Page 17 of Skin Deep

War smirked, but he might have found his match in Scarlet. He turned on his stool to face me. “I only bring it up because developmental delays and dental problems sometimes accompany Van der Woude Syndrome. Charlotte should have an assessment done as soon as possible. It’s not my area, and it won’t affect her treatment plan here, but you should be aware.”

I took a deep breath and held it a moment. That was all news to me and a lot to take in. Why hadn’t someone told me all that before? In all the doctor’s offices we’d been shuffled through over the last eighteen months, not one of them had taken the time to explain any of that to me. They all said the same thing, that she needed surgery to fix it. But if there was something deeper going on, it might need more than surgery.

“I’m going to refer Charlotte to a good pediatrician I know over at Children’s with a note to refer for further assessments,” War said, typing. “Don’t worry about the cost. Children’s Hospital has a program that’ll cover what you need if you don’t have insurance.”

“What about her lip?” I pressed. “Will you be able to help her?”

“I do dozens of these repairs every year. It’s one of the most common procedures I do here,” he said with confidence, and my heart jumped.

He launched into a more thorough explanation, pointing out the small divot in her lip. Apparently, her case was minor and all he had to do was a single surgery to fix it and my baby would finally be her best self.

“Let me take you to dinner,” I blurted, interrupting his walkthrough of the procedure.

He froze, his pen light hanging midair as he pointed out something on Charlie’s face. I knew what he was thinking. He was trying to figure out how to say no.

Maybe I could get him to accept if he thought we were going to talk about the ripper. He’d seemed interested in him. Maybe he’d help me hunt the bastard down. No one had asked me to do that, but taking that asshole out would be doing everyone a favor regardless. Plus, Maya would rest better if that fucker was gone.

“We could, um, talk aboutwork.” Jesus, I sounded like an idiot, but I didn’t know how else to convey that I wanted to talk about the ripper without being more specific, and I didn’t want to upset Lettie.

If he got what I was saying, he didn’t show it. He took a deep breath. “That would probably create a conflict of interests. If you want me to operate on Charlie, we should keep things…professional.”

Fuck professional. I didn’t know if I was capable of that with him, but if agreeing to that was what it took to get him to hear me out…

“Call it a business dinner then,” I said with a shrug.

He considered me for a long beat. “Where?”

“The Burger King down the street?” I wanted to pick somewhere nicer, but I had bills to pay and couldn’t afford much more than that.

He sighed. “All right. Fine.” He closed his laptop and stood, pulling open the door. “I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

I swallowed, my throat tight and my heart strangely full. “Yeah. See you there.”

Thenine-year-oldgirlsittingacross the plastic table stared at me with an intensity I’d only ever seen on my brother River’s face. The angry little hobbit had been glaring daggers at me long enough that I was starting to wonder if there wasn’t a little psychopath in her. Then again, all kids were a little psycho. Half the fun of being around them was having someone as crazy as me to hang out with. Kids could be assholes, but at least they were honest assholes if it served them. We had that in common.

Paxton wiped his youngest’s face with a brown paper napkin while she tried to stuff more soggy French fries in her mouth. “Lettie, why don’t you take Charlie down the slide?”

“I don’t want to,” Scarlet protested, earning a look from her father. She eventually relented with an irritated sigh, throwing her face toward the ceiling as if playing with her little sister was the most inconvenient thing in the world. “Fine.” She lifted Charlie from the highchair, and they walked over to the play area hand in hand.

“She seems like a proper handful,” I said, jerking my chin toward them.

“Takes after her mother in that regard,” he muttered and picked up his burger, which had undoubtedly gone cold while he focused on feeding the kids.

I turned back to picking through the wilted lettuce of my grilled chicken salad. The sodium content of the dressing alone was probably more than I should have all day. “I would’ve said you. I mean, she’s hot headed, impulsive, self-centered…”

“I don’t recall you complaining about any of that last night,” he said with a smirk. “Anyway, that’s kids for you. They’re all like that until you get to know them.”

“So you’re just a giant kid?”

Paxton took a big bite of his burger, chewed, and swallowed before answering. “I can think of worse things to be than someone who knows how to have a little fun.”

“Is that what this is for you? Fun?”

He lowered the greasy burger. “Which part?”

“The part where you keep showing up in my life. It’s starting to feel a little like you’re stalking me.”

“Stalking you?” His eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t plan to run into you again. Besides, I’ve been trying to get into Best Face Forward for months.”

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