Page 30 of Finding Redemption

Paxton: Send me a pic.

“Bella, can I take a picture of you for your dad?”

“Daddy sent you a text?”She glanced over my arm at my phone screen.“Tell him I said hi!”

“Tell him with your picture,” I suggested.

“Okay, but I get to pick which one you send.”

“Deal.”

I snapped a few of her giving the camera the peace sign, a bright smile on her face.When I was done, I let her choose which one she liked the best and hit send.

Paxton: Beautiful.Now send me one of you.

“He wants one of both of us,” I told her with a put-out sigh.

Without questioning it, she leaned in, and I took several pictures of us smiling at the camera.“That one!”She hit send before I could review it, but when I looked, it was the best one.

Paxton: I’m making this one my lock screen.Now send me one of ONLY you.

Me: No.Get back to work.

That earned me a pouty-face emoji in reply as Henry pulled up in front of the school’s kindergarten wing.While the driver got out to open our door, I made sure Bella’s bag was closed and then straightened her uniform skirt.“I know you’re excited to observe the karate class tonight, but try not to overdo it when you’re playing today.That will only make you grumpy, and neither one of us wants that.”

“I’ll do my best, but I can’t make any promises.”She gave me a smirk that reminded me of her dad.

“You’re lucky you’re so cute, kid,” I grumbled as I stepped out, while she laughed and slid to the ground behind me.Taking her hand, I walked with her to the entrance where the aides were waiting.“Have fun, but stay out of trouble.”

She snickered, pointing a finger up at me.“Same.”

“I’ll try if you do.”We shared a look, and then we both burst into giggles.Hugging her, I kissed the top of her head.“Love you.See you later.”

“Love you!”she said into my chest, her arms tightening around me for a moment before she ran off.Reaching the aide, she stopped and glanced back, waving at me.I blew her a kiss and waited for her to go inside before starting back to the car, where Henry was waiting.

“Home, Miss Ackerman?”he asked as he assisted me into the lifted SUV.Having short legs was so annoying.

“Henry, please call me Brooke.”

“If you insist, miss,” he said, stoic as ever.

“Is it a requirement to be annoying if you work for Paxton Foster?”I asked, earning me a ghost of a lip twitch.“Is that a yes?”

“I believe it was on the application, Miss…Brooke.”

“Progress!”I crowed and got another ghostly lip twitch.My goal was to get a full-on smile from him one day.

“Home?”he repeated, and I nodded.

For the rest of the morning, I made sure everything was ready for Bella’s karate class, and I even spent a little time watching YouTube videos on how to tie a karate belt knot because I knew she was going to want to participate.It was better to be prepared when it came to Bella.

Throughout the day, Paxton randomly texted me.He would go from texting me ten times in as many minutes, to nothing for a few hours, to blowing up my phone so often I couldn’t keep up.I had a silly grin on my face by the time Henry rolled to a stop in the pickup line at the end of the school day.

As soon as the aides opened the door, Bella ran over to throw her arms around my middle.“Did you have a good day?Mine was okay.I didn’t cause any trouble, but I wanted to.You’re welcome.”

Laughing, I took her hand as she continued to tell me about her day while we walked to the car.A few times, we had to walk around other kids with their nannies or parents.We barely paid them any attention other than to keep from walking into them, but right before we reached Henry, someone stepped directly into our path, and Bella nearly bumped into them.

Thankfully, she had great reflexes because she jumped back at the last second, but her surprised yelp had me sending the woman in front of us a glare.Jannel, the mom who had introduced herself the day before.At least, I’d assumed she was a mom.None of the other nannies were dressed in designer labels like she was.

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