Second Chance Baby (Crescent Cove #18)

Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

Everything seemed unreal. Amazing in the best way.

And I was just going with it.

Sure, once upon a time, I’d been the ultimate easygoing, go-with-the-flow guy. Then I’d become basically a single parent who not only had to coordinate my own schedule, I had to plan for my growing daughter.

Now and then, I dropped balls. I wasn’t perfect. Far from it. I was often late to appointments. Oversleeping was my daily normal. But I worked hard to keep the balance and make sure I always put Carrington first.

I was still doing that. But I just wasn’t putting her first alone.

When I’d been pulled over by Christian yesterday, I hadn’t been thinking. I couldn’t. My whole world had just been rocked in the best way possible. Yet I’d been sure it was just a one time aberration.

We’d had our chance at a fairy tale the first time around, and we’d fucked it up in the worst way possible. Ruining not only what we’d had, but our daughter’s chance at a happy home.

I still didn’t know all the reasons why, even after what we’d talked about last night. It had never made sense to me, but God, sometimes people changed.

Eventually, I’d had no choice but to accept my reality.

My siblings and parents had shown me that it didn’t need to be that way. I was so glad they’d found the right key to their particular locks. Me and Penn had been the odd men out. Both of us keeping too busy to dwell on it.

My sole focus had become keeping Carrington happy. And I loved being a father. It had been easier to worry about being everything for her than to dwell on how much I’d lost.

Turned out maybe I could still ask for things. Like hey, let’s have another kid —if it happened.

Just rolling with whatever occurred clearly was where we needed to be right now.

We were back in the truck headed to Walmart, Carrington continuing her duet to whatever came on the radio. She seemed to know every song. She sang in the car pretty often, but never this often nor with all the gestures.

She seemed happy too. Perhaps she also knew this felt right.

Bridget had always been our missing piece.

“What kind of costume do you want?” Bridget asked over the music, craning her neck to look in the backseat.

We were still holding hands. Yes, even in the truck. We had a long time to make up for.

If Carrington had noticed, she hadn’t commented. Maybe she didn’t know what to make of it yet and starting a certain way didn’t mean we could make it last. We had to wait and see if we could make a go of it for real.

We’re fucking trying, kid.

“I’m not sure,” Carrington began, raising her voice over the music. “I’m thinking some kind of cat, maybe. If they have any that aren’t too extra.”

“Aren’t Halloween costumes supposed to be extra? Isn’t that the point? The crazier the better, I say.”

In the rearview mirror, I saw her roll her eyes at me. No surprise there. That was her most common expression in my direction.

“Extra can be good, or it can be lame. Depends.” She whipped up her hair into some complicated twist thing on her head, securing it with the band from her wrist. “It’s like a case-by-case basis, you know?”

I didn’t, but I nodded.

“You guys should get costumes too,” she added nonchalantly.

“What? Why?” Hadn’t I just extricated myself from the costume game by backing off from modeling?

“You intend to hand out candy, don’t you, Dad? What’s the point of all the slay decorations if you’re not even gonna do the thing?”

Another question I couldn’t answer, but I was already warming to the idea. “Why the hell not?” I glanced at Bridget. Her eyes had gone huge in the passing headlights from other cars. “Game?”

“To wear a costume?” She sank her teeth into her lower lip hard enough I half expected to see blood. And her grip on my hand had turned to iron. “On Halloween?”

“Duh,” Carrington muttered.

Bridget didn’t respond, but her hand had gone damp in mine. There was no missing it.

Not that it was the first time today, either.

Because she didn’t want to commit to being here that long? Was I being foolish to assume everything was going so well? We certainly hadn’t spelled everything out, and we needed to.

“Or are you too chicken to wear a costume?” I asked lightly, trying to goad her into getting one without being too obvious about it.

“Oh, I’ll get one.” Her grip on my hand relaxed a little though she squeezed my fingers. “I don’t even know what size I should get.”

“It’s only three weeks until Halloween, Mom.”

“I know, but I’ve been eating like a maniac.” She laughed and patted her belly again, making me think of things that had nothing to do with sizes.

