Page 12 of Playing the Neutral Zone

“Fuck me…why don’t you watch—” I heard a male voice say.

I closed my eyes for a brief second, knowing exactly who belonged to that voice.

I looked up to see Levi staring back at me in anger, coffee down the front of his white dress shirt.

Embarrassment filled my face as I stared at him, feeling bad for making such a mess of the pair of us.

“Dad, we aren’t supposed to say fuck,” I heard a small voice say and looked down to see little Mia staring up at me, her hair and clothes coffee-covered as well.When she turned her eyes back to me, I could see how unimpressed she was that he’d sworn.

“I’m so sorry.I was checking my email,” I cried, pulling my blouse from my skirt and wiping Mia’s face with the front of it so she didn’t get coffee in her eyes.

“No worries, lady.It’s just like being in the shower.Dad sometimes swears then too.”She giggled as her large blue eyes looked up at me.

I glanced up to see Levi glaring at me.

I awkwardly smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders.“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t help the fact that we are running late.Nor does it help that we will surely be late now that I’m going to have to take her back upstairs, clean her up, and get her dressed again, along with myself.

I looked down at Mia, who stood there looking up at both of us, a grin on her face.

“It’s okay, Daddy.”

“It’s not okay, Mia,” he grumbled as he stared at me.

“Don’t be mad at the pretty lady, Daddy.It was an accident.”

While Scottie had shown me pictures over the years of Mia, they hadn’t done her justice.She was the cutest little thing I’d ever seen.So cute, in fact, that my heart hurt even more now knowing I’d separated myself from Levi intentionally because I thought it would be easier for him to focus on his daughter without me in his life.I never cared that he had a baby dropped in his lap from some girl who was certain he was the father.I didn’t care that he’d had a one-night stand while I was in school.I didn’t care because I loved him, always had, and if I thought about it, still did.

“Okay, look, how about I make it up to you?”I asked.

“How are you going to do that?”he scoffed.“Do you have any more coffee you wish to drop on us before we go get cleaned up and changed?”

I bit my bottom lip, trying not to snap back at him.His comment wasn’t fair.It truly had been an accident.

“Well, I am supposed to have a date tonight, but I will cancel.Since I know you are running late, I could look after Mia while you head to your game?I could get her cleaned up and feed her dinner, maybe take her to see the new Disney movie that’s playing.”

Levi looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.While I hadn’t seen him in a long time, I still wasn’t a stranger, and I’d babysat plenty of kids growing up.He should know he could trust me.

“I don’t think so,” he said, clearing his throat, then looked down at Mia, who was pulling on his arm.“What is it?”he asked.

“Daddy, how does she know my name?”she asked, giving me a curious look.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, placing his hand on her shoulder.

“No, how does she know my name?I don’t know her,” Mia questioned, looking up at me.

I knew Levi would probably hate me, but I knelt down and came eye level with Mia and smiled softly.“I’m a friend of your dad’s, one from a long time ago.”

“How come I’ve never seen you before?”

“Well, I guess that is because I didn’t live here before.”

“Where did you live?”

“In New York.I’ve known your dad for a long time.”

Mia looked up at Levi.“She lives in New York, just like Uncle Scottie,” she said, jumping up and down with excitement.

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