Page 2 of Why Not Us?

I rub my chin, pulling at my beard, before dipping my head in a nod, ceding him the victory.

“You realize, however,” I say as I move to the next tank and take more notes, “just because I’m going tonight doesn’t mean I’ll want to partner with them. What kind of business gives away free tickets to their events?”

“The kind that can afford it,” he counters, following me. “Keep an open mind. The Blue Vista people might surprise you.”

“Doubt it.”

Taylor finally leaves me to finish working and the rest of the day speeds past. Taylor and I finish work and since we share a car, I drive us to pick up Dani from her babysitter.

“What are we doing tonight?” Dani asks as soon as she gets in the car. It’s a long-standing thing that I take her out on the Friday nights when she’s with me.

Katie and I share fifty-fifty custody, so Dani’s with me one week and Katie the next. It’s worked well for us ever since Dani was born ten years ago, even if saying goodbye to my daughter every other week rips my heart to pieces. Katie and I had been casual when she found out she was pregnant. Instead of trying to force a relationship neither of us thought would work, we decided to simply be co-parents, and we’ve done exceptionally well.

Before I can tell Dani what we’re doing, Taylor does, probably assuming I’d try to weasel my way out of his plans, which, of course I would.

“Your dad and I are taking you out together tonight, pipsqueak. We’re going to a paint night at a place downtown.”

“Painting?” she squeals.

There’s nothing I can do at this point. Dani loves all things artistic. A part of me feels bad that I haven’t taken her yet since I’ve known about it for a while and could have brought her two weeks ago. I’d known when Derek, the acquisitions coordinator at Blue Vista, told me about these events that Dani would enjoy both the paint and the cooking nights they host. But I’d put it off anyway, making weak excuses about how it was too late for my 10-year-old daughter to be out, or that Blue Vista can’t be successful if they’re giving away free spots in their paid events. Then Taylor found the business card Derek had left, and I’d been forced to tell him all about the offer of a partnership.

“We’re not going anywhere until your homework is done, though,” I say, half hoping she has so much we won’t be able to go out at all. Then I feel guilty. We’ve gone out every Friday night that I’ve had her since she was a baby. I’m not going to stop the tradition now. It won’t be long before Dani stops it herself because she’d rather hang out with her friends than her dad.

She bounces in her seat. “I don’t have any. Mr. McCade doesn’t give us new spelling words until Monday, and I finished all my math in class.” She does a little wiggle I can see in the rear-view mirror. “I’m homework free all weekend.”

Taylor reaches back for a high five as I park on the street outside our house.

“Any more objections, Mr. Grumpy Pants?” Taylor asks, causing Dani to erupt in a fit of giggles. He’d started calling me that instead of asshole or dickhead when Dani got old enough to repeat the words. That had caused a bit of trouble with Katie, and I’d promised Taylor and I would be more careful of our language in front of her in the future.

I don’t answer his question, simply climb out of the car and start toward the house.

Dani scrambles after me, grabbing my arm and smiling up at me. She looks a lot like her mother, the same long dark hair and the same shape of her nose. But she has my grey eyes. I smile back at her, leaning down to kiss the top of her head, which is getting closer and closer to mine every day.

“You need to stop growing, pipsqueak,” I tell her before unlocking the door and ushering her inside. “I can’t call you pipsqueak anymore if you get taller than me.”

She laughs and rolls her eyes, then runs upstairs to her bedroom to drop her backpack and probably grab her tablet. Taylor follows me into the kitchen at the other end of the house. He lives in the suite downstairs but will often spend time up here.

“So I’m thinking we head out for dinner around 5:30 and go to Blue Vista after that.”

“I thought the event includes dinner,” I say, leaning against the counter across from him and crossing my arms over my chest.

“They do. But since we’re bringing Dani, I figured you wouldn’t want to eat that late. Derek said it would be fine, and they’d do something special for us.”

“Now they’re giving us special treatment?”

“Nate. You can’t be annoyed that they’re doing something nice. Maybe they just like kids. You need to learn to give people the benefit of the doubt. It’s okay to let people in a little.”

I shake my head. I already know I’ve lost. “If we’re going out in an hour, I want to shower first.”

Taylor grins and stands. “Just wait, Nate. You’ll see. This partnership is going to be great for us.”

I grumble as I walk away from him into my bedroom, stripping off my work clothes and heading to the shower in my adjoining bathroom. I have this strange feeling in my gut that he’s at least partially right. This partnership is going to change things. And I’m not a big fan of change.

Chapter 2

Adalie

It’s still surreal to me that I am in charge of fifteen people setting up chairs and easels around the ballroom or getting ready to serve food and drinks for the seventh ever Date Night at Blue Vista. I finally found a way to combine my love of painting with my career as an event venue owner.

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