Page 68 of Educating Arrogant Mr. Hunter

That wouldn’t do.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” We hung up, and I dialed the pizza place I always ordered from and sent four large cheese pizzas to her classroom. I figured the kids might want a snack too.

My desk phone rang. “Hello.”

“Hi, Beckett. I moved one of your meetings from tomorrow to this afternoon. I wanted to warn you that it’s in twenty minutes.”

“Thanks, Sarah. I’ll get right on that. Any word about the building downtown we put in a bid for?” I wanted to contact the tech company soon to let them know if this property was an option. It would go a long way in easing my stress about possible backlash from them.

“Not yet. I’ll let you know as soon as they call. Do you need me to stay late tonight?”

“I think I can manage on my own. Can you call Lila and see if she can stay with Zoey until 8:00?”

“Will do. I can message you her response so I don’t interrupt the meeting.”

“Perfect.”

We hung up, and I opened my laptop. I only needed a few minutes to review the notes I’d pulled together Friday. This was a potential new client, and while I typically liked to do meetings like this in person, it wouldn't be possible this time. The owner was based in California, and with my personal life needing more attention, I thought it best I stay home. Zoey and her well-being was far more important.

It also let me closely monitor the situation with her grandparents, who kept leaving me messages about when they could see her. After being ambushed at Halloween, I wasn’t ready to talk to them and chose not to respond except through our lawyers. Mine kept insisting that I needed to keep Zoey from visiting with them until we could come up with a satisfactory next step with their claim. I was willing to go along with that decision for now, but let Reese know I wanted to reevaluate it in the next few weeks. Regardless of my feelings towards her grandparents, Zoey was close to them, and I didn’t want to create a rift between them.

Putting them out of my thoughts, I clicked on the Zoom link to connect with my client. My business needed to be my sole focus for the rest of the day.

* * *

“I still can’t believe we won a pizza party. I don’t think even Ms. Winter remembered. She looked so surprised when the delivery guy showed up.” Zoey and I were on our way to school to catch the bus for the field trip.

I arrived home just as Zo was getting ready for bed last night and thanked Lila for staying late. After brushing her teeth and getting on her pajamas, she was so focused on the book we were reading together that she’d forgotten to tell me about this part of her day.

“Pretty cool thing for you to win.” I said with a knowing smile.

“Right? And it was from our favorite pizza place too!”

I’d meant it to be a surprise, but when Wren texted me, “Thanks for the pizza.” I realized I showed my hand by the place I chose.

“How’s everything at school going?”

She sighed and looked out the window, ignoring my question.

“Kiddo, you need to talk to me.”

Her hand waved in the air indicating it wasn’t a big deal.

“Do I need to meet with Ms. Winter this morning before the trip and find out if you should be going?”

She gasped, her wide gaze meeting mine in the rearview mirror. “No, Daddy.” Her lip trembled. “Me and Roxy got into a fight the other day.”

I waited for her to continue. Even though every part of me wanted to wrap her in a hug and tell her none of it mattered.

Her blue eyes flicked to look out the window before she faced forward. “She wanted to use my colored pencils. I told her no, but she reached toward my case to take one out anyway and it made me so mad.”

I took a deep breath, worried about what might have happened next.

Her eyes clouded over with a heavy dose of sorrow shimmering through. “I slammed the lid shut.”

Oh shit!“Zoey!”

“I didn’t hurt her, Daddy,” she quickly reassured me. “But she got scared and cried.”

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