Prologue
Preoccupied by his upcoming meeting, Nick Redmond clicked his briefcase shut and headed to the kitchen door that led to the garage.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Strident and whiny, Audrey’s voice was getting to him.
He pivoted. His wife stood behind him, looking like hell with her hair askew and her pajamas dirty. “I’m going to work.”
“I can’t do this by myself, Nick. I need your help with him. He needs so much attention and you’re never home.”
He arched a brow. “You quit your job to take care of our son.”
Raising her chin, she glared at him. “I’ll go back to work. You quityourjob.”
He gave her a smirk. “Then we’ll have to sell this house that you overspent on decorating.”
That shut her up.
Finally, she said, “Take him to the park so I can at least have a shower.”
He made a show of checking his Rolex. “I have a meeting in an hour.”
“I only need a half.”
And he didn’t have time for this argument.
“All right.” He scooped up the boy who’d been playing with Legos on the living room floor. “Come on, buddy, let’s go to the park.”
Scotty looped his arms around Nick’s neck. “Okay, Daddy.” The ice around Nick’s heart melted some.
Audrey said, “He needs his special sneakers.”
“Where are they?”
“I’ll get them.” She headed up the spiral staircase. In a few minutes, he saw the sneakers come over the open balcony railing and thump onto the floor.
He set Scotty on the chair in the foyer and wrestled him into the sneakers. Everything with the boy was twice as difficult than with a normal five-year-old because he had congenital heart disease.
He carried his son out to his Lexus and swore when he got to the garage. He didn’t have a car seat. Shit, that proved how little time he was responsible for his own child. Pushing away the guilt, he set Scotty in the back, grabbed his wife’s car seat and finally settled him in. They drove to the park, Scotty happily singing off tune.
The exclusive gated community of Ashton Groves had its own playground. Which was busy for a Friday morning. After he parked, he noticed a number of nannies here. Audrey had hired a couple of women but they eventually quit because Scotty hated being with them and acted out. He wanted his mother.
“Slide, slide, slide,” Scotty said when he was released from the car seat.
“Take Daddy’s hand.”
He led the boy to one of the kiddie slides.
“No, the big one.”
“Are you allowed to go on that?”
He nodded vigorously.
“Okay. I’ll be right at the bottom.”
Scotty managed the ladder at a slow pace and when he got to the top, Nick realized this was a mistake. He looked tiny up there. But he waited patiently as Scotty sat down. Gleefully, he came down the too-fast aluminum surface. Nick caught him at the bottom.
Just then his phone beeped. He glanced at the caller. His assistant. “Come over here with me a minute. Daddy has to answer the phone.”
