Page 68 of Rescued by the Single Dad

Dominic and Wyatt climbed the hill to their houses at the children’s bedtime, leaving the bar and kitchen to their staff for the rest of the night, so Jagger just had to stay with Bennett’s daughters, since Brooke was home with Talia.

Typically, though, the dad’s all tried to be home for bedtime with the kids. If one of them couldn’t be there, Jagger stepped in and stayed over until the dad got home. If he needed to cover for more than one brother, it became a slumber party for the cousins.

They had a tried and true system that worked. The children were being raised in a caring, supportive and safe village, and every aspect of it warmed Brooke’s heart thoroughly. All she wanted was to be part of such a beautiful village. Full of people who looked after each other and stepped up even when things got really hard. She wanted to raise her own children someday among caring relatives and similar-aged cousins. It was a pipe dream at this point, but she could still hope. She couldn’t let go of hope.

More waves of nostalgia bombarded Brooke when the little blue-eyed girl came downstairs with an armload of Brooke’s beloved childhood stories. She loved The Berenstain Bears growing up. She’d even dressed up as Sister Bear one year for Halloween. Talia struggled to keep her eyes open as she leaned against Brooke on the couch while Brooke read to her, reconnecting with a part of her childhood the actor could stomach.

Taking turns choosing what to read, they were on their fourth book—The Trouble with Grownups —when the front door opened and Clint walked in.

Talia’s head jerked up from Brooke’s shoulder. “Daddy, you’re home.”

“I am. And shouldn’t you be in bed?” he asked, amusement in his eyes as his gaze scanned the volume of books spread out on the coffee table.

“Brooke loves The Berenstain Bears, too,” Talia said before yawning. “I was doing this for her.”

Brooke snorted and smiled down at the precocious eight-year-old. “All right, then. Sure, let’s go with that.”

Talia’s eyes grew more hooded as she was made to stand up. “Can you carry me, Dad?”

Clint rolled his eyes, but nodded, stepping into the living room and picking up his daughter in a front piggyback style.

“Goodnight, Brooke,” Talia said. “Thanks for reading to me.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Brooke replied. “Sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams for you, too. I hope you don’t have any more nightmares.”

Then Clint disappeared up the stairs with his daughter. Brooke wore his socks over her bandaged feet and didn’t feel too much pain when she put her feet on the floor and leaned forward to tidy up all the books on the coffee table. Two of her favorite titles would always be Forget their Manners and The In-Crowd. She couldn’t put her finger on why those were her favorites, but they just were.

Talia chose Bad Habit and Bad Dream. Then she wanted to talk a bit more about Brooke’s nightmare and if Brooke thought she was going to have another one. She also spoke about some of her own nightmares and how she had one that kept coming back—it was about a person in a red shirt trying to push someone off a cliff. She said that it wasn’t her that was going to be pushed off, but that Talia was watching it and kept yelling at the people to stop, but they wouldn’t listen. She said she woke up a few times terrified that someone she loved was going to get pushed off a cliff.

Brooke was at a loss for what to say, so she comforted the little girl as best she could with a tight hug and a reassurance that it was just a dream.

Then she quickly changed the subject, and they moved on to the next book.

It was easy enough to discern what Brooke’s dream had been about, but she grabbed the tablet and did a quick Google search for what it means to dream about someone else falling off a cliff or being pushed off a cliff.

And, just as she feared, it meant that the person getting pushed was in grave danger and the dreamer was somehow supposed to help them.

Great.

Brooke had already been pushed off a boat. Was she going to be pushed off a cliff next? And how was Talia supposed to help her?

She was diving deeper into the meaning behind the dream when Clint came bounding back down the stairs. “She’s out like a light.”

Brooke closed the window on the tablet and set it on the coffee table, glancing up at him. “Yeah, she was tired.”

“Jagger brought you dinner, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, salmon and salad. Thank you.”

He wore a pinched smile.

They’d had a beautiful morning, then things went drastically south after that. He ran away right after they had sex, then shut down and ran away again when she said that she wasn’t necessarily looking for this to just be a fling.

Now what?

“Uh ...” He glanced away toward the kitchen. “You thirsty?”

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