“We can’t tell Daddy about this,” my daughter said, and now her tone was very serious.
“Why?” Violet asked.
“Because I have the best daddy in the whole wide world,” she said, a little giggle escaping. “I don’t want him to think I’m sad that I don’t have a mama. Because my daddy loves me enough for a mama and a daddy. He might not know why my mama really left, and I don’t want Daddy to be sad.”
A loud buzzing noise came from the kitchen, and I startled.
The fucking pizza rolls.
I hurried down the hall before they caught me eavesdropping and I turned off the buzzer.
And I listened as multiple footsteps padded down the hall toward the kitchen.
Violet had gotten my little girl to come out of her room.
I guess there was more to Violet Beaumont than I’d guessed.
I glanced over at her as she beamed down at my daughter, shining all that light her way like a goddamn firefly.
Chapter Five
Violet
It smelled like garlic and warm bread, and my stomach growled. My pizza rolls weren’t sounding as appetizing as they did when I’d arrived here, desperate for an oven and some processed food.
We turned the corner into the kitchen, and Violet’s whole mood had turned around.
Hell, even mine had turned around.
“Daddy, what you got cookin’, good lookin’?” Harper giggled.
She was so cute it was hard for me not to unleash what I really thought about that mean girl, Denise. I knew the type. I’d seen the girl in action more than once. She picked on her little brother, all for attention that she never got, from what I could tell. Her mother ignored her, and I was certain she was jealous of Harper.
Harper Huxley was the rare jewel of children. She was an old soul, and we’d actually had a very nice conversation. She wasn’t bratty. She was reasonable. She was sweet. And she was the cutest kid I’d ever seen.
So it was ludicrous to suggest that her physical appearance was the reason her mother had left.
Trust me, I’d experienced abandonment in a very similar way, and I knew it had very little to do with me. But it took me a long time to get here.
Charlie scooped up his daughter and hugged her, his eyes finding mine over her shoulder.
He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t need to.
I saw the gratitude there, and I nodded before making my way toward the oven to collect my pizza rolls off the pan and go back home to finish my pity party for one.
“I cooked your favorite, baby girl. You feeling better?” Charlie asked before setting her back down on her feet.
“I’m feeling all the way better. Can my best friend Violet stay for dinner?” she asked.
“Oh, I’ve got my pizza rolls here,” I said, dropping them all onto the paper plate I’d brought with me.
“We’ve got plenty, and I think our dinner looks a lot better than your dinner.” Charlie’s lips twitched the slightest bit, and I’d come to learn that was what he did when he was trying to suppress a smile.
“Says a man who’s clearly never had pizza rolls.” I tucked my lips between my teeth as I considered the offer.
His dinner did look much better than mine.
And Violet was standing there with her little hands in a prayer position, smiling up at me.
