Page 73 of Trial By Fire
"I got sick," Dani informs me. "Are you still sick?"
I see the worry and fear on her face, and I hate that I'm the cause. "No, sweetie, I'm much better now. The hospital fixed me up. But why were you sick?"
Dani ignores my question.
"When are you coming home?" the girl asks.
I sense him before I see him and look up to find Kace's large frame a few feet away. He's watching me closely, his gaze raking over every inch of me. I struggle to maintain eye contact. "Um, hey."
"Hey, yourself. You're looking better."
"I'm feeling better."
"Did you bring cupcakes?" Dani asks in a hesitant voice.
"Dani, honey, don't?—"
"Of course," I tell her, cutting off whatever Kace is about to say. "I'm sorry we didn't get to make them together, but I wasn't feeling up to it, you know? So I bought some. They are over on the table, and they have little llama heads like the one on your birthday cake. I hope that's okay?"
Dani hugs my legs again and even presses a kiss to my capri-clad thigh. "It's perfect. I love you, Lindsey."
The sweet declaration is my undoing. It takes everything in me to blink away the moisture flooding my eyes. I tug her arms loose as I squat down and pull her close once again to hug her tight. "I love you too, Dani-banani."
My ridiculous nickname draws a giggle from her, and I revel in the sound. In the tiny solid form squeezing me tight.
"I'm going to go look at the cupcakes."
"Better hurry. Class is about to start." Just like that, I'm released, and Dani's flying across the room. I straighten slowly to avoid a head rush and tuck my thumbs into my back pockets because I'm not quite sure what to do with them. "Has she been crying?" I ask. "What made her sick?"
Kace steps closer, and the scent of his cologne does things to my insides. It's a mix of sandalwood and citrus and man, and…I love it. Maybe a little too much, all things considered.
But when preggo girl doesn't get sick at a smell?
It's a good thing. And a reminder of why I hadn't gone back to live at his house.
"She got upset about the cupcakes and…stuff."
"Stuff? Meaning me?" I remind myself that I'd agreed to our remain professional terms, but it's a struggle at the moment. I didn't realize how much Dani and Madi would grow on me. Or how much I'd miss my gorgeous boss. Standing there, face to face with two of the three, is hard. Especially when I've been kicked to the curb, so to speak.
"She misses you," Kace tells me.
A low huff leaves me before I can stop it. "Ditto," I breathe softly.
We stand there awkwardly staring at each other for a long moment. I have to look away before I say something stupid like I miss you, too. "I guess since you're here, I should go."
"Don't," he bites out.
I startle at the force of it, and he lifts his hands from the crutch, expressions moving over his face faster than I can track them.
"Sorry. I just— Stay. Please. Dani was upset because she thought you wouldn't be here like…the other moms. She said she knows you're not her mom, but you're like a mom because you're pregnant and also taking care of her. She wants you here, Lindsey. Not me."
"Oh," I say when his words hit home. I'm flattered and love the fact that Dani feels that way about me. I feel the same for her. But Kace's hospital conversation comes back to me once more and steals the joy from the moment because it's the perfect example of his worries of why we are no more. Not that there ever was a we but— "Are you sure? I mean, are you okay with what she said?"
I watch as he inhales and seems to process his words before he says them.
"Dani loves you. And she needs loving, caring females in her life. I just don't want her to get hurt."
I swallow hard. "I don't want that, either. You know I'd never intentionally hurt her."
