Page 58 of Billionaire Accidental Daddy

Amelia’s watching me, curious.

Too late I realize that a snow day with my kid might not have been the sexy holiday Amelia was envisioning.

I smile ruefully. “Turns out I’m doing dad stuff today. Kiera’s coming over. If that’s not how you want to spend your snow day, she and I can do our best to stay out of your hair.”

Amelia looks uncertain. “Is that your way of saying you’d rather I didn’t spend time with you two?”

“No. Absolutely not. I want us all to spend the day together,” I say. It’s not until the words are out of my mouth that I realize how true they are.

Amelia’s face lights up. “Ok,” she says. She kisses me softly. “Let’s spend the day together.”

We spendthe afternoon tromping through Central Park drinking hot chocolate. When our cups are empty, Amelia starts a snowball fight with Kiera. Kiera’s face is shocked and delighted. Then she retaliates. Amelia moves comedically slowly, letting Kiera get in plenty of hits. When she falls in the snow dramatically, Kiera rushes over to make sure Amelia’s ok.

Amelia whispers something in Kiera’s ears. Kiera nods eagerly.

Before I know it, both my girls are pelting me with snowballs.

I laugh, returning fire. And unlike Amelia, I don’t play nice.

By the time we finish, we’re all red-faced, coated in snow, and laughing.

Kiera spots some kids she knows from school across the field and asks if she can go play with them.

“Sure,” I say. “But don’t go too far.”

“Thanks, Dad!” She runs across the field toward her friends, her pink jacket a pop of color against the white snow.

She’s going so fast she face-plants.

I start to rush toward her, but Amelia puts a hand on my arm. “Give her a sec. I think she’s got this.”

A second later, Kiera pops up. She gives me a thumbs up to show she’s ok. And then she goes back to crossing the field, this time more carefully.

I glance at Amelia. “You’re good with kids.”

She shrugs off the compliment. “I used to babysit my little cousins back in Texas. Girls Kiera’s age want to test out being a little more independent. And they’re normally tougher than their parents think.”

“You mean tougher than their dads think,” I say.

Amelia slides her gloved fingers between mine. “I like that you want to protect her from everything, Cole. And I think Kiera does too. It’s one of the things that helps her be so brave.”

“You think?” My voice sounds gruff, even to my own ears.

Amelia smiles up at me. She double checks Kiera isn’t watching, then sneaks a kiss. It’s sweet and chaste. Like freshly fallen snow.

Then she pulls back, and we both start walking after Kiera, holding onto each other to avoid slipping on the packed snow.

My chest feels weirdly warm over Amelia’s words.

I try to be a good dad. But the “good dad” model gets more complicated once you factor in divorce, and stepparents, and all the potential negative side effects of being a billionaire’s daughter.

I don’teverwant to fuck up and let Kiera down the way my dad let me down.

But I don’t have anyone else to bounce ideas off when I’m uncertain or confide in when I’m scared of screwing up. My mom’s great, but her parenting tends to be a little more old-school, tough love style. It worked on me. But I can’t stand the thought of telling Kiera to suck it up when she comes to me crying about something or other.

Bridget and I talk about big parenting decisions, like when we decided where to send Kiera to school. But I don’t want to saddle my ex-wife with my personal parenting insecurities. And I’m sure as hell not going to talk to my dad about it.

Having Amelia here—it feels different. More fun. Less lonely. Like parenting with a safety net.

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