Page 5 of This Time Around
“They’re Kyle Midland originals,” she said when she caught him staring at the fake flowers.
“Who?”
“A local metal artist. I—Never mind.” She twisted the ring on her hand like she always used to do when she was nervous. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“So am I.” He handed her the bouquet of sunflowers he’d brought. “Thank you for inviting us to your home.”
Too late, he remembered he’d taken the bag off the flowers and they dripped water on her shoes. The Allie he used to know would have freaked out about ruining the leather, but this one didn’t seem to notice. Or maybe she had plenty of other pairs of fancy shoes in her closet. That seemed likely.
Jack cleared his throat and held out the bottle of wine, feeling a little like an asshole for deliberately leaving the price tag on the edge of the label. “I brought this, too.”
The fiancé took the wine and gave him a pleasant smile that looked genuine. “Very nice,” Wade said. “I had this one at a tasting event recently. Great stuff, huh?”
Jack nodded and found himself liking the guy. “They do make a darn fine wine in that region.”
“That they do.” The fiancé’s smile looked genuine as his thumb skimmed the label that said Sunridge Vineyards in fancy script. “This will be perfect with Allie’s seafood en brodo.”
Jack glanced at Allie, who stood staring at Paige like she was some kind of exotic butterfly that had fluttered into her living room.
Seeming to sense his eyes on her, Allie turned toward him with a sheepish look. “Sorry, I didn’t realize—I, um.” She licked her lips. “Does Paige eat seafood? If not, I’m sure I can throw together chicken fingers or peanut butter and jelly or?—”
“I love seafood!” Paige looked up from the collection of photos she’d been studying on a bookshelf and grinned at Allie. “Especially salmon and shrimp.”
Allie blinked. “That’s great. You have a very refined palate.”
“Thank you,” Paige said automatically, even though Jack was pretty sure she didn’t know what palate meant. In that moment, he felt so damn proud of his kid he wanted to pick her up and squeeze her.
“You’ll love the wine,” Paige continued solemnly. “It’s very itchy with notes of tulip stem and green Crayola.”
The fiancé barked out a laugh that made Allie jump. Paige beamed, pleased with the reaction from her audience. Jack hustled to explain.
“It’s our inside joke,” he said. “Paige and I try to see who can come up with the craziest descriptors for wine. Things like ‘old shoe leather from a 1978 Birkenstock’ or ‘mango Trident gum found under the third-row bleachers at Autzen Stadium.’ Stuff like that.”
Jack had wanted Paige to know she didn’t need to aspire to be the sort of woman who sipped tea with her pinky up and spoke in condescending tones about the amuse-bouche.
From what he could guess, Allie had grown up to be one of those people.
“It’s great you’re such a fan of wine.” The fiancé was talking to Paige, not him, which made him like the guy and also made him resolve to use his name instead of branding him the fiancé like a character in a play. “I always love talking with a fellow connoisseur,” Wade continued, smiling at Paige. “Maybe you could give me some good pointers on wine.”
“I don’t actually drink wine,” Paige said, pronouncing actually with an extra syllable the way her mother used to do, which was crazy. Paige barely remembered her mom, so there was no way for phonetics to have fixed themselves in his daughter’s memory.
Focus on the present, Jack ordered himself as he felt a familiar tightening in his chest.
“I like grape juice, though,” Paige was saying. “And seltzer. And root beer.”
“I’m pretty sure we have at least one of those things in the fridge,” Wade said. “Would you like something to drink?”
His daughter looked back over at him, a question in her eyes. Jack nodded once before glancing at Allie to see her exchange a questioning look of her own with Wade. Allie gave the guy a quick nod, and the next thing Jack knew, he was standing alone with her in her living room.
Alone. For the first time in sixteen years. It felt awkward. And familiar. But mostly awkward.
“So,” Allie said, resting her perfectly manicured hands on the back of the sofa. “It’s wonderful to finally meet your daughter. She’s adorable. Just like I pictured her.”
Jack snort-laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Liar.”
Allie frowned. “What?”
He shook his head and took a step closer, lowering his voice so Paige wouldn’t hear. “Until five minutes ago, you had no idea I even had a daughter.”
