Page 6 of Daddy's Best Friend

“While I appreciate the offer, Trevor, I have to study tonight. You understand.” Ella brushed him off like a pro, and never lost her smile. Trevor’s face fell and he nodded.

“Yeah, yeah…” He waved a hand at her. “I’ll catch you later then? Dad, I won’t be home for dinner.”

“Be smart, Trev.”

After he walked away, cash in pocket, I gestured to Ella. “Alright, let’s take you to your office. You were supposed to share this with Rene, but you’ll have it to yourself. We will just have to get you set up with a computer.”

The office was small, but on the fifth floor overlooking the beach it was bested only by my corner office. Rene’s view was spectacular, and I had a feeling Ella would enjoy it. She ran her hand across the large mahogany desk and glanced at the smaller desk in the corner where she would have been sitting.

“I’ll have that taken out now that we don’t need it. Tech will come in later to get you set up, but if you need anything my office is right around the corner. You can acquaint yourself with the files on the desk over there.”

Ella wandered over to the desk that would have been hers and picked up the stack of files. The top one was the training documents Rene put together which I approved. I could tell by the red folder. The others I wasn’t sure about.

“You know it was pretty cool of you the way you were so professional about turning Trevor down. You didn’t have to do that on account of me.”

Her eyes popped up and she shook her head. “No, Mr. Walters, I really wasn’t interested.” She closed the file and laid it on the desk. “I really do have studying to do. It’s a Monday night.”

I nodded. I wanted to ask if it was because Trevor was more like a brother. They practically grew up together. But when she turned and bent to pick up something off the floor, my eyes were drawn to her ass—high and tight like any other 21-year-old.Down boy.I had to remind myself not to stare. She straightened, handing me a pen that was lying on the floor. I took it from her and noticed it was engraved with Rene’s name.

The sight of the name on the pen took the wind out of my sails just as I was imagining that little plug from her bathroom at home. I stared down at it feeling ashamed of myself for letting my imagination wander to such a perverted image. Ella should have been like a daughter to me, and here I was ogling her like a five-dollar bimbo.

“Looks like this belongs to Rene.”

I nodded. “Yes, I will put it up for her when she returns. Settle in and get to know the files well. I’ll be back with the tech crew soon.”

I excused myself before my dick swelled any more. And maybe I’d have to keep my eyes trained on her face rather than letting them wander. She was far more put-together than I had expected her to be, and there I was acting like a buffoon. I shook my head at myself as I strolled back to my office, but there was a skip to my step that I hadn’t felt in at least a decade.

5

ELLA

“I’m just saying, he is quite conservative about what sort of information he shares. We know he’s divorced because he’s told us as much. His son Trevor is a cutie pie. Don’t you think?” Heather munched on a French fry. Her expensive manicure was peppered with salt crystals, but who was I to judge? I didn’t even bother with manicures and makeup routines. My life revolved around studying and partying until Monday.

I’d spent the week learning the ropes with Alan by my side showing me step-by-step the sorts of tasks Rene used to do. I wasn’t taking her job entirely—HR was looking for a replacement—but I was the bandage that would hold the department together while they found a temp. And I’d gotten to know the ladies a bit better. Terry from accounting was the closest to my age, 29 and working on her third child. Heather was closer to Alan’s age—40 something, and also had children. I couldn’t help but feel a little left out of some lunch conversations.

“Yeah, he is sort of secretive, isn’t he?” Terry slurped her frozen drink and waved a fly away from her face. Eating outdoors had its drawbacks, but none of them outweighed the pleasure of sitting beneath a massive palm tree overlooking the beach. The little sandwich shop on the ground floor of Alan’s building had excellent food.

“So, what do you want to know?” I asked, crumpling the wrapper from my cheeseburger up. I tossed it into the brown paper bag and took a sip of my soda. This conversation had finally taken a turn that interested me. Previously they had discussed childbearing and potty training. That was when Pam left to head back. She was a cat lady who had never married and didn’t have children.

“What do you mean?” Heather looked at me as she shoved another French fry in her mouth. Terry leaned in as if I had juicy gossip to share.

“I mean, what do you want to know about Alan? I might be able to fill in some details.” The expression Heather gave as she glanced at Terry was priceless. It felt good to be the gossip girl, and bonding with these women didn’t mean that much to me but fitting in was nice. Terry shrugged and took a gulp of her drink. Heather furrowed her brow in through and her eyes drifted upward, as if she were searching some inner file system for the perfect question.

“Why did he get divorced? Is he gay?” Terry snickered as she asked. “He seems gay sometimes. Like his style, the way he does his hair, even the fact that the office is so well decorated. Don’t you think, Heather?”

I laughed out loud and shook my head. “No, he’s not gay. He was married. I’m certain based on the way I’ve seen him look atwomen that he is not gay.” I should have added, “Based on the way he looked at me,” but I didn’t. No one needed to know I’d caught him checking me out. I was a hottie; that much was given. I turned heads everywhere I went, which was why Trevor hit on me right in front of his dad. He practically asked me to hook up with him.

“So, he’s not gay. Why did he get divorced?” Heather dusted the salt off her fingers and wiped her hands on a paper napkin. Her plate was half-empty when she pushed it away, folding her arms across the table and leaning forward on her elbows.

“Well, it was a while ago. I think I was like 10 when that happened… Yeah, I was 10 because Trevor was 12 then.”

“You’re how old now?” Terry collected trash, stacking it on her tray.

“I’m 21 now, almost 22. So, eleven years ago is when it happened. He stayed with us the night his wife left because he was upset. Looking back, I think maybe he was drunk too, but I was little. Anyway, from what I remember, his wife thought he spent too much time with his job and wanted more from him. He wanted her to take interest in the company. It ended because she couldn’t believe it was just his job and blamed him for an affair—which of course never happened.”

“Eleven years? That was just before I started working here.” Heather scratched her head. “That’s so sad. I remember him being so sullen and serious when I first started. Something changed about two years later, and he was a different man.”

“Yeah—” I stood, picking up my trash “—that’s when he got custody of Trevor. We didn’t see him for a while when his mother was in charge of him. I remember being so happy whenhe came back. Then by the time I was 16, he stopped coming around.”

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