Chapter 24
WILLING TO DO
“Morning.”
Alana looked up to see Brennan standing in her open doorway. She’d gotten to work at seven and had expected no one else this early. Most were working from home or on vacation this week anyway.
Had she texted him last night to say she was coming in early? Yep. It was a hint to see if he’d do the same and they could chat in person before the rest of the staff who were working this week made an appearance.
“Good morning,” she said. “How was Becca about getting up this early?”
“She’s got Santa on the brain, so you know, every day is an early day with her asking if he’s coming tonight or not.”
“That’s so sweet.”
He moved in closer to her. She stood up and went into his arms. It felt as if it’d been months since he’d touched her when it’d been forty-eight hours.
If a heart could fall fast, hers was gaining speed on a rapid decline down Mount Everest.
His lips touched hers, her arms going around his waist as he held her tight.
“I like this working together thing if I can see you more,” he said.
“I was almost thinking the same thing. Especially since my parents are here all week. They’d like to meet you, but I’m not sure how that is going to work when Becca isn’t aware of my relationship as more than her friend.”
“We’ve got time to figure that out,” he said. “I’m not worried. If your parents don’t mind her being with us, we can try for dinner one day while they are here.”
“I’d like that.” She moved out of his arms and hoped her face didn’t expose her disappointment Becca wouldn’t be told much more than Alana was a friend.
She couldn’t let her opinion matter. It had to come from Brennan. He knew his daughter better than anyone.
“Then we’ll make it work. How is it having your parents in the house with you?”
“I never cared before, but I think now that I’ve got a man in my life, it’s a bit more inconvenient.”
She couldn’t just flop anywhere and talk to him. Not that they did it often because of Becca.
But Saturday her parents had company over and it would be rude of her to go to her room to talk to Brennan and find out how the visit with Rene went.
Then on Sunday, she went with her parents to visit more family and by the time she got home Brennan had Becca in bed and was wrapping gifts and getting things ready for the week ahead.
“It’s only for a week,” he said. “Now you understand what I go through with little ears everywhere.”
“It’s all good. Can I ask how it went with Rene if you want to talk about it?”
“I’d like to tell you,” he said. He sat in front of her desk and she walked over and shut her door in case anyone else came in.
“You look worried,” she said. “I could hear it in your voice when we talked quickly on the phone.”
“I’m not sure worried is the right word. More like confused. I understand she wanted to see Becca. As much as she and I don’t get along.”
“You don’t?” she asked. “I mean, I get it. What she did was unacceptable.”
“What she did to me was despicable,” he said. “What she is doing to our daughter is unforgivable. But I don’t want to be the person who comes between them if she is trying. I thought at first that is what this was.”
“It wasn’t?” Alana asked, frowning.
“I think it was a visit to say she did it. For her conscience only. She barely interacted with Becca. Just watched and half paid attention. I got her off the ferry and she wanted food, so we stopped to get a burger and fries. Becca wanted to play right away and show Rene her favorite toys, but she had to eat first.”
She wanted to argue that, but couldn’t. She knew nothing about Rene. “Did she at least talk to Becca during that time?”
“They talked, Becca opened her gifts, then drew a picture for Rene. She danced for her too. Oh, and Rene told me she’d bought the ticket already for the next ferry, so that was at four.”
“Giving you about an hour for the visit at your house when you factor in getting to your place and having to leave to bring her back.”
“Exactly. While Becca was drawing a picture, Rene wasn’t even watching and asked me to fill her in on the past six months. She hasn’t seen her daughter since her birthday. That was just a two-hour visit too.”
Sounded like Rene showed up at holidays or milestones, if that. A few hours meant little in her eyes.
“That’s nice she was interested, but something tells me you’d be more than willing to have an open line of communication about your daughter’s life.”
In her mind it was Brennan’s daughter, not Rene’s.
“I have been willing. I did it for the first year and Rene barely replied. Gradually I stopped sharing as much. I hate to say it was petty on my part waiting to see if she’d even noticed the texts were less, but the other part was I was exhausted at the end of the day.”
“Understandable on your part,” she said. “Do you fill her in on anything at all? Just curious.”
“Nope,” he said. “Nothing more than major points, like me moving here. And as you know, I texted her twice about it and she didn’t reply and completely forgot.”
That was just inexcusable. Uncaring. Completely selfish.
She wanted to say all of that, but it wasn’t her place.
Their relationship was still in the fragile stages, and if she wanted it to grow stronger, then it was best to keep her opinion to herself.
Considering her heart was involved, she’d risk nothing to derail it.
“Was Becca excited to see her mother?”
“She’s excited to see anyone other than me,” he said drily.
“She loves her father very much,” she said. “Don’t be that way.”
“I know. She’s a very outgoing child. She remembered Rene and was happy to see her. I’m positive when she gets older it’s going to be harder on her.”
“More emotional for sure,” she said. “But she’s an open-minded child and she might surprise you.”
“I hope so.”
“If not, you’ll figure it out because you always do. At least from what I can see.” She looked at the door nervously, then leaned closer to him across her desk and lowered her voice. “I find it very sexy what you do for your daughter. What you’re willing to do.”
“Being sexy to my hot girlfriend is way up there at the top of the list of things I want to accomplish daily,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
He called her his girlfriend!
Not only that, he thought she was hot!
“You know it’s on my list. Or do I have to wear some more outfits like Friday night?”
He gulped. “Thank God I’m in good shape. You can do that any time you want.”
“Can I confess something to you?”
“I’d like you to,” he said.
“I’ve never been like that before. The need and the desire to do what I did and then what I feel when we were together.
I don’t know if it’s the daily teasing and seeing you here or the anticipation over the fact that it’d been so long for me.
Maybe even the nervousness of you being the first after Jonathan. ”
He closed one eye at her. “I don’t know if I like being compared.”
She’d put her foot in her mouth. “I’m not doing that. Don’t think it. I’m just spewing words out like an open fire hydrant.”
“I understand what you’re saying,” he said. “I like to think I’ve got a healthy sex life when I’m in a relationship, but they’ve been few and far between. I’ve always worried about Becca and what role she plays in it.”
“Have you introduced Becca to any woman you’ve dated?” She wasn’t sure why that just occurred to her.
“I have not,” he said.
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to reply to that. Guess she shouldn’t be so hurt then, considering her extensive time with Becca.
He laughed. “You should see your shocked face. You’ve been different from the start.
I’m not sure I can put my finger on any of it other than it’s working out perfectly in my mind.
We’ll figure out how to explain our relationship to my daughter at some point, but I want you in her life.
I want her to know you’re there as more than her friend, but I don’t know how to go about it either. Maybe we can figure it out together.”
“Awww,” she said, knowing she had some sappy expression on her face. “I want to be in both of your lives.”
“Good. My mother would like to meet you too, but no timeline on it. She’s in the area where your parents aren’t.”
“I’m starting to hear noises so people are coming in,” she said, looking at the clock in her office. It was seven thirty. It was probably Kelsey since it was loud enough. She knew her cousin, and Kelsey would be banging things around to let them know they weren’t alone.
He stood up. “We can finish this later. I’m sorry I won’t be around much this week.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “You had plans before I came into your life and now my parents are here.”
“I’ll call you tonight so we can talk about those holiday plans. I have nothing going on tomorrow, it’s just the two of us. Christmas Day is with my mother.”
“I’ll let you know what I’m doing,” she said. Her brother was coming tomorrow and she didn’t know if she could sneak out or not to visit with Brennan and Becca, but she was going to damn well try.