Page 22 of I Won't Be In On Monday

"Hey," I say, looking over at Canyon. "Do you want to call me Remi?"

She shakes her head wordlessly.

"Would you rather call me Remington?"

She shakes her head again.

"Or Mr. Parker?"

"No," she says softly.

"Okay, then, what would you like to call me?"

"Daddy," she says, looking down.

My heart races slightly. "Okay. I mean, if you are ready to call me daddy, why not?"

"My best friend, Annabella, calls her daddy Papa, but my other friend, Frito, says that Papa is what she calls her Granddad. I don't have a granddad." She makes a face. "I don't have a granddad and I don't have a daddy. Oh, wait." She grins. "I do have a daddy now."

She steps forward and touches the side of my face. Her fingers are sticky, and I try not to shudder.

"You're my daddy." She looks into my eyes and then gives me a big beautiful smile. "Hi."

"Hi," I say back and touch the tip of her nose. "It's good to meet you."

"I know," she says. "I've been waiting a really long time to meet you. I asked the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny, and I asked Santa Claus. I told him I'd be a good girl for the whole year if I could meet my daddy."

"Well, here I am." I stand up and lift her into my arms. "Is this okay?" I ask her softly.

She nods as she wraps her arms around my neck. "I love you, Daddy."

I'm surprised that she's expressing such sentiment for me already. I look over at Karen with wide eyes. I hope that I don’t look as flabbergasted as I feel.

She grins. "She is a people person. She loves people. What can I say? She doesn't get it from me, and I don’t think she gets it from you either.”

“What are you trying to say?” I say, laughing.

“I’m trying to say that I don’t think you tell people you love them very quickly.”

“I mean, I tell my mom I love her.”

I grin, and Karen just laughs. "So, we left her bag in the lobby. I hope that's okay."

"You could have brought it up."

"I know, but I didn't want to bring it up and then take it down, and you have a security guard down there, and he said it was okay."

"Yeah, it's fine. So, when exactly are you leaving?"

"Tonight," she says. "You understand Mommy's going out of town, right, Canyon?”

Canyon nods. “Yeah, but we’re going to speak every morning and every night, right?”

“Yes, we are. And you’re going to be with your daddy.” She makes a face, and her expression crumbles as she takes inCanyon's small face. "Am I being irresponsible? Shit. Should I not do this?"

I stare at her for a couple of moments. The truth of the matter is I think she's being extremely irresponsible. She doesn't really know me. Sure, we had sex, and sure, I’m a ten in that, but if the roles were reversed, there’s no way in hell I would’ve left my kid with a virtual stranger. However, now that I’m here with Canyon, and she's in my arms, holding me tight and telling me she loves me, I realize how much I do want to get to know her. I want to be her dad. She's a part of me. She has my blood, my DNA. Last week, I didn’t even know she existed. Now? Now, I can’t imagine her not being in my life. I have no clue what is going on.

"I think that this is a big career step for you, and you've been a single mom, facing everything on your own for a really long time. I know that Canyon and I have never met before, and you and I don't exactly know each other super well. But what I can tell you is that she's my daughter, and I will do my very best to ensure that she’s happy for however long you’re away, and we'll even fly out to see you a couple of times. Does that sound good, Canyon?"

---