Page 28 of Falling for the Single Daddy

“Oh,Callie said. That girl has some nerve.”

“She was just doing her job.” I seriously need to be careful now. A protective instinct surges in me when she talks about Callie with that vicious tone. I almost want to roar at her that she’ll never, ever speak about Callie that way.

“She was rude to the mother of your child.”

“You don’t get to disappear and then play that card.”

“Well, I think you should invite us to dinner,” Sloane murmurs. “I can see Emery, at least. But you can tell her it’s a grownup dinner, so she won’t have to stay the entire time. She can sing on her karaoke machine or something.”

“She’s never used that machine,” I say.

Petty, maybe. Sloane’s last visit came with a pink karaoke machine that Emery had never even touched. Sloane clears her throat in that stuck-up way that lets me know she’s bothered. “In any case, since we’re in town.”

“Who’swe?”

“Me and my boyfriend. Please don’t get jealous.”

I laugh dryly, with no amusement in my tone. “You seriously don’t need to worry there.”

“No, of course not. You were always ice-cold, weren’t you? It’s a wonder Emery is such an emotional girl when she has you as her role model.”

I can’t argue there. My relationship with Sloane, if I can even call it that, proved that I wasn’t exactly a fountain of emotion. I was always holding something back, always cautious to let my feelings show… always wondering, deep down, if I evenhadfeelings. So why did I do it, then? Was I trying to build a family for Emery?

“Gray?” she says.

“I’m here.”

“What do you think about dinner?”

“Tomorrow,” I grunt. “But you need to go slow with Emery. Don’t push her. Don’t act like you can waltz back into her life and start playing mommy again.”

“She was treating that girl likeshewas her mother!”

“That girlhas a name,” I snap. “Callie—and she’s the nanny. What do you expect?”

She goes quiet. It’s as if I can hear Sloane’s mind ticking away, which is a bad thing. I shouldn’t have let myself slip like that. I can’t let her guess or sense any connection between me and Callie. Hell, I shouldn’t let therebeany connection.

The messed-up thing is that Wes thinks Callie’s manipulating me. But the only person who’s ever done that is his sister. That’s the one truth I haven’t told Wes.

“I’m sorry,” Sloane finally says. “Tomorrow for the dinner, yes?”

This makes me suspicious. Sloane never apologizes. But if I don’t agree to this dinner, she might start threatening legal action. Technically, although I am Emery’s sole guardian, Sloane could fight me. She didn’t put up any fight before, but she could try to fight me now forjointcustody. She’s selfish enough to force Emery to live with her half the time, which would be a goddamn disaster. Maybe Sloane could do it for a short while. Maybe she could pretend. But sooner or later, she’d get bored, move on, and break Emery’s heart.

“Yes,” I say through gritted teeth.

***

Emery is sleeping when I get home. I stand at her bedroom door, Callie just in front of me.

“She said she wants to sleep until dinner. Considering what she’s been through, I figured I should let her. Maybe the tough love, if it’s needed, can come later?”

I look at Callie. She’s got her hair down, framing her face and she’s changed into house clothes—PJs, sweatpants, hugging hercurvaceous form. She’s not wearing perfume as far as I can tell, but I can smell her shampoo, which is something floral and sweet, just like her.

“You’re right,” I say. “I’ll break the news when she wakes up.”

“What news?” she asks as I turn away, heading for the living room.

“Sloane wants to come for dinner tomorrow,” I reply with a tired sigh. “I almost told her no. But I don’t want her to start any legal crap. That’s always the ace up her sleeve. I’m fairly certain the courts would side with me, but you never know. And I don’t want to put Emery through that. If I can humor Sloane for a little while, she’ll lose interest soon enough.”

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