He looks a bit shell-shocked, but he eventually comes to with a shake of the head. “Yeah, right.” His eyes blink slowly. “Grea—great idea. You do that.”
“I will.”
While I’m busy making sure all the necessary documents have been saved onto the cloud, he walks into the opposite corner of the room and makes a call.
“Randall? This is Hayden Cohen again. How’s it going?”
I’m too far away, and I can’t hear what Randall is saying back.
“Great. Glad to hear it. Listen, Addie and I have some changes to the plans that we’d like to share with you. Are you available to meet with us on the land to discuss them? In two days?”
He peers over his shoulder at me, and I give him a thumbs up.
“Two days it is. Wonderful. See you then.”
A few moments later, an alarm goes off on my phone, and I see that it’s the alarm I set to remind me to go pick up Luna.
“Where are you off to?” he asks after checking his flashy, gold watch.
“I have to get Luna from school.”
“Oh.”
“Yep.”
I’m hoping that statement is enough to get him off on his merry way. But instead, he requests to come with me.
I pause just before leaving the room but respond, “No. I’m sorry. Just not right now. I mean, not yet.”
Chapter nineteen
Hayden
We’re at the propertyonce again, and Addie arrives before me, her arms chock-full of rolled-up papers and charts.
“Can I give you a hand with some of that?” I offer.
She’s looking as angelic as ever in a white sundress and light blue suit coat. The combination really brings out the brightness of her eyes.
Of course, the illuminating sunshine behind her doesn’t help matters either.
“Sure. Do you mind just holding this?”
Clumsily and awkwardly, we work together to move some of the bulk from her control into mine without dropping anything in the dirt.
By the end of it, we’re both laughing.
“You look really pretty today, Adds,” I say, before fully deciding to let the words escape my lips.
She smiles bashfully and looks at the ground. “Thank you, Hayden. You look pretty spiffy yourself.”
Despite her compliment, I feel like absolute ass because I haven’t managed to get so much as a wink of sleep after we shared that kiss. And then there was that cringy moment in her grandfather’s office when I thought she wanted me to kiss her again, but then shot up like she had ants in her pants before I had the chance to.
And there was also the whole issue with Luna.
I asked if I could come with Addie to pick her up, but she said, “Not yet.”What the heck is that supposed to mean?
It feels like I’ve gotten so close to Luna and come so close to finally revealing that I’m her dad, but I still can’t be certain.