Picket Fence Surprise. Kris Fletcher

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       CHAPTER TWO

      THE NEXT NIGHT, over on the other side of town, Xander buckled Cady into her high chair, set a sippy cup of milk on the tray and took a neat step out of the line of fire before his darling child could spray him.

      “Drink, pretty girl. Daddy already had his shower today.”

      Cady banged the cup on the tray. “Cookie, Daddy? Pease?”

      “After you eat your real food.” In short order, he had a bite-size smorgasbord in front of her—pasta, peas, bites of cheese and chicken. Cady scowled at the assortment.

      “Want cookie.”

      “Cheese.” He snagged a piece and popped it into her mouth. “Chow down.”

      As he’d expected, Cady frowned but obediently chewed before picking up a bite of pasta.

      Confident that the meal was under way, Xander grabbed his bowl of beans and followed suit. He used to wait until Cady was done before he attempted to eat, but then she would need a bath. Or she’d pull something over. Or decide there were too many tissues in the box, and it was her God-given duty to empty it. He would race after her and food would be forgotten, and he would fall into bed at night and realize all he’d had since breakfast was a cup of coffee and a handful of Cheerios. Nothing that he couldn’t endure for a day, but definitely not a habit he wanted to build for a lifetime.

      So he and Cady ate together now. Not that she was thrilled about staying in her chair until he’d had a chance to catch his breath and unwind a little, but c’est la vie.

      And even if she shrieked, and he had to shovel his food in while praying the neighbors didn’t turn him in as a possible child abuser, it would be a more successful dinner than the one he’d shared last night with the latest Ms. Online Dream Date.

      “Looks like we’re still in the market for a stepmommy, Cady. Hope you’re not disappointed.”

      She dropped a cheese cube on the floor. Lulu, their scruffy but well-loved beagle blend, gave an appreciative whine as she snapped it up.

      “No food on the floor, kid. Lulu already had her supper.”

      “Ruru supper?”

      “That’s right. She already ate. Don’t want her to get sick.”

      “Ruru sick?”

      “No.”

      Cady’s tiny blond head shook back and forth. “No sick.”

      Maybe he was going about this dating thing the wrong way. Maybe he should stop taking women to nice restaurants and coffee shops, and start arranging to meet at Bits and Pizzas. He could take Cady, the date could fall in love with her—or not—and depending on everyone else’s reaction, then he could worry about details like his feelings for the woman in question. Or how Ms. Online handled the revelation of his time in the Big House.

      “Except I feel like I have to tell them up front,” he said to Cady. “If that’s gonna be a stumbling block, I want to know straight out of the gate. It wouldn’t feel right to keep that hidden.”

      Which he supposed was rather ironic—the former convict worrying about doing the right thing. But it wasn’t like history was destiny.

      “Did the crime, did the time, from here on in my life is mine. Right, Lu?”

      Lulu paused in her nosing of a piece of pasta long enough to glance his way.

      “I shouldn’t complain.” He spooned up more beans. “It’s not like things were going really well anyway. I mean, she was nice enough. She has a kid, told me all about him, really loved the pictures of you, Cady girl. So you know she’s smart.”

      Cady raised her cup at an angle he knew too well.

      “Uh-uh. No shower, remember?”

      “Milk!”

      “Drink it.” He tapped the cup. She peeked up at him. He plastered on a stern expression, she sighed and cup met mouth.

      “The thing was, Cade, she didn’t laugh a lot. I can’t see how you build something with someone you can’t laugh with. And I’m not saying I’m Mr. Comedy,” СКАЧАТЬ