Page 99 of Before You Can Blink
My daughter was bringing home a man to meet me and her mother. Even though I’d always known this day was coming, I wasn’t prepared. Truth be told, I never would be.
In my mind, she was still a little girl, not a grown woman of twenty-six. Hell, there were times when I half expected her to come running aroundthe corner into the kitchen, barely higher than my knee, with pigtails holding her wild copper waves away from her face.
“Mike, huh?” My voice had gone gravel. “He good to you?”
Bashfully, she chided, “Daddy,” and I could picture her freckled face turning red.
“Well? Is he?” I pressed.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Lifting my gaze, I found Daisy stretching the cord on the living room phone as far as it could go so she could fix me with a wide-eyed stare while drawing a hand across her neck in acut it outgesture.
Pressing my lips together to express my annoyance, I dipped my chin, agreeing to lay off.
“He’s very respectful, Daddy. Promise.”
I’d be the judge of that.
“When are you coming in?” Daisy took the line of questioning in a different direction.
Aspen hummed, as if she were checking her schedule. “We land a touch before three on the nineteenth.”
Eight more days and our girl would be home, where she belonged. If only there were a way to convince her to stay.
My wife let out a delighted squeal. “Oh! I can’t wait! Your father will come pick you two kids up, right, Jett?”
“Uh, yeah.” I cleared my throat.
“Well, I have to get going,” Aspen said. “Lot of projects due before the holidays, but I’ll see you soon.”
“We’ll be counting the days,” Daisy chirped, her excitement evident.
Aspen called out a quick goodbye, and the line went dead.
I’d barely hung up the receiver when my wife burst into the room, cheeks flushed, blue eyes bright. “Jett! Aspen’s coming home!”
Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I nodded. “Yep, I heard.”
“And she’s bringing aboyfriend!”
“Hmm.” A displeased rumble rolled through my chest.
Eyes narrowing, she pointed a finger in my direction. “Don’t do that.”
“Fine. Just so long as you don’t get your hopes up.”
“How can I not?” Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Daisy clasped both hands to her chest. “She’s never gotten serious with a boy before, and now she’s bringing one home. That has to mean something.”
I refrained from pointing out that the reason things hadn’t gotten “serious” with any of the guys Aspen had dated to this point was because our girl had a habit of dating unavailable men. Every single one of them had preferred men to women in a romantic capacity.
Maybe Mike did too, and all my worrying about giving her away was for nothing.
“They can stay in the cabin now that it’s all fixed up!”
Was shetryingto give me a heart attack?
“No.” I shook my head for emphasis. “Absolutely not.”
Both hands landed on her hips. “And why not?”
