Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Daddy!” she squealed, and my heart froze. No, no, no. He wasn’t supposed to be here. I knew his tour schedule by heart in order to avoid situations such as this. It was just so hard seeing him. He’d been in recovery for a little over two years, but I was still traumatised from when he wasn’t. My wounds hadn’t yet healed, and at this rate, I wasn’t certain if they ever would.
“Hey, honey,” he said to our daughter as I turned to face him, my heart lodged in my throat. He’d scooped Zara up into his arms for a hug when those infuriatingly gorgeous hazel eyes flicked to mine, practically burning into me as he rose and Zara clung to him, talking about how excited she was that he was going to be able to see her choir perform.
The handsome bastard had the gall to smile at me.
I reiterate: He wasn’t supposed to be here.
“Kryten,” he said in greeting, and I instantly stiffened. No way was I letting him call me by my old pet name. As teenagers, we used to be obsessed with the space comedy, Red Dwarf, and had taken to referring to one another by the names of our favourite characters, mine being Kryten and his being Dave Lister. So, we were Kryten and Lister. It was a silly teenage thing, and I refused to let him charm me with it like he used to.
He’d even named his band Astronavigation for Beginners, which referred to the fact that another character on the show, Arnold Rimmer, was constantly failing his astronavigation exam. I’d told him from the start that it was too much of a mouthful for a band name, but there’d been no talking to him. I’d been proven right over time since most of their fans now referred to them simply as “Astro” for short.
“My name is Shannon. And shouldn’t you be in Japan right now?”
“The last stop on the tour was cancelled because of some crazy storms, so I’m home a few days early,” he explained.
“Well, your mother should’ve told me. I could’ve arranged for—”
Jace turned to Zara, his hand sweeping over her hair. “Why don’t you go say hi to Granny and Granddad while I talk to your mam?” he suggested.
Zara nodded happily and skipped into the house. Jace brought his attention back to me, his expression less cheerful than before. “I wasn’t going to miss my baby’s first ever gig, and I’m sure you weren’t either, so we were both going to be in the same room anyway. Besides, I wanted to discuss a few things with you.”
“It’s not a gig; it’s a school concert. And what exactly do you want to discuss?”
Jace rubbed his jaw, and my attention went to the five o’clock shadow there. He’d always been attractive, and annoyingly, he seemed to be getting even more so with age.
“The tour is over, so I’m going to be home for a while. The band agreed to take some time off.”
“Okay,” I said, a sinking feeling coming over me about where this was heading.
“I was hoping we could come to a new arrangement so that I can spend more time with Zara. I’d like to start bringing her to school every morning and collecting her in the afternoons. I’d also like to have her stay with me one or two weekends out of the month.”
I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. I was conflicted because I knew our daughter would be overjoyed to see her dad more, but at the same time, I’d miss her being gone. Not to mention, seeing Jace in person on a regular basis would be tough for me emotionally. I knew I couldn’t be selfish in this, though. Spending more time with Jace would be beneficial for Zara, and that meant I couldn’t say no to his proposal. Despite his addiction, he’d always been a good father.
“Okay, that sounds reasonable.”
“And I want to be able to come to your house, Shannon. No more of my mam acting as the go between.”
Ah hell. Now I really wanted to argue. Only having to deal with Matilda had made my life so much easier these last few years, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t fair on her. She might’ve been Zara’s grandmother, but she had a life, too. She couldn’t be expected to deal with communication between Jace and me forever.
“All right. I’ll consider it,” I replied soberly and met his gaze. Those intense eyes had been my undoing so many times in the past, always managing to penetrate my defences. I felt them assessing me, gauging what I might be thinking.
“I’m not trying to make things difficult for you, Shannon. I just want to take care of our girl in the best way possible.”
“I know that, and I completely understand.”