Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
They were going to be late.
He hated to be late.
Something Grant knew he should have gotten over by now, because ever since his fifteen-year-old daughter Lindsay hit the teenage years, they’d been late to school.
Two years later, he thought she’d have mastered the art of applying her makeup and choosing her outfit for school, but unfortunately, that had never happened.
Still, he could live in hope. She’d be finishing her freshman year in just a couple of months, then there were only three more years to go until his baby would be graduating high school and moving on to her next big adventure.
Where did the time go?
Seemed like just yesterday he was watching his wife carry their newborn daughter into the nursery for the first time.
Now Lindsay was fifteen, his son Kevin was twelve, and it had been nine years since his wife died in childbirth along with their second daughter, who he had wound up calling Lara, the same name as her mother.
Almost a decade of being a single parent had left him feeling like he’d missed out on a whole lot of living.
Raising a three-year-old and six-year-old, grieving, trying to help his kids grieve, working, building a career, taking care of the kids and the house, and all the chores that needed to be done, didn't leave much time for anything else.
It didn’t leave much time for anyone else.
Like they did more and more these days, his thoughts drifted to the sexy redhead he’d met at a colleague’s wedding over a month ago. Ashlyn Davidson was the first woman to catch his eye since he lost his wife. The first woman to make him feel like a man again, instead of just a dad and a cop.
Both of those roles he loved, there was nothing more rewarding than raising kids, and becoming a detective was everything he’d wanted since he was in middle school.
But he was more than a dad and a cop.
He was a man, and he was only mildly embarrassed to admit that the pair of panties Ashlyn had left behind that night were sitting upstairs, hidden in his sock drawer.
Over the last five weeks, he’d gotten them out more than once and gotten himself off by wrapping them around his length and using his hand.
Before Ashlyn, there had been no getting himself off. Sex had been the furthest thing from his mind while he was just struggling to survive each day and the load of work that came with it.
Was he ready to move on?
The thought came out of nowhere and was followed by a rush of guilt as he glanced over at the large family portrait that hung above the fireplace.
It was the last photo he had of his wife.
In it, Lara was pregnant with baby Lara, the baby bump obvious as she’d been around seven months along.
Lindsay’s hair was perfectly braided, something he’d never quite learned to do, and Kevin was grinning at the mother he barely remembered like she was the center of his world.
Which was exactly what Lara had been.
The center of all their worlds.
But she was gone now, and despite the guilt, as he looked at her bright smile, he knew that she would have wanted him to find happiness again if he could.
Grant wasn't saying that Ashlyn was the woman he would wind up being happy with, but he couldn’t deny that time had dulled his loss enough that he was ready to look for love again.
A clatter on the stairs had him turning his head as his daughter finally made her way down them.
Lindsay was the spitting image of her mother, and while looking at her had intensified the ache in his chest in those early days when his grief was still so raw, now he loved that his daughter was taking after her mother in every way.
“Glad you could finally grace us with your company,” he drawled.
“Dad.” She sighed in that way only a teenager could. “I’m like eight minutes late. Relax. It’s not a big deal.”
Being told to relax by one of his kids always made him smile, reminding him of all the times he’d tried to get them to relax when they were throwing tantrums and being typical rowdy kids.
Despite the grief and all the work it had been wrangling two small children and balancing his career and the house, there had been a lot of good times.
A lot he wished he had been able to share with Lara.
“Ready to go, Kev?” he called out to his son, who was playing some video game, cars darting around on a track on the television screen.
“One more minute,” Kevin called back.
And this was exactly how eight minutes late turned into thirty in the blink of an eye.
Like clockwork, Lindsay glanced down at her outfit, a furrow forming between her brows. “If Kevin isn’t ready yet, I might just run back upstairs and change my shoes.”
“Lindsay,” he groaned. Why did this happen every day?
Getting his kids to coordinate their departure seemed as impossible as building a city on Mars.
Lindsay took too long to get ready, so Kevin played video games, so Lindsay decided she had time to go and change something in her outfit, so Kevin started another race, and the cycle went on until he put his foot down and insisted he was leaving, and if they weren't ready they could walk to school.
“Relax, Dad. It won't take long,” Lindsay told him as she hurried back upstairs.
“I’m ready,” Kevin announced, looking over his shoulder. When he didn't see his sister, he turned his attention back to his game. “If Linds isn’t ready yet, I have time for one more race.”
Grant’s groan turned into laughter. As much as his kids had the ability to drive him crazy, he wouldn't change a thing about their lives together.
Except maybe one day, adding a pretty redhead to their busy lives.