Page 30 of Why Not Us?

“It’s paint night again at Blue Vista,” Dani explains to me, though I already know since I’d heard them talking about it earlier. “Can we go, Dad?”

I glance at Adalie. She gives me a small nod, not big enough that Dani would notice, but enough that I know we’d be welcome if I say yes.

“We’ll see,” I say. “Can I tell you tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Adalie says. “We’d just need to know before 5pm. But since you guys don’t want to eat dinner, it won’t be a problem.”

Dani bounces on the balls of her feet, her hands clasped together.

I raise my eyebrows and she calms, turning to Adalie and giving the woman a hug. “Hopefully I see you tomorrow, but if not, I’ll see you in two weeks,” she says.

Adalie hugs her back.

“All right, pipsqueak,” I say. “Head upstairs and have your shower.”

“Goodbye, Adalie. See you later,” Dani calls.

I follow Adalie to the door, lifting two of the three bags she brought with her.

“Why did you bring all this stuff if you were only sketching today?” I ask.

She smiles a little ruefully. “I like to be over-prepared. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”

“Do you need any more help?” Taylor asks.

I shoot him a glare. “No. I’ve got it.”

He chuckles, but I ignore him, bringing the bags outside to Adalie’s car.

It’s a small, light purple Mini convertible. She opens the trunk, and I set the bags inside.

“Cute.”

She laughs. “Thank you. It’s actually the one thing I could include on myout of my comfort zonelist that I did for myself.”

“What do you mean?”

She closes the trunk and pats the roof. “When I needed a new car, I went to the Vancouver Car Show with Derek. I looked at a bunch and fell in love with the Mini Cooper. Mostly because it’s cute. My parents told me it was completely impractical, which is probably true. I didn’t care. I wanted it and I have the money. I bought the top end model and took it to a shop and paid extra to have it repainted lavender purple. It would have been cheaper to have it wrapped, but I didn’t care.”

I laugh at her story, and she looks up at me with those sparkling green eyes, her soft lips tilted up in a smile.

“I was right, wasn’t I?” I say, walking around to open her driver door for her. “You’re stubborn. Willing to take a dare.”

She stops in the vee between the door and her seat. “I wouldn’t say so. But some others might.”

“Good night, Adalie. I’ll let you know about tomorrow.”

She gets in and I watch as she drives away. When I get back inside, Taylor is sitting on my couch, watching another hockey game.

“So when are you going to ask her out?” he asks without looking up at me.

“I’m not.” I sit down, knowing I only have a couple minutes before Dani is done showering and getting ready for bed. “Dani likes her.”

“I would think that would bemorereason to ask her out. Not less.”

I don’t answer him. He has a point. If I could meet someone, start a relationship, figure out if it’s going somewhere,thenintroduce her to Dani, it would be imperative that Dani and that woman like each other. I’ve never gotten to where I liked a woman enough to introduce her to my daughter. Yes, I am attracted to Adalie. But we’ve skipped past the relationship part of it, and Dani already likes her. If we start dating now, and things go bad, Dani would end up hurt. I won’t let that happen.

Chapter 11

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