Page 94 of On the Rocks

Hailey squealed a delighted laugh. “Uncle Aiden, nooo! They’re not for you. They’re for me!”

“You don’t want to share?”

“No. I need two ponies for two braids.”

“Can’t argue with that math.” I handed back the hair ties.

Hailey slid them over her wrist. “Where’s Cora? I want her to braid my hair like last time.”

A wave of regret washed through me. Heartbreak was shitty enough for grownups, but I didn’t want to have to let Hailey down, too. She blinked up at me with those big brown eyes, so innocent to the world and all the ways that love truly sucked. The longer I looked at her, the more her eyes reminded me of Cora’s, and I had to look away, swallowing down a heap of emotion. “Oh, sweetie,” I cleared my throat, “Cora doesn’t work here anymore.”

“What?” Hailey said, releasing my leg and flopping back on the floor. She stared up at me, her lip jutting out in a pout.

I reached down to scoop her up, sitting down on the arm of the couch with her in my lap so I could explain. “Her work with the company was all done, so she had to go away to a new job.”

“But why?” Hailey huffed in that way kids did when they didn’t get their way.

Because I chased her out. Because she probably couldn’t stand looking at me after what I did. Because it was easier this way.Hailey wouldn’t understand any of those explanations. There was no way to explain that a few floors between us wasn’t enough distance to stop the heartache.

“Why?” she said again, whining.

“Well,” I began, searching for the right words. “You know that Cora makes special drinks, right?”

Hailey nodded.

“And she’s really,reallygood at her job. Just like you’re really good at going down the big girl slide and eating food. So Cora had to go make drinks for other people to enjoy. Because sometimes it’s good to try new things.”

“Oh,” she said, going quiet. I wondered if what I’d said made any sense to her at all. I didn’t quite know how to have these kinds of conversations with a four-year-old. I could dote on her and take her to the park and out for treats so Dom could sort settlement stuff, but this kind of conversation was way out of my depth.

“She didn’t say goodbye,” Hailey said after a beat.

My chest panged. That was my fault, too. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“I’ll miss her,” Hailey said, that little lip stuck out in a pout again.

“I bet she misses you too,” I said. Hailey wasn’t the only one missing Cora. I’d already heard about her absence in the lab. A melancholy had swept through the team with Cora’s departure. Last time I saw Dot in the hallway, she’d marched past without a word, clearly annoyed with me. I don’t think she had any idea about the breakup—or even that Cora and I had been together in the first place. She probably just assumed I’d refused to extend Cora’s contract. But I had to admit I was missing Cora, too. Every time I found myself itching to visit the lab, I had to remind myself she was no longer there, perched on that stool, bent over her ingredient lists.

Hailey sighed, rallying as much as a four-year-old could. “Daddy said I have to get you for lunch.”

“What are we doing for lunch?”

Hailey perked up, delivering the message she’d only now remembered. “Daddy said we have to celebrate.”

“We do, huh?”

“Mm-hmm,” Hailey hummed. “’Cause he did the papers.”

“Papers?” What the hell was she talking about?

Dominic arrived at that moment, stepping through my open office door, happily disheveled, like he’d been hugged to death. He was grinning from ear to ear. I hadn’t seen him smile like that for months. “Sorry, got sidetracked talking to Connie. Ask me what we’re celebrating.”

Connie came around the reception desk and closed the door behind Dominic, giving us privacy.

Hailey hopped out of my lap, racing to her father’s side. He scooped her up and planted a noisy kiss on her cheek.

“What are we celebrating?” I asked, looking around for my phone so I could clear my schedule for lunch.

“Amanda and I finally signed the d-i-v-o-r-c-e s-e-t-t-l-e-m-e-n-t,” he spelled out. “And guess who got full custody?”

---