If I hadn’t yet hit that particular target, maybe we could try again.

Again and again, until we got it right.

“You look incredible just as you are.”

She squeezed my hand, so I rubbed my thumb in slow sweeps over her suddenly speeding pulse. I was tempted to never let her go, because I liked having this read on her reactions. She couldn’t pretend indifference when I felt her pulse going wild from my words.

“So, just do extra workouts like the one Dad did yesterday to be able to eat all the junk he’s been housing recently.” She giggled and I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek not to say something extremely inappropriate.

Then again…

“Yes, Brig. I highly recommend my workout plan. You should find a way to work that in at least daily. I’m happy to review the…finer points of it with you whenever you’d like.”

Her pulse was racing even faster now, and I couldn’t keep myself from grinning.

“How soon can we have another round?” She tossed back, sliding one leg over the other so her dress crept higher on her thighs. “I mean, another workout.”

Checkmate.

I swallowed hard. “How about as soon as we get done shopping?”

She blinked innocently. “Sounds good. But I thought you had planned…a viewing.”

Oh, I definitely had planned a viewing.

“Can’t we do both?”

“I’d say we should be able to combine them just fine.”

I shifted in my seat. My jeans were suddenly too damn tight—and not from the popcorn.

Couldn’t say I minded burning some more calories with her. But this time, I wouldn’t rush.

Thank God our kid slept like a rock, thanks to my Mom and Dad’s chaotic household. Carrington had been the first grandchild, and I’d taken all the help I could get. She’d also been a champ at sleeping on the many sets I’d worked on. Not to mention being the center of attention with all the staffers.

Nope, this time, we wouldn’t need Barry.

I was almost sure, anyway.

It wasn’t like I’d ever brought anyone home around Carrington before. Every damn part of this was new.

We’d figure it out. I had faith.

Walmart was even busier than Spirit had been, but I got lucky and found a space right in front. Yet again, Carrington shoved her door open the instant I stopped.

“Hey, Care. Wait,” I said sharply.

“C’mon. You’re too slow.”

“And people don’t pay attention in this busy parking lot.”

“I’m not a baby!” She practically stomped her foot.

“Okay, okay.” I slid out of my seat and slammed the door. “Halloween costume shopping ahoy.” I circled around to Bridget’s side to open her door for her.

With an almost shy smile, she murmured her thanks and stepped down. After she shut her door, she tucked her hand in my back jeans pocket like she used to do all the time. Then she pressed her face against the upper part of my arm, making me cup her head for a minute, just breathing in her honey and vanilla scent and savoring the moment.

I wasn’t a praying guy by nature, but right about now, I felt as if I needed to send up a prayer of thanks. I wasn’t at all sure if I deserved this opportunity, but I was going to do my best to be worthy of both my girls this time around.

“Ugh, you guys are so gross.” Carrington skipped ahead, then she rushed back to dance around us. “Let’s go!”

Knowing I was annoying my daughter, I kissed the top of Bridget’s head. “What kind of costume are you going to get?”

When she looked up, her sky-blue eyes were dancing. “I’m honestly not sure. You could rock a football getup.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Not sure I could at this point. Or if I want to.”

“Just a thought,” she said hurriedly. “Do what works for you.”

“Like those pictures you have, Dad?”

I grinned at Care. “I might have my shoulder pads in the garage somewhere.” Then I turned to Bridget, hip-checking her as we walked through the doors of the big supercenter. “You could dig out your old cheerleader outfit…”

She let loose an unladylike snort. “Right. As if I could get my ass in that size six skirt anymore.”

“So, get one that fits now. You’d look even hotter to me.”

I kept an eye on Carrington as we crossed to the front doors. She sprinted through to the huge candy display. Sighing, I reluctantly released Brig to get a cart. Good thing the Equinox had plenty of room.

I tossed a few big bags of candy into the cart for the trick or treaters. Our daughter already wandered off to the small display of costumes. She spun around with a witch’s hat on, her long hair so like her mother’s fanning out behind her. “Like it?”

Bridget tapped her lips. “What happened to your cat costume idea?”

