Page 38 of Baby It's Cold Outside

“She loved it. She’s here with me now. We’re at my apartment in SoHo.”

“That’s wonderful,” she replied, her knees shaking at the thought that he was so close and yet so far out of reach.

“Yeah, well, it’s great to have her here, but it would have been a lot more wonderful if she hadn’t insisted on bringing the puppy,” he said, sounding a little annoyed. “The damn thing’s already eaten two of my shoes—and from two different pairs.”

Kate coughed out a laugh, imagining the frown on his face, and wiped away another errant tear.

“Hey, don’t you start,” he said. “Those shoes cost three hundred dollars a pair.” She then heard him swear under his breath and say from a distance—as if he were holding the phone away from his mouth—”Gull, for chrissake tell Tyler to stay off the couch, he’s covered in mud.”

A childish giggle was followed by a high-pitched musical voice saying: “Don’t be silly, Daddy. How can I tell him when he doesn’t speak the human language?”

There followed a fairly lengthy discussion on how humans communicate with dogs, which Gully definitely seemed to win, before Ryder came back on the line. “Jesus, I’m sorry. She’s gone to give Tyler a bath. I’ve probably got about ten minutes tops before my apartment is totaled, so you’ll just have to listen to what I’ve got to say without interrupting. Got it?”

“Yes, okay,” Kate agreed, so touched by the tiny insight into his relationship with his daughter that her throat was too thick to talk anyway.

He sighed. “Right, here goes. As you know, Gully and I are going to Disneyland in a couple of days. We make a trip there every year, just her and me, and well, yesterday she asked me if she could bring a friend.”

He sounded a little despondent. Kate’s heart went out to him, knowing how precious his time alone with his daughter was. “Ryder, that’s tough. But I suppose it’s all part of her growing up.”

Was this why he had called? To get her input? The thought made her feel both flattered and sad.

“I was sad for a bit, I’ll admit it,” he said. “Seems that Cool Dad’s awesomeness is fading in favor of her new friend, Maisey, from ballet class.”

“Oh, Ryder,” she said, not sure what else to say.

“But then, you know what? It made me realize a couple of important things. First, I don’t want to miss any more big chunks of her life. She’s growing up so fast, I can’t afford to be gone for months at a time. So I’ve packed in my job. I want to be based in New York now, not traveling all over the globe chasing stories. I’ve got a contact at the Herald, says they’re looking for a staff photographer. I know the editor there loves my stuff, so I shouldn’t be unemployed for long.”

“That’s terrific, Ryder. I’m so pleased for you.” And she was—it sounded like he was sorting out his life. “I think you’ve made the right decision.”

“That’s good; so do I. But there’s something else I discovered, and you’re a big part of it, Katherine.”

“I am?” she asked, the optimism building, despite her best efforts not to get ahead of herself.

“Yeah, here’s the thing.” He paused, and she could have sworn she heard him swallow. “I need to get a life, apart from Gully and my job. In the last few years, I’ve kind of drifted in and out of relationships, because she was always more important and I never met anyone I could be bothered to make the effort with. Until…” He paused again, and her hand gripped the handset so hard she thought it might crack apart. “Until I met you. I want to see more of you, Katherine. A lot more.”

The tears welled again, but this time she didn’t make any effort to wipe them away because she was too busy concentrating on not getting knocked on her backside by the wave of emotion barreling through her.

“In fact,” he continued, before she managed to form a coherent response, “I was wondering if you’d like to come over to the apartment tomorrow. We could go to Central Park for the afternoon, and then I’ll make the three of us some supper. I’ve spoken to Gully about you, and she’s cool with it. I want you to meet her, get to know her. She’s a terrific kid. And I swear, I’ll make her lock Tyler in the bathroom while you’re here.”

She pressed trembling fingers to her lips, the tears flooding down her cheeks now, and she had to gulp down a sob. He was willing to give her not just himself, but his child, too. She wasn’t quite sure she could cope with the joy of it all.

“Katherine, I know we said what we had was just for one night— Why are you crying?”

“Because I’m so happy,” she managed at last.

He chuckled, that deep lazy chuckle she was sure was the best sound she’d ever heard. “I knew promising to keep the puppy in the bathroom would swing it.”

She laughed then.

“So what’s your official answer?” he asked, but she could tell he already knew.

“My official answer is absolutely yes,” she said. “To seeing more of you and meeting Gully. And you really don’t have to worry about Tyler. I’d like to meet him, too,” she added, her heart swelling to impossible proportions. “I may be scared of the dark, but I’m remarkably brave when it comes to puppies.”

“Good to know,” he said, lowering his voice. “But I’m reserving judgment on the Shoe Terminator. You may not be scared of him, but my Gucci loafers sure as hell are.”

She giggled, the light, carefree sound mixing with the rough chuckle she had come to adore. “Why Ryder, I had no idea you were so precious about footwear.”

r /> “I’m precious about a lot of stuff,” he countered, his voice dropping to a seductive hum. “Including you.”

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