Page 240 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
She shook her head, absolutely gobsmacked. “I still can’t believe he didn’t mention this to me. I don’t even know what to say.”
“You can say what I said,” he replied, a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.
“And what’s that?” she asked, concentrating on the path as they strolled by the black and white goats.
“Thank you,” the man replied humbly. “Erasmus is giving me a chance to start over and get back to being the kind of man your mother married. A man who works hard and loves his kids. Denver holds too many ghosts and too many old haunts that could lead me back to betting on sports and drinking away the winnings. I need a clean start. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Erasmus Cress is saving my life. Do you think you’ll be talking to him anytime soon?”
A knot formed in her belly as they passed through the gate. “I’m not sure if I’m going to see him again. We had a falling out.”
“If an old dog like me can change, I’m sure there’s hope for two people who love each other as much as you and Erasmus do,” he added with a knowing glint in his eyes as if he knew something she didn’t.
She studied her father’s expression. “How do you know that I love Erasmus Cress?”
“You’re your mother’s daughter, Libby. You radiate love. You always have. I can hear the affection in your voice when you say his name. Don’t write him off yet,” her father added as a taxi pulled up.
A strange vibration passed between them.
Something else was going on with her dad, but she shook it off.
“Let me know when you get to Kansas City,” she said, giving him another hug. “We can plan a time for me to visit.”
“I’d like that. And Libby?”
“Yes.”
“I might be seeing you a little sooner than later,” he added and pressed a kiss to her cheek before getting into the taxi.
That was an odd thing to say.
Her emotions seesawed between being grateful that her father had a real chance to turn his life around and hardly being able to believe that she had Raz to thank for it.
She sank onto a bench next to the petting zoo’s entrance and watched the yellow taxi disappear down the road. She removed her mother’s aquamarine stone from her pocket. Brushing her thumb over the smooth surface, a word came to mind.
Transformation.
Could Raz change? Was her father on to something? Could there be a path forward for her and that beefcake of a man?
A crow swooped in and perched on the back of the bench.
She glanced at the bird. “Namaste, crow, you keep popping up, don’t you?”
The crow didn’t reply, most likely because it was just a crow—or was it?
She sat back and pictured her mother, remembering how they used to cozy up on the couch and talk for hours.
“I think Dad’s going to be okay. No, I know it. I saw it in his aura. His energy is…transformed.”
She glanced at the crow, currently focused on the aquamarine stone glinting in the light. She sighed, understanding Ida’s fondness for chilling out with butterflies. She quite liked hanging with this crow.
“Can you believe that Raz got Dad a job, and he never mentioned it?” she continued, gabbing away with the bird. “What does that mean? I know Raz is a good man, and I know he loves me. He does.”
She observed the crow, still listening or whatever crows do when they remain motionless.
It hadn’t flown away. That had to mean something.
“Should I call him? I can thank him. Maybe I should yell at him for keeping this from me, then thank him. I can’t do anything,” she said, frustration taking over.
The crow didn’t answer, but it seemed oddly interested.
