Page 18 of Perfect Imperfections

“Hey, dude.” Her next “date” approached the table, grimacing when he saw Sullivan still there. “It’s time to move on. The lady said.”

“Give me one more second, dude.”

She rolled her lips in to stop the laughter threatening to escape. Damn, she really wished she could talk to Sullivan for the rest of the night instead of moving on to the guy standing two feet away currently pouting and sipping on a—gross, a margarita? She hated tequila. Ever since a fateful night in college she couldn’t quite remember. What she did recollect was puking up everything she’d eaten the entire week before. Even the smell of the alcohol made her queasy. Her next ten minutes should be a blast. Too bad she could only hold her breath for two.

“So, um, Charlotte would really like to see you again.”

“I’d like to see her too.” The adorable seven-year-old had burrowed under her awkward exterior and right into her heart.

“Great, then how about coming over for dinner sometime this week?”

“Dinner? At your place?” That’s what he said, so why couldn’t she wrap her mind around it?

“Yeah. I swear I can cook.” He laughed as he gestured to the host stand where the host had his to-go order waiting. “I know a meal can in no way make up for what you did for Charlotte, what you did for me, but I’d like to thank you.”

He didn’t have to thank her, but she would like to see Charlotte again, and if she were being truly honest, she’d like to spend more time with Sullivan too.

“Dinner sounds lovely, thank you.”

His lips pulled wide in that cheek-dent revealing smile again. Her body flushed with heat as her heart raced. Good grief, she really needed to get ahold of herself. All the man did was smile at her.

Yeah, but what a smile. He could make a mint doing toothpaste commercials.

She chuckled at her own joke as Sullivan reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a white piece of paper.

“Here’s my card. Text the cell number and let me know what evening works for you.”

She reached out, taking the card from him. As she did, their fingers brushed, and she felt a zing, like a bolt of lightning, shoot from the contact point straight to all the erogenous zones in her body. There were quite a few more than she realized.

“Okay.”

He gave her one more smile before motioning to the chair. “All yours, dude.” Then he turned and left, grabbing his order on his way out.

Her new date sat down, but Ellie didn’t hear a word he said. She didn’t hear a word any of the next three men said. Her mind was consumed. For once, her frustrating brain was filled with nothing but good thoughts. Thoughts of Sullivan Green and his dented cheeked smile.

CHAPTER 7

Sullivan glanced quickly at the clock on his car’s dashboard, grateful his last appointment of the day had cancelled so he could duck out of work early today and miss traffic. The bold, red numbers informed him he had five minutes until Charlotte’s after-school program let out. Perfect. Just enough time to find a spot in the tiny elementary school lot. Normally he joined the line of cars in the drop off/pickup zone, but today was special. Today, they were having Ellie over for dinner.

Charlotte practically bounced off the walls two days ago when he mentioned Ellie’s text asking if tonight would be good. His daughter had taken a liking to the sweet, but slightly awkward, zookeeper. Truth be told, he had too. The woman saved the life of the one person he valued most in this world. How could he not be a little enamored by her?

Be honest, that’s not the only reason.

Okay, so he felt…something around her. The first time he’d met her, he noticed his pulse speeding. The hairs on his arms stood up like the sensation he got right before a lightning storm, but he chalked that up to his haywire emotions over Charlotte’s accident. Then, when he saw her the other night at the restaurant in that amazing black dress looking for all the world like she’d rather be drenched in penguin water again, he felt his body react the same way.

There was something about Ellie, something special. She made his daughter happy and for that alone, he wanted her in their lives as much as possible. Charlotte hadn’t had enough positive female attention in her life. Since his ex-wife ran out on them six months after Charlotte was born, Sullivan concentrated all his attention on his daughter. He did his best to raise her right, give her everything she needed, love her with everything in him.

He couldn’t see himself getting married again. Risking his heart like that. It was too painful, and he wouldn’t do that to Charlotte. Thankfully, she’d been a baby. Too young to feel the soul-crushing pain of her mother’s abandonment. But he saw the confusion in her eyes whenever the school had a Mother’s Day project and Charlotte had no one to make paper flowers for. Sometimes he wondered if not remarrying, not providing another stable adult in the house for her, had harmed her development.

“We all screw up our kids unintentionally. That’s half the fun.”

His late father’s words rang out in his mind. The man had an unusual sense of humor, to be sure, but he’d been a wonderful dad. Both his parents had been. His childhood hadn’t been perfect. No one’s was. But he’d been loved, had a roof over his head, food in his belly. He had nothing to complain about. His only qualm was that his parents both died in a car accident before Charlotte had been born. They would have been amazing grandparents had life given them the chance.

Luck was on his side today as Sullivan found a parking spot right next to the school’s front doors. He parked, hopping out of the car right as the teachers led the students out in a single file line.

“Daddy!”

Charlotte screamed his name, jumping up and down and waving her arms wildly in the air. He chuckled, knowing she wanted to run to him, but would never disobey the school rules of no running at pick up time.

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