Page 37 of The Christmas Fix
“Just the perfect woman to join the conversation,” Cat announced. “Sara and I were just discussing hard work and dreams.”
“Oh, my fave! What do you want to do with your life, Sara?” Paige asked.
“Mmm, well. I’m really into fashion,” Sara shrugged. “But I think my dad wants me to find something serious to get excited about.”
“Fashion can be serious,” Cat argued.
“Daddoesn’t think so. He’s all like ‘Why don’t you try accounting or neuroscience or physical therapy?’” Sara mimicked.
Cat snorted and Paige elbowed her in the side.
“Ouch! Fashion can be very serious. What parts of the industry do you like the most?” Cat asked, rubbing her ribs where Paige’s bony elbow connected.
Sara furrowed her brow. “You know, it’s not so much the modeling that I like. It’s like the stuff that goes into magazines and commercials and when you see someone wearing it on Instagram or TV.”
“Ah, the branding,” Cat nodded. “Fashion branding and marketing is a huge,seriousindustry.
Sara brightened. “Really?”
“There’s so much more to fashion than just clothes and accessories. There’s art and business and accounting and international relations.” Cat counted each one off on her fingers. “It’s a huge, important industry.”
“My dad doesn’t think so.”
“Well, maybe your dad just doesn’t understand how much work goes into fashion,” Paige pointed out. “Sometimes it’s our job to educate people on what they don’t understand.”
Noah Yates didn’t understand anything he didn’t want to, Cat thought uncharitably.
“What if they don’t want to be educated?” Sara asked.
“Then you do it anyway and rub their faces in your success in a really graceful way,” Cat told her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Noah glared at the message on his phone. He stabbed the call button.
“Tell me you didn’t leave our daughter in the care of a TV star,” he growled.
He heard what sounded like static from the other end. “Mellody, I know that’s you blowing into the phone. Don’t even try the tunnel trick on me.”
His ex-wife and sort-of friend sighed. “Noah, you make it sound like she’s a porn star. I met Cat. She seemed like a reasonably responsible adult, more so than that babysitter you hired a few years ago who broke into our box of wine and passed out on the couch while our five-year-old watchedThe Shining.”
“This is basically the same thing, but it’s your fault this time.”
“What’s been going on with you? Since the flood, you’ve been wound tighter than a helicopter mom on the first day of kindergarten.”
The truth of his ex-wife’s words wasn’t lost on him. “I just have a lot going on.” He did, he reminded himself. The fact that his life flashed before his eyes as he envisioned muddy brown waters closed over his head a half dozen times a day… well, that was a little distracting, too.
He found himself fixating on those handful of seconds over and over again. And then the tattoo, the boat. Safety. The woman who’d dragged him out of the water like a half-drowned dog had very likely saved his life. And he had no idea who she was. A stranger he’d never forget. One he’d probably never get the chance to thank.
Noah blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m just not Cat King’s biggest fan. She’s a reality TV celebrity. Is that really who we want our daughter spending time with?”
Mellody laughed. “It’s a home renovation show, Noah, Not the Weird Housewives of Wherever. She’s nice, she’s smart, and she volunteered. Sara would have been inconsolable for a week straight if I’d said no.”
“I get that. It’s just…”
“Noah. She’s twelve, almost thirteen.” He could hear the gentle firmness in Mellody’s tone. He’d heard it millions of times during the course of their relationship. “We’re going to have to start accepting that. She’s old enough to stay home alone. She’s old enough to pick her after school activities. She’s old enough to be her own person.”
Logically, rationally, he got that. But when he looked at his little girl? He wasn’t ready to release her into the world. She wasn’t ready.Hewasn’t ready.
