Page 9 of Dancing in the Rain

“Yeah.” Sara lay back on the bed. “I’m sorry. I do appreciate you getting them.”

Worry tightened Peyton’s stomach again, and her own appetite disappeared. She smiled, though, as she removed the uneaten food. “Have some more of that milkshake. I’ll let you rest a bit while I bring my stuff up.”

“How long are you staying?”

“I’m not sure.” Peyton kept her voice cheerful. “As long as I need to.”

“Oh, Peyton.” Sara rolled her head on the pillow. “I love you.”

“Love you, too. I’ll check in on you in a while.”

Peyton fought back tears as she settled her things into the guest room. It would do no good to break down now. That wouldn’t help anyone. She tried to distract herself from fearful thoughts about Sara by tidying up the house and making a shopping list. She could put together a quick pasta dish with things in the cupboard tonight but tomorrow she’d go out and pick up a few groceries.

The phone rang and she automatically reached for the cordless handset in the kitchen. “Hello.”

“Sara?”

“No, this is her sister. Just a moment, I’ll go see if she’s awake. Can I ask who’s calling?”

Silence met this request as she walked out of the kitchen toward the stairs. Then the man said, “Uh, it’s Drew Sellers.”

The name meant nothing to her. Maybe a friend of Sara’s? Or someone from work? “Okay, just a moment.”

She ran lightly up the stairs and poked her head into Sara’s room, holding the phone away from her. “Hey, hon, you awake? There’s a phone call for you.”

“Mmm, yeah, I’m awake.” Sara pushed up. “Who is it?”

“Drew Sellers.”

Sara shot bolt upright, staring at her bug-eyed. “Really?”

“Um, yeah, that’s what he said.”

Sara motioned her over with an urgent wave of her hand and reached for the phone. “Drew?”

Peyton turned to leave to give Sara privacy, although curiosity fizzed in her chest. But Sara waved at her to stay.

“You did?” Sara said. Then, “Well, of course it did.” Sara listened again. “What do you want to do now?”

Peyton watched emotions flicker across Sara’s face as she listened again then nodded. “Okay. No. Not tomorrow. That’s too fast. You and I need to meet again and talk about a few things first.”

Peyton frowned. Who was Sara talking to? What was going on?

“I’m not sure,” Sara said. “I’ll call you back.” After listening again, she ended the call. She pressed the button on the phone and lowered it to the bed. She turned and met Peyton’s eyes.

“What’s going on, Sara?”

“Well.” Sara took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling. “I have a long story to tell you.”

Chapter 3

Drew read the document once more, the one that stated Drew Sellers was not excluded as the father of Chloe Watt. The one that said there was a 99.99 percent probability that he was her father.

Christ.

He’d let that knowledge sink in for a couple of days, not sure what to do about it. But really, hehadknown what to do about it. And he’d picked up the phone and called Sara Watt.

There was no way he could spend the rest of his life pretending he didn’t have a daughter. Ignoring her. He knew that would haunt him forever.

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