Page 24 of Anchor Point

Plus, a stepdad? What was the deal with that?

Not to mention, I didn’t want to piss off my daughter’s mother.

I needed to tell her no and stay far, far away from this girl.

She turned expectant eyes on me, and I crumbled.

“If your mom says it’s okay.”

She beamed at me. “Thanks, Mac.”

She gathered her bike, swinging a long leg over the seat and setting off down the drive that would lead her to the road and safely back to town. Except, people were assholes. And she was gorgeous.

The next thing I knew, I was opening my truck door and whistling for Buster to get in. She didn’t need to be alone in my truck. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t follow her at a safe distance and make sure she got home okay.

She spotted me about a mile in when she stopped at a stop sign.

“Not trying to scare you, just following to make sure you get to town safely.”

She grinned as she pushed off, yelling over her shoulder, “Thanks, Mac.”

As she pulled into a nice townhouse complex in downtown, my heartbeat finally returned to normal.

I hoped her mom told her no when she asked about fishing.

I hoped she’d douse this curiosity she had about me.

I dreaded the whole conversation—the multiple hard conversations I needed to have—with my chief. But at the same time, I knew they had to happen.

Buster, who’d spent the entire ride with his head out the window and his attention on Rosie, barked a goodbye at the girl as we slowed to pass.

“Bye, Buster!”

Even my dog was already in love with her, but he loved everyone, so that wasn’t saying much. No, it was my own reaction to her that left me feeling like I’d been hit by a bus. Gone was the dread and anxiety over the knowledge of her existence. In its place was a bone-deep acceptance and immense grief that I’d missed so much of her life.

The front door of the townhouse opened, and my chief stalked to the edge of the front porch, a stern glare leveled on Rosie as the girl passed by her.

“Shit.” The curse rumbled forth, drawn from the deepest part of me. Seeing the two of them side by side was a fist to the gut.

I eased my truck to the stop sign beyond their complex and checked the rearview to find Olivia scanning the street. Part of me relaxed seeing Olivia as a concerned mother rather than as the cold woman I’d dealt with. The other part of me wanted to turn around, go back and demand to know why her daughter had had the freedom to venture so far out on her own.

Demand answers to so many fucking questions.

And yet I didn’t want to betray this young girl who might be mine. I didn’t owe either of them anything aside from common decency. But a strange sense of loyalty toward Rosie wormed its way through my chest. She’d made it a point to seek me out, so obviously she wanted to know me. I didn’t want to be a total asshole and reject her or stick my nose into Olivia’s personal business. She’d had the opportunity multiple times to clear the air between us. Why hadn’t she? And why had she waited so many years?

I glanced to the back seat as I made my turn and found Buster looking out the back window. His huge expressive eyes met mine, and he whined.

“Yeah, I know,” I said on a sigh. “I’m fucked.”

He clapped a paw on my arm in solidarity, and I ruffled his fur. “Thanks, buddy.”

Chapter Seven

Mac

“So are we all just going to be chill and act like it’s not weird that, all of a sudden, Capt has drama?” Thoren stood at the sink in the station’s kitchen, washing a salad. I’d almost managed to escape their inquisition by keeping us busy all day. But dinnertime meant a few moments of downtime, and now all bets were off.

A prickly sensation crawled over my skin. I hated being the topic of conversation, and I certainly didn’t want to talk about Olivia and Rosie.

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