Page 51 of Reckless Single Daddy

He walks off, and while I feel nervous about all of this, somehow the thought of having my entire family in on Cade’s plans to finally get rid of this person fills me with a love I didn’t know I needed. It makes running away from here feel less necessary, but am I willing to stay in Rose Valley?

Only time will tell.

Chapter twenty-three

Cade

Laura and I didn’t have a typical wedding. We were both very private about our relationship and only believed in sharing it with people we deemed important enough to us. Our friends and family were those people, and they’re still the most valuable parts of my and Liam’s lives.

Even after Laura’s passing, her family continued to check on me and make sure I was doing okay. Even Janet, Laura’s mother, came those two weeks after to make sure I was eating and baby Liam was doing well. I didn’t have to lift a finger, not because she didn’t believe I was capable, but because she knew if it could alleviate any pain or stress, she was more than willing to help,even if it meant putting her own emotions aside. She’d just lost her daughter and was grieving just as much as I was. Yet, she never faltered.

But a small get-together is more than enough for me. I never found it necessary to extend invites to distant relatives I never saw regularly. I don’t think Sloane is like that, either—not that I’ve been thinking far ahead—but that is the whole point of a relationship, right? To want to spend the rest of your life with that person, whether as life partners or in marriage.

It’s hard not to think about the prospect of marriage right now when there is a literal wedding on the horizon. But more than that, my relationship status has drastically changed since the last wedding I attended. And I’ve had Sloane staying at my home for a little while now, and I haven’t minded it. We’ve fallen into a comfortable routine that hasn’t hindered Liam; in fact, I think it’s drastically improved his day-to-day life. He’s seen what life could be like with a woman in the house and gotten accustomed to having more people than me to help him with things like homework. He helps Sloane cook, not because she tells him to or asks him, but because he’s genuinely interested. It’s safe to assume that he’s gotten as comfortable with Sloane as I have.

But I can’t forget that we’re on borrowed time here. After the wedding, Sloane intends to return to the city, and I intend to resume my normal routine. Whether that means it’s the end for us, I don’t know, but I’ve been calling what this is between us a relationship, and I know Sloane has been thinking of it the same. Do we do the long-distance thing until we’re ready to take it to the next level? I don’t know. It isn’t like I can’t maintain it. Thecity isn’t far from here, but it isn’t ideal, either. There is a lot to think about, but it is a conversation we have to put on pause for now. The most important thing right now is getting through this wedding and luring the stalker out of their hiding place.

We stand outside the entrance to the banquet hall. Sloane takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. Her growing nerves aren’t just because of her maid-of-honor obligations or the stalker, who could very well turn up tonight, but because this is the first time we are walking in together on each other’s arm. The entire town will know that we’re seeing each other in some capacity. They won’t bat an eyelash at me for having a younger woman on my arm, especially one whose net worth is pennies in comparison to mine. Still, I’d be remiss if I wasn’t already anticipating the looks and the judgment directed at Sloane. She’s a woman, and society is cruel and unfair in a way that leaves me with distaste. If I can spend my entire life teaching Liam to be the exact opposite, I will die a happy man.

I squeeze Sloane’s hand, trying to comfort and anchor her. She looks at me, and I can feel the weight of all the town’s potential judgment resting on her. She looks almost sick with terror.

“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” I assure her, and she nods rapidly. She turns back to face the hall and takes another deep breath before taking her first step toward it.

Once we walk through the door, we scan the room, and all eyes immediately land on us. I keep my hand on her lower back as sheuses my waist to steady her movements. The whispers begin, but she relaxes as if their words are meaningless now.

We walk over to Mia, who stands with Killian, Mike, and Mike’s wife Camilla.

Camilla excitedly pulls Sloane into a hug. “I should be bothered that you haven’t stopped by the house since you’ve been here, but Mike filled me in on what’s been going on,” she says as she pulls away, looking at Sloane with concern.

Sloane lets out another deep breath. “Well, hopefully after tonight, it will be over,” she says softly.

I clear my throat. “Not quite done, but close to it,” I say.

Sloane looks at me, confused. The plan wasn’t to nail the stalker tonight, but to figure out who they are. Initially, we thought it was this James Pickens guy, but now we’re back to square one. We don’t even know if it’s a male or female anymore, so now we have no choice but to do recon quietly so no guests are tipped off.

“Just worry about being the maid of honor, and I’ll take care of the rest,” I tell her, pressing a kiss to her temple that gets a lot of stares, including from Mike over the rim of his glass.

“You two look amazing together,” Camilla says with a smile.

Mike sighs, shaking his head. “I’ll get used to it eventually,” Mike replies.

The rest of us laugh, and I look back to the bar, spotting David mixing drinks like he’s been doing it his whole life.

“We better go make our rounds,” Mia says, giving her sister’s hand one last squeeze before taking Killian’s hand and walking off while Mike and Camilla continue to mingle. Sloane and I stand together, feeling like we’re in a fishbowl. We look at each other awkwardly before we break into laughter.

“Even to this day, you can’t handle being in a large group,” I remark.

She looks away, blushing slightly. “Yeah, well, it’s different when you’re somewhere for your work rather than being surrounded by over a hundred people you haven’t seen in over a decade—and you’ve just made your debut with the local billionaire bachelor.”

I laugh, pulling her closer to me. “They’re just jealous you’ve gotten away from here and did what you set out to do. I’m just an added bonus,” I reply, kissing her softly, which she happily accepts in front of everyone. In fact, she seems to have let go of her worries about having an audience.

Good. That was the idea.

“And here I thought you said community was important,” she says before I press another soft kiss to her lips.

“It is, but even I believe it’s important to leave and explore what else is out there,” I reply, lacing our fingers together. “Just as long as we remember where we came from,” I add, trying to sneak in another kiss, but then I hear a throat clears behind us.

We turn to look. Theo Mathers is standing in front of us. He smiles straight-lipped, his glasses perched just barely on the bridge of his nose. His hair is barely kempt, though his beard is trimmed enough. I see him around Rose Valley, but he’s always been rather awkward in my opinion. The art students in the high school adore him, though. I wouldn’t know. He was a first-year teacher when I was a senior in high school, but he basically has ten years on me.

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