Page 74 of Daddy By Design

“Gideon’s dad.”

“Ahh. Got it.”

Michael tipped his head quizzically. “What happened to your face?”

“Michael Gideon!” Macy’s eyes bulged.

“What? Just curious. Looks like a lightning bolt on your cheek. How far does it go down?”

Macy dragged him back to her and covered his mouth. “Excuse my rude kid.”

Michael craned his neck to look up at her, mumbling something. When Macy finally pulled her hand away, he gave her a frown. “What? It’s cool.”

Cool was not a word I’d ever heard about my scars. Either people stared or specifically made sure to ignore them. There was usually no in-between.

She urged him back toward the house. “Go. Don’t forget your book.”

“Oh, right. I won’t! Grumps is gonna read the next chapter to me. We’re reading Percy Jackson!”

I wasn’t sure what to say so I just rocked back on my heels. “Very cool.”

“Say goodbye to Mr—Nolan.”

Michael waved. “Bye, Mr. Nolan!” He ran off, his wet feet slapping along the slate tiles before he thundered up the stairs.

Macy folded her arms over her chest. “Uncool with the sneak attack, No.”

“So, they don’t know about me at all, huh?”

“Kind of hard to explain they have an uncle who has never made an attempt to meet them.”

“Yeah. Got it. You’re right.” I raked my fingers through my hair before letting it fall forward again to soften the stark difference between my right and my left half of my face.

Macy stepped forward and pushed my hair back. “We going to talk about that?”

I resisted the urge to flinch away. “What do you want to know?”

She let my hair fall back into place, hiding a chunk of my left side. “What happened?”

“Thought you needed to get back to work.”

“Handily, I own my own place. I do what I want.” She folded her arms. “Spill it.”

“I’m impressed you didn’t Google it after our conversation the other night.”

“I was tempted, but most articles are bullshit. I’ve learned that from my own life.”

“Sounds like there’s a story there.”

“Not the topic at hand, No.”

I sighed. “I had an accident in my workshop.”

She waited a beat. “That’s it?”

I lifted my chin, thankful for my sunglasses just then. The memory of being pinned by my own sculpture wasn’t something I liked to relive. “I was working on an eight-foot commission piece for a business. I fucked up one of the soldering joins, and when I tried to fit the next piece onto the sculpture, it warped and...” I flipped open a few buttons on my shirt and pulled it aside.

“Jesus.” Macy dropped her arms to her sides. “Nolan.”

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