Unwrapping Daddy by Lisa Lace

Author:Lisa Lace [Lace, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

Tom

Tess has agreed to look after both Megan and Jack for a few hours, so Zoe and I can finally unwind. It’s been a long, difficult week, and at last, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

I take Zoe out to dinner—somewhere low-key, with a few quiet, dark corners to get lost in. We sit at a booth at the back of the restaurant.

As soon as I sink into the fraying red leather, all my stress melts away. I don’t realize how tense my muscles have been until they begin to relax. The constant, dull headache that I’ve had for days finally starts to ebb away.

I smile at Zoe. “I told you she’s a fighter.”

“You told me.”

We raise our glasses of lemonade to Laura. We’re not drinking tonight. I’m picking up the kids from Tess later.

“I feel kind of guilty going out,” Zoe confesses.

“Why? We’re celebrating Laura’s first step on the road to recovery.”

“I can’t tell you how glad I am that’s she’s on the mend. My heart stopped when I heard she’d had the accident. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath since Thursday.”

“Now you can breathe.”

“Yes.” She lets out a long, low breath, then grins. “It feels good to breathe.”

“Interesting place you picked for tonight.”

“I didn’t want to dress up,” Zoe tells me. “After this week, I just wanted to go somewhere I could disappear for a while.”

“We didn’t have to come out.”

“No. Having a change of scenery is nice. The empty apartment has been haunting me this week. I couldn’t stop thinking about Laura and dreading the worst. Maybe I’ll finally be able to sleep again.”

“You could have stayed at Laura’s. You didn’t have to be alone.”

“You know why I wouldn’t.”

“And now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Now that Laura’s on the mend, does it mean we can get back on track?”

Zoe looks surprised. She clears her throat, tapping her fingers on the edge of her glass. “I know she’s awake, but it still doesn’t feel right to focus on anything else.”

“I don’t want to miss our chance.”

I wonder if I’m fucking up again. It seems that my priorities are never in the right place. My timing is always wrong.

I care about Laura, and I’ll be there for her kids. I want nothing more than for her to get better and come home. That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten all about Zoe.

The more time I spend with her, the more I want her. She’s effortlessly brilliant. She’s steady, sure and calm in an emergency. Since Laura’s accident, I’ve appreciated her lack of judgment—even when I’ve been making mistakes left, right and center.

“I don’t want to miss it either,” she says at last. “But we have to tread carefully. We’re still responsible for Megan and Jack. We can’t get carried away in some romance that leaves them behind. I’m serious about that.”

“I understand.”

She smiles at me, and then the waiter brings our orders. We both have a burger and fries. The taste reminds me of our teenage years.

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