Page 101 of Love In The Spotlight

“Thanks for doing this, Laken,” Jamie said when he walked into her office building on Thursday the following week with Penelope in his arms.

His daughter was in jeans and sneakers, a red fleece jacket with a red backpack filled with some toys and electronics to keep her busy. Her glasses were blue, her blonde hair down but hidden under a pink baseball hat so that he could shield her from the public.

It was the first he’d brought her out since the story was released of her existence.

So far, there were a lot of questions and more “no comments” when asked about his daughter.

When it came to Laken though, he released a statement written by West’s publicist that he and Laken met through the business back in November and have been dating for a few months.

Simple and putting an end to whether Laken was Penelope’s mother or not.

“It’s fine,” Laken said, reaching for Penelope. “We are going to have fun today in the office, right?”

“I’ve never been to an office,” Penelope said, pulling her hat off. “I don’t like this either, but Daddy said I had to keep it on.”

“I like baseball hats,” Laken said. “I’ve got a few. I wear them when it’s sunny outside to keep the sun out of my face. And when I want to be left alone.”

“Daddy said I needed to keep my head down and not look or talk to anyone,” Penelope said with a pout on her face.

He hated doing that, but it was the right thing.

Maybe if he’d started bringing her out more it wouldn’t have been something new for her. But he knew Janelle told her the same thing most times too.

Or at least started to tell her more.

His daughter going to the park now might create a problem, but he’d deal with it when the weather was nicer.

“I love putting my head down and not talking to anyone,” Laken said. “Abby and Lily are here today too. Do you remember them?”

“I do,” Penelope said. “Will they play with me?”

“They’ve got to work,” Jamie said. “I brought you toys. I won’t be more than two hours.”

“We are all going to play with Penelope,” Laken said. “That is their job for the next few hours. I’m the boss, I say so. We might even go down and visit West. Maybe Abby wants to see him with a kid some more.”

He laughed. “I’m not going to tell you what to do.”

“But you’re nervous,” she said. “I know. No one has watched Penelope other than Janelle.”

“I gave her that trip for Christmas. She’s having a ball and deserves it. I thought for sure I’d be fine for the week she was gone, but I got this call yesterday and couldn’t say no.”

Randy called and said another network wanted him to cover a special event. He needed to get his name and face out there more and keep the momentum going.

He’d been told by West that some of the stores had sold out of his product all over the US and more had been shipped last week. That supply and demand was one thing, but having people wait was another.

In his eyes, they just went to his website and ordered it, which had more sales than anyone predicted.

Good thing they had a lot of product in stock and he hated that some of the sponges were out of stock with a longer delivery time, but people still bought them to wait.

None of this would have ever come about if it wasn’t for West.

“As you shouldn’t,” Laken said. “If I wasn’t around, you would have figured it out. If Abby or Lily were ever here, they’d do it. Always call West. He’ll find someone in the building that he trusts for a short period if you can’t take her with you.”

“It’s rarely a problem. Janelle is always around, but I have to learn that it can’t be the case. It’s not like I’ve got family around to lean on.”

Family that hadn’t reached out to him once since everything aired ten days ago.

He knew for a fact they were being questioned. He’d looked up the local news in his hometown and saw it. His parents weren’t saying anything but had mentioned that a lot of product was donated to the church for those in need.

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