Page 38 of Billion-Dollar Attitudes

She yawned again, her eyes already closed. “The man.”

A bit of fear fluttered in my chest. “What man?”

She spoke to me sleepily. “My best friend. Danny.”

My heart hurt a bit hearing her talk about him so much, making up stories about him being here. But if it got her through for the time being, I wasn’t going to argue. You never won when you argued with a toddler. I covered her up, flipped on her nightlight, and kissed her before pulling the door to and heading back downstairs.

As I walked into the kitchen, I heart a sound in the living area. It was open to the kitchen but I figured it was Amber. “Harper just said the weirdest thing. She said you weren’t in here and that Danny put the straw in her juice box. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was impossible.”

“I don’t know. I think I’m coordinated enough to put a straw in a juice box.”

I froze, Daniel’s voice echoing in my ears. Very slowly, I turned around, finding him standing there in the living room.

He shrugged. “It’s the milk cartons at school that were always really hard for me to open without screwing it all up.”

“What…what are you doing here?”

He motioned toward the door. “Amber let me in. She said she was gonna run out for some ice cream.”

“She has a lifetime supply,” I replied. “She subtle.”

He chuckled, flashing me one of his smiles, my heart instantly melting.

I shuddered for a second before getting my words out. “I didn’t know you were coming. I can go get Harper up.”

He walked toward me, reaching up and looking at my hair. “I like the new hairdo. It suits you. But no, let her sleep. I think she thought she was dreaming when she saw me in here.”

“I’m still trying to figure out if I’m dreaming.”

Shaking his head, he reached out and took my hand. The familiar warmth and safety washed over me again.

“I”m here to see you,” he said. “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long, but I want to tell you something. When you made the choice to not tell me, four years ago, it’s okay. If I were you, I would have made that choice too. I wasn’t a bad guy, but I was young and flighty, and didn’t know what responsibility was. Am I sad I missed out on four years? Yes of course, but not just because I missed out on Harper, but because it’s four less years we have to be a family.”

I blinked at him several times, computing his words but not believing them. “What? A family, but I though you…”

“Hated your guts?” he laughed. “I tried. I thought I did. But after some anger, a stint with bad whiskey, a surf board, and a beard…”

“I don’t think I want to know,” I said with a chuckle.

He shook his head. “Trust me you don’t. But after that and some loyal counsel from a friend, I realized that I was choosing to be unhappy. It took effort, but the easiest thing I ever did was love you. I don’t know what the best time would have been to tell me, and I don’t know if there ever would have been a best time. It would always have hit me hard. Even on that first day if you had turned around and said, ‘it’s good to see you again, you’re my daughter’s father,’ I still would have lost it a little bit.”

“That would have been awkward for Clint,” I joked.

“He probably wouldn’t have even noticed,” he said with a laugh. “But I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose what we had under the fireworks, or at the beginning of sand camels, or lying in bed with you. Or sleeping with Harper on my chest. I want all of it, and regardless of what if’s, I know that you made the right decision for her at the time. That makes me love you even more.”

He ran his hand over my cheek. “And I’m sorry for accusing you of finding me for my money. That was not only a mean thing to say that I didn’t even actually believe when I said it, but Ryder told me you didn’t apply to the company until a headhunter sent your resume over and Clint reached out to you. I hope you can forgive me for that.”

I put my hands on his face and looked into his eyes. “Of course I can. I forgave you the next day. I knew you were in shock. I knew I had done something that turned out to be a double edged sword. But where we are now, there’s nothing more in the world I want then for you to be Harper’s daddy. And I’m really hoping you’ll be mine too.”

He put his hand to his chest and let out a deep chuckling breath. “Yes. That’s why I’m here. I want you and Harper. I want our family and I don’t ever want to let it go. That was the big secret for us, and now that it’s known, we can move forward. We can be free to care for each other without boundaries.”

Tears welled in my eyes and I jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly. “I love you, Daniel. I really don’t think I could ever do it without you again.”

“I don’t ever want to try,” he whispered. “Cali misses you, but I miss you more.”

“You’re going to have to teach me how to surf,” I whispered back. “Otherwise, I’ll be a full time lobster watching you from the beach.”

“I like your lobster,” he said with a laugh, pulling me into his arms.

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