Kickstart My Heart (Burgers and Brew Crue #1) - Lacey Black Page 0,28
mostly being in favor of looking into it more, which everyone was in agreement with. Isaac has been locked in his office for two days now, researching and poring over data. I’d expect nothing less from him.
Shaking my head, I finish climbing the stairs. A part of me wants to go to the kitchen to see what’s wrong, but then again, there’s always something with Jasper. Since Isaac told me to wait here, I think it’s best to do that.
I slip into his office but stop in my tracks.
Sitting at his desk is a little girl, coloring.
I close my eyes and count to five before opening them again. Yep, she’s still there. Only this time, she’s looking right at me. She’s little, with big green eyes and blonde pigtails, and watching me like a hawk. “Uhh, hi,” I stammer, my feet stuck in the doorway.
“Hi,” she whispers, moving her hand up to her mouth.
Finally, my legs carry me farther into the room. Very slowly, I move to the chairs in front of the desk and slide down on the first one. “What’s your name?”
Her wide eyes take me in. “Lizzie.”
The corner of my mouth turns upward. “Hi, Lizzie. I’m Walker. Whatcha doing in here?”
She holds up the red crayon.
“Coloring. I see,” I say, leaning over the desk and looking at her picture. The colors are all over the place, nowhere near in the lines, which reminds me of when I was younger. I didn’t like to color in the lines either. I want to ask why she’s here, but I’m not sure I’ll get an answer. Lizzie is pretty little, maybe four? I’m shit at guessing ages, so I could be way off base here. “Do you want some help?” I ask, moving my chair closer to the desk so we’re sitting directly across from each other.
Lizzie hands me a green crayon and turns the books so I can color the blank page next to her masterpiece.
We don’t say anything right away. I just color the crown on my page green, and sneak peeks of her out of the corner of my eye. She’s concentrating hard on her art, which makes me smile.
After a few minutes, I switch from a green crayon to a blue. “You’re good at coloring,” I tell her, earning me the biggest grin. She sticks her tongue out of the side of her mouth and scribbles across the paper with purple. I stop and watch, completely enthralled with this pint-sized little girl. She’s fucking adorable and has my heart galloping in my chest.
Lizzie reaches into a small bag on the desk and pulls out two fruit snacks. She slips one in her mouth and holds the second up for me. Unable to stop myself from smiling, I take the offered snack and pop it into my mouth. When was the last time I ate a fruit snack?
I hear footsteps on the stairs and just assume it’s Numbers coming back up. I’m a little anxious to hear what he was to say about Lizzie. You know, like who is she?
“Lizzie, are you ready to go?”
That voice. It’s soft and feminine—definitely not Isaac’s—and the one that has invaded my dreams many nights in the last week.
“Mommy! I color!” Lizzie boasts, grinning up at the woman I feel step up beside me.
I glance up and find her gaze on me. She seems just as surprised to see me sitting here with her daughter than I am to discover she has a daughter.
“I see that,” she replies softly, turning to face Lizzie. “That’s a beautiful picture.”
Lizzie goes right back to scribbling across the page, this time with a yellow crayon.
“Where’s Isaac?” Mallory asks, standing beside the desk and watching her daughter color.
“Uhh, kitchen emergency. I was coming up the stairs when he was heading down. He asked me to wait in his office. I admit, this wasn’t what I was expecting to see when I walked inside.” There’s a long, pregnant pause as we both watch Lizzie. “So, you have a daughter.”
Mallory’s lips turn upward. “I do. Lizzie is three.”
I lean back in my chair and observe mother and daughter for a few minutes. Mallory compliments the girl on her outstanding coloring skills, even though the page is full of multi-colored scribbles. There’s a definite resemblance, and to be honest, I’m surprised I didn’t notice it sooner. They have the same hair and eye coloring, though the shape of Lizzie’s face is different. She must get that from her father.