escape if you want,” he whispered.
“I wouldn’t do that to you.”
He wiped his hand across his forehead. “Phew. Thank God. Talk about a fire I’d have to put out with the promise of another new dance.”
“Awww. Why are you frowning?”
“Real manly there, dancing with my three-year-old daughter.”
“Yes, it is,” she said, nodding.
The toilet flushed and the door opened. Becca was pushing a stool to the sink and Brennan stepped in to put toothpaste on the miniature toothbrush once Becca was done washing her hands.
“Thanks for braiding her hair,” he said. “Wish it’d stay like that for tomorrow, but it will fall out with the way she thrashes around in her sleep. I swear her body never slows down.”
“Hopefully she falls asleep quickly.”
The water shut off and Becca ran out. “Can I get a hug and kiss?”
“You can,” Alana said, squatting to give what was requested, and then she held out her fist for the pump she had been taught.
“Becca, can you get in bed and I’m going to walk Alana out? I’ll be right back, I promise.”
“You better. I want to tell you about all the fun we had.”
“I can’t wait,” he said.
The two of them descended the stairs. Alana grabbed her jacket off the hook. “I had a lot of fun tonight. If you need someone to watch her again, I’d love to.”
He nodded. “I’ll let you know. Thanks again.”
“See you tomorrow,” she said.
He reached around her and opened the door. “You will see me.”
If he smiled at her in the office like he was right now, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to focus on any work.