Page 21 of Dancing in the Rain

Selfish. He was selfish.

If he had to find out he had a daughter, why couldn’t it have just been straightforward? He’d rather deal with a bitch mother who wanted nothing to do with him than this. The mother of his child was fuckingdying. He didn’t even know her and it had him twisted up in knots.

And her sister…Peyton. Walking into the kitchen, seeing her holding on to the counter, her shoulders up around her ears, her body vibrating with emotion…the obvious love and misery she felt at what was happening. It was fucking heartbreaking.

How the hell was he going to deal with Chloe going through the same thing?

At that moment, he changed his mind. About the whole goddamn thing. He didn’t want to meet a young girl who was going to make him feel even more of this crap and then destroy him when her mother died.

Christ.Christ.

He leaned his head on the steering wheel, his eyes burning. “I can’t do this,” he muttered.“I cannot do this.”

Yeah, he’d known stuff about Sara. He’d been on the phone to a private investigator his lawyer had recommended, quick as a striped lizard on hot asphalt. Money talked, and he’d had info in days.

And the fucking weirdest part? He’d met Sara and Peyton’s father. More than once.

Jim Watt had been the CEO of LCC Technologies, not the wealthiest man in Chicago, but up there. He’d been on the board of directors of a number of charities, including Paterson House, the nonprofit organization for kids that Drew had worked with since he’d moved to Chicago. They’d met at a few fund-raising events. He was a nice guy…personable and smart. What a bizarre small world.

Jim and Caren Watt had died in a boating accident on Lake Michigan a few years ago. It had been in the news, and Drew had been saddened to hear it, but never in a million years had he connected the family with the girl he’d hooked up with one night in college.

He lifted his head. He had to get his shit together.

But first he needed a drink. Hey, it was almost happy hour. He headed for Jimmy’s. Which wasn’t that damn far from where he was.

All this time, he’d been living in the same neighborhood as Sara and Chloe. For Chrissakes, his head was so fucked up from this. He needed a little get-together with his good friend Johnnie Walker.

“Hey, Drew,” the owner of Jimmy’s Kitchen and Bar called to him when he walked up to the bar. “What’s crackin’?”

“Just my knee.” He grinned. “I’ll have a Rusty Nail, please. Make it a double.”

“You got it.” Jimmy grabbed the bottle of Johnnie Walker. “Plannin’ to start any bar fights tonight?”

Drew grimaced and rubbed his chin. “I neverplanto start them.”

Jimmy sighed. “Two in the last three months, man.” He slid the glass across the worn wooden bar. “What the fuck is up with that?”

Drew looked down at the drink. “He was an asshole and he was bothering that woman.”

“Okay, Knight in Shining Armor. And what about the one before that?”

“Douche was cheating at pool.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay, okay, I get it. No more fights.”

“Good. I don’t want to have to ban you from the premises.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

Jimmy grinned. “Still haven’t found a job, huh.”

“Haven’t been looking.”

“Well, that’d be the reason, then. You think someone’s just gonna hand you a job?”

“Youoffered me one.”

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