Carrington wrinkled her nose. “Eh. I think I’m in my witch era.” She held up her hands, curling her fingers into claws as she tried out a perfectly witchy voice. “You pretties better watch yourselves.”

Bridget laughed. “Where is the Halloween section here? That can’t be all of it.”

“This way. C’mon.” Carrington rushed off, leading her mom through the aisles while I hung back to give them a moment.

And to once again, thank my lucky stars.

Dude, you’re becoming as big of a sap as Christian. And Moose. And even Maddie.

All three of them were big domestic types, investing themselves in their cozy family lives with the zeal only a missionary could fully appreciate.

I was just fine with joining that particular club.

“What are you looking for?” Carrington asked, rifling through racks of costumes like a pro. She drew out a Wonder Woman costume and cocked her head, holding it up to her mother. “I like it.”

Bridget frowned. “But my hair isn’t right for this one.”

“Who says?” Carrington tossed back. “We get to make the rules on Halloween. Right, Dad?”

It took me a minute to get my head back in the game. When had my daughter become so wise?

“Absolutely right. The whole point of Halloween is being whomever you want. Channeling whatever personality you want most. For one night only.”

“Yeah. Except if you really like the changes, you should find a way to incorporate them every single day.”

Yep, Carrington was so wise, I almost couldn’t believe she was mine.

Giving in to my need to hug her, I planted a kiss on top of her head while she pretended to fight me off, giggling uproariously. Then I snagged an arm around Bridget’s waist and dragged her into our little circle, hugging her as tightly as Carrington.

“Ugh, gross,” our daughter wailed, but she made no move to get free.

I squeezed her tighter. “Do you have another word?”

Carrington rolled her eyes. “Sickening.”

“Fine.” I released Care who took off with the cart, but I kept my arm around Bridget. “I guess we need to actually pick something.”

She peered at the chaos of costumes pulled off the hangers and nearly reaching the floor. “I guess.”

“I’m thinking the witch is sticking for Care,” I said drily. “Are you gonna get that Wonder Woman one? Think you’d look hot in it.”

“In your current mood, think you’d say I’d look hot in anything.”

“Well, I do have eyes.”

She poked me in the side. “You’re far too sweet. Though I gotta say, what about my eye candy? Besides just you to begin with. I didn’t even see you look at any of them.”

“Oh, I have one in mind.” I reached for the cape on a mannequin and tugged it lightly. “Vampire of the manor at your service. I mean, look at that sweet top hat. And the fangs.” Grabbing a sealed package of them, I popped them out and pushed them into my mouth before I flashed what I hoped was an evil smile at her.

From her laughter, I must’ve succeeded.

Carrington wandered back with our cart now full of brightly colored spray bottles. “Sticky string,” she announced. “And look at these awesome hair colors. Pink, orange, purple and lime.”

“Are those for the skeletons or for you?” I said through my plastic teeth.

I was pretty sure her eyes were going to roll out of her head at her current rate. “Dad, the skeletons have no hair, remember? They are for me and Mom.” Then she started to giggle. “Though you can have one too if you’re interested. Now let’s go. It’s getting dark soon and we gotta get this stuff up in the yard.” She pointed in the cart. “Got a bunch of batteries too because we probably are out, and I don’t even know all the different kinds we need for the decorations we bought. But we got a ton. My witch’s cauldron bubbles up in rainbow colors too.”

I popped out my teeth. “Good thinking, kid. You want to get all this stuff up tonight?” Gamely, I put my vampire of the manor costume in the cart. “Maybe it will take a couple days to get it all arranged. I’ll do my best. And I intend to have Gideon build us a massive roof spider too, but that’s going to take a little time.”

“Nope. Tonight,” she pronounced decisively, putting her hands on her hips in her most often used stance. “Dad, it’s already October. Any later and we might as well not bother. We’re going to miss the freaking holiday entirely.”

“Whatever you say,” I mumbled, pushing the cart yet again. Apparently, that was my job.

At least this one didn’t make shrill squeaking sounds like the damn one at the Halloween store.

We checked out and put our purchases in the back of the Equinox with the rest of the crap we’d picked out. “Holy shit. We got a lot of stuff.”

