Page 68 of Resorting to Romance

“I’m going to be that serious if you mess up my one and only bookkeeping situation.”

“Okay. Okay.” She holds her hands up, the rag she had been dusting with in one.

“By the way, you look like crud.” Chloe eyes me. “What happened to you? Up late with your boyfriend?” She wags her eyebrows suggestively.

“No. And thanks. I was up late researching how to integrate an estranged dad back into a child’s life.”

“Oh, babe. I’m sorry. What did you find out?”

I sigh. I was up late. Too late. But I had a rush of anxiety once I realized I really wasn’t getting around allowing Brad to re-enter Noah’s life. The whole situation has me in knots. I can’t tell Brad no without some sort of battle or struggle ensuing. He’s being friendly now. But I know that would shift if I were to decide he couldn’t come around. And besides, Noah deserves to know who his biological father is. I’d never want to be the one to keep him from Brad. Noah could end up resenting me. It’s not my place to keep them apart. If Brad were a danger, it would be different.

“I didn’t find much. The courts can get involved …”

“Please, no.” Chloe’s brows go up toward the center.

“I know. That’s the last thing I want.” I plop onto one of the barstools. “One blog said I should get Noah into counseling,which could be great, but I’d rather not see someone here on Marbella. And I don’t want to ferry over to the mainland weekly. Online isn’t viable for kids. Not in my mind, anyway. Plus therapy might freak Noah out. His life is so stable and normal. I don’t want anything to change for him. And I don’t want to shine a spotlight on meeting Brad. I’d rather ease into it. Several articles suggested that. And a therapist I emailed sent me to a website suggesting the same thing.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I think I just have to follow my intuition and take it slowly … as if Brad’s a stranger.”

“Because he basically is.”

“Yeah. He is.”

The man I loved and thought I’d spend my forever with is basically a stranger. The only thing we have in common now is Noah, and it’s the one thing I don’t want to have in common with him.

“Knock, Knock!” Kai’s voice comes in through the front door.

I hear him greet Johann on the way in.

“Hey,” he says casually as he walks into the kitchen like he lives here.

Kai’s wearing a surf T-shirt that’s obviously been worn in, it fits him as if it was made for him. His hair is properly tousled and his skin is glowing like he’s been out in the sun. The thing that makes my belly tighten and tingle is the way he looks at me, and the broad smile that fills his face. It’s like he’s been saving that smile all day, letting it simmer and marinate until it was just right and he could serve it up to me. I smile back instantly, and all the worry over Brad and how I’m going to draw boundaries while inching toward revealing his true role to Noah disappears.

Poof. No more anxiety. Just like that.

“Hey there,” Chloe says. “Well. I have some cleaning to finish up. So, I’ll just leave you two lovebirdsto it.”

“Chlooooee,” I warn, dragging her name out the way her mom did when we were little and she got in trouble.

“What? I’m the third wheel here. So I’m making myself scarce so you two can have your little middle-of-the day rendezvous.”

“That’s right,” Kai plays along, even though he knows Chloe knows. And Chloe knows he knows.

I’m getting a dull headache just thinking of who knows and who doesn’t know and all the things we have to keep track of just to keep Brad at bay for the time being.

Kai playfully smirks in Chloe’s direction and then he steps up beside me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “I came here to have a little middle-of-the-day rendezvous with my girl, so skedaddle.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Chloe grins and wags her eyebrows at me.

“Don’t encourage her,” I warn Kai.

“Like that would make a difference?” His smile fills his face.

“It totally wouldn’t,” Chloe boasts. “Mkay, lovebirds. Keep it down in here and make it snappy. Noah’s due home any minute.”

Chloe heads back out into the main room to finish cleaning.

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