Page 96 of Unwrapping Romance

“Oh, please, Daddy.” She hugged me tight, and I looked at Sierra as she shrugged her shoulders.

I put Ellie in our bed and told her we’d be right back. Walking down the stairs, Sierra and I grabbed our advent calendars, took out the second whiskey bottle, and clanked them together.

“Did you do the elf?” I asked her.

“Shit. I’ll do it now.”

“No. Let me. I have an idea.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Jack Atlas?” Her brows furrowed, and I chuckled.

I grabbed the elf, took him into my office, and set him up in front of my computer. I grabbed the pad of sticky notes and a pen and wrote on several of them, placing them all around the elf.

“Make the toys? Make the cookies? Help Santa fill his sack? What the hell is going on with you?” Sierra asked.

“Nothing.” I winked. “Let’s go to bed.” I hooked my arm around her.

“You’re scaring me, Jack Atlas.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of, Sierra.” I kissed the side of her head as we walked up the stairs.

As I lay in bed, Sierra and Ellie were sound asleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about the visitor I had today. No matter how hard I tried, the thoughts remained. I stared at my daughter, her little hand across my chest, and thought about Christmas. I hadn’t been there for her during the holiday season since she’d been born. My only gift to her was a savings account, in which I had deposited money into the last three years. I had done the same thing my father did to me. I had become my father without even realizing it. We learn from our parents. I suspect my father learned from his, and it was time to break the cycle.

The following morning, after we dropped Ellie off at school, I had Eric drop Sierra at the office.

“I have a meeting I need to get to. I’ll be in later.”

“There is no meeting on your schedule, Jack.”

I reached over and brushed a strand of her hair from her face with a smile.

“I forgot to tell you about it yesterday.”

Her brows furrowed. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately, and I don’t like it. Somehow, it’ll come back on me.”

“No, it won’t.” I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Go on. I’ll see you later.”

As soon as she climbed out of the Escalade, Eric turned and looked at me.

“You’re in love with her, Jack.”

“I know I am, Eric. Take me to The Pierre.”

“Isn’t that where your father is staying?”

“Yes. It is.”

I pulled out my phone and sent a text message to my father.

“I’m on my way to see you. Let’s meet in the restaurant for breakfast. We need to talk.”

“I’ll get dressed now and meet you down there, son.”

When I walked through the doors of The Pierre, I headed to Perrine, where I saw my father sitting at a table.

“Can I help you?” the hostess asked.

“I’m meeting my father for breakfast. I see him at that table over there.” I gestured.

---