Carrington nodded and leaned up to give me a one-armed hug. “You’re the best, Daddy.”

I returned her hug. “I kind of am. Even if I’m running late. As usual. But your mom is the best too,” I added, locking gazes with Bridget over our daughter’s head.

“She is,” she agreed, her words muffled against my shirt.

But they were still enough to make Bridget smile mistily, and she lifted her fingers to her eyes to discreetly whisk away tears.

“Tonight is just for decorations and perfectly witchy displays. Or perfectly skeletonized displays,” I improvised.

Carrington shook her head. “What does that even mean?”

I slammed the back shut. “Just roll with it, Care.”

“Rolling.” She shrugged and slipped into the backseat.

On my way to open Bridget’s door, I caught notice of a huge lit-up Jack Skellington blowup figure standing guard beside the other doors on the other side. Carrington loved Jack Skellington. I had no clue how she’d missed seeing that one.

“Be right back, babe.” I brushed a kiss over Bridget’s temple before she climbed in the truck, and I closed the door.

Then I went to get my girls that Jack Skellington. And maybe me too, because that thing frigging rocked. I already knew exactly where I’d put it in the yard in a tucked-in spot right beside the driveway so if anyone drove up, he could salute them.

As for the rest of the stuff? No clue.

But then I turned my head and saw a ghost peeking around a fake tree, so of course I needed that too. And a blowup of three grinning pumpkins and some kind of tall spooky ghost and pumpkin hybrid deal, so I grabbed the nearest cart and shoved them in it, along with a few of the tropical flamingos peeking out of a nearby cave-like thing with skeletons beside them. All of them and the Jack Skellington dude all went into my new cart, which I quickly pushed to the self-checkout.

But then there were the glowing hands meant to stick up from the dirt I’d neglected to snag from Spirit, and we had our crazy beach scene to put together.

In the cart they went too.

Then I realized we hadn’t gotten any chairs for our beach scene yet. But those could be sourced from the hardware store on the way home. They still had the last few of their summer chairs on display outside because it had been so warm into the fall.

I was almost embarrassed at my gluttony at this point.

Then again, why the hell not? Why shouldn’t I go absolutely over the top just to make Bridget and my daughter smile? Was anything worth more?

It would also make the townsfolk smile too. Maybe we’d even be able to give a few fun frights while we were at it. I’d never really gotten to do the big over the top family decorating thing, mainly because I was always coming back from working somewhere else or planning to go again soon.

Here and now, my entire world was right here.

I returned to the self-checkout, looking only at my wallet as I removed my credit card. Honestly, I didn’t trust myself to not buy more at this point, so even looking was off-limits. I unloaded my purchases and quickly paid before dumping them back in the cart and heading for my truck in the parking lot. Carrington let out a loud sound verging on a scream when she saw me, and I couldn’t help laughing before I held up my hands in a pseudo apology.

I wasn’t actually sorry for anything. I hadn’t been able to spoil my girl nearly enough.

Both girls, really.

I popped open the back again and made a show of sighing heavily, as if most of this stuff wasn’t due to my clear insanity. Carrington leaned over the backseat, laughing outrageously as I worked to make enough room to load in all my impulsive purchases. Once I’d packed things in as tightly as Halloween-shaped sardines, I came around to slide in behind the wheel.

“Don’t say it,” I said to Bridget, who only laughed softly.

“Say what? That you’re the sweetest father ever?”

My neck and ears instantly went hot. “It’s no big deal,” I muttered, starting the truck.

“Yes, it really is. It’s a huge deal. Thank you for including me.” She leaned over to grip my thigh. The warmth of her hand through the denim had me instantly hardening, and I didn’t even try to suppress my reaction. I wanted her to know exactly what she did to me.

In every possible way.

I nearly murmured I love you , then I just squeezed her hand on my leg. I didn’t want to scare her off if she wasn’t all the way there yet.

Even if I definitely was.

Her lips quirked. “And you will definitely need a shoulder massage after putting up those wild displays. I hope you have a ladder.”

“Of course I have a ladder.”

I hoped.