Page 61 of Operation Protector
“She went over to see Hayley in the office.”
“Oh. Daddy, we need to do something special.”
“Sweetie, every extra minute I get to spend with you is special.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “I know, but we get to do that ’cuz of Ali, right?”
“Yes. Did you mean you want to do something for her?” He liked the idea, and even more that his girl had had the thought.
“We have to. Tomorrow’s her birthday.”
He blinked. “It is?”
Grace nodded. “She told me that me trusting her was a great birthday present, but I wanted to give her more, so she said for me to write her a story.”
That sounded so like Ali, to encourage his girl in that talent that was already obvious. “Are you going to?”
Grace nodded. “But Daddy, we need to give her something she has to unwrap.”
He reminded himself he was talking to his little girl to get rid of the image those words planted in his mind.
“You have something in mind?”
Grace’s brow furrowed. “She doesn’t like all the stuff the mother likes, jewelry and fancy clothes.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” No, Ali was too genuine, too real for that. He had the feeling for her it was function over form, not the other way around as it was for Liz. “Have you ever heard her mention something she wants?”
Grace brightened. “Yes!” Her expression turned thoughtful again. He focused on her, thinking he wouldn’t trade the challenge of keeping up with his clever girl for anything. “But I don’t think we could wrap it up like a present.”
“What is it?”
“She wants a…a greenhouse? You know, the glass thing you grow plants in.” Well, having seen her garden, that didn’t surprise him at all. “Just a little one, but big enough to walk into.”
“She have a spot in mind?”
Grace nodded. “Out back, next to the deck. She says it gets the most sun. And she said the reason she didn’t already have one was she wasn’t sure she could put it together. You can do that, Daddy. You can build anything.”
For a moment all he could do was let those words, spoken with such love and conviction, play in a loop in his head. Then practicality rose up.
“It would have to be a late present,” he said. “I can’t be at Ali’s house while your mother’s home.”
“But she won’t be tomorrow.” Grace frowned. “Neither will I. She’s making me go with her to some fancy thing down near the big mall. She even gave Irene the day off.”
“Oh.” He tried not to dwell on not seeing her tomorrow and focused on making this wish of hers come true. “What time is this thing?”
“We have to go at eleven, she said. And if it’s like her other stuff it’ll take forever.”
Colby knew he had to take the exaggeration of time forcibly spent with her mother into account, but even driving time there and back would be over an hour. Liz had never spent less than a couple of hours at these things, doing what she called networking, which to him meant she was cataloging the people there according to their potential to be useful to her someday.
That would give him four hours. More than enough time to put a small greenhouse together. And just the thought of doing something for Ali, something she really wanted, made him feel useful again. Building this shelving for Quinn had kept him from going stir-crazy, but the thought of doing something for Ali…
His mind began to race, with as much energy and enthusiasm as if he were about to build a monument.
Ali had been focusing on work this morning, trying not to worry about how Grace was doing at the “grown-ups” party her mother had, in Grace’s words, ordered her to. She’d been falling a bit behind lately, because that focus had been faltering. She couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Grace.
And her father.
So now here she was, still a little stunned that that father had shown up shortly after Liz and Grace had left. And with a stack of boxes in the back of his truck, with a big, green bow on top.
