Page 79 of Just (Fake) Married
“The trifecta,” I said. I felt her forehead for a fever, then her glands. All seemed normal. “Say ahh for me, honey?”
“Ahhh.”
I checked her throat. No swelling.
“Are you really sick?” I whispered.
Her eyes went wide for a second and she looked over my shoulder at her dad who’d taken my seat behind the desk. She shook her head no and smiled, like she was letting me in on her secret.
“Did you just want to stay with your daddy today?”
She nodded again and put her fingers against her mouth like she was struggling to contain her giggles.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
I tucked her into my lap and we both watched Carter work.
As a kid, I wouldn’t have missed church (which I hated) to spend time with my dad. But Carter was ten times the father my dad had been. Looking at my brother’s serious face, my niece tucked into my chest, it hit me again how long it had been since I’d been home.
I’d been so busy, so driven, I’d never really had a chance to count all the things I’d missed while living in Seattle. But here, without my job and my ego to occupy me, I saw everything.
“Any luck?” I asked him, as his brow continued to furrow.
“With what?” he asked, his eyes flicking back and forth between files on his desk and something open on his screen.
“Whatever it is you’re trying to figure out?”
He laughed and looked at me with red-shot eyes, which told me he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep, maybe since his oldest, Taylor, was born.
“No,” he said. “Unless what I’m trying to figure out is how much of a control freak Dad was. In which case, yeah, I’ve learned plenty. You okay over there, Zo?”
She snuggled in deeper to my chest. “Clearly, I’m an exceptional uncle.”
“If you give Daddy a few more minutes, we can head down to the barn.”
“What’s going on at the barn?”
“Baby chicks!” Zoe said, slapping a hand on my chest.
“And a new horse,” Carter said.
“Baby chicks and a new horse,” I said, wishing I could call off my plans for the day and go check that out. “That’s a big day at the barn.”
“Sure is,” Carter said, and let out a big sigh. “I’m not going to figure this mess out today. There’s something off here, but I’m going to need our accountant to dig through it.”
“Is this still about the land purchase you were talking about?”
“I’m not seeing how he’s paying for it. I’m sure I’m just missing something. Like I said, if the stubborn old sonofabitch had just shared with me more about what he was doing…”
I shook my head. “That wasn’t our father.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Carter agreed. “Come on, Zo. It’s barn time. Let’s get our coats on.”
Zoe jumped off my lap and ran for the foyer where all the coats hung on pegs.
“I know she’s not sick,” Carter said, standing up from behind the desk. “But she’s only going to be this age for so long, and since I won’t be having any more kids, I’m trying to appreciate every moment while it lasts.”
“You don’t know that,” I said. “About the kids, I mean.”
