“Good. The sooner you get back there, we’ll all get back to normal. Abbott wants her daddy to herself. Cole’s job is stressful enough—he doesn’t need you here addin’ to it.”
“It was never my intention to intrude in your lives. I plan to leave as soon as I possibly can.”
Me – Red has been lovely. He fixed me one of your all-American hot dogs for lunch. A Carson specialty, for sure.
It’s the truth. I heard a bang on Cole’s bedroom door where I was hiding out when he announced it was tea time. When I opened the door, a plate was sitting on the floor waiting for me with a naked hot dog lying limp on a piece of bread.
Cole – Shit. I’m sorry. I’ll make you something before I go to work tomorrow.
Me – I don’t need anyone to wait on me. I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself.
“Grandpa?”
I look up from my phone and Abbott is standing in the open doorway. I’ve heard every move she’s made through the paper-thin walls today but this is the first I’ve seen of her since Cole went back to work this morning. I’ve been doing my best to not be seen myself. Her long, dark hair is flowing down her back in beautiful curls. It doesn’t look like it’s been brushed but that’s okay. Red doesn’t seem like the hair-brushing kind of caretaker.
My phone vibrates again.
Cole – Maybe, but I want you to rest. Preferably on me, like last night. You needing me is a new development and I don’t hate it.
I cringe as his words seep through my brain because I think I’ve needed Cole Carson since the moment he laid a hand on me when we went undercover the first time.
Red’s entire demeanor flips its switch from an angry, defensive father to that of a loving grandfather. “Yeah, darlin’?”
“I’m done reading.”
My smile settles into something from my soul and for the first time I try to make conversation with Cole’s child. “What are you reading?”
She fidgets around on bare feet and mumbles, “Secret Garden.”
My eyes widen. “Impressive for a girl your age. It was a favorite of mine but I wasn’t quite as young as you when I read it for the first time.”
Abbott looks at the rug she’s standing on and shrugs.
“My grandbaby is as smart as a whip. She’s gonna leave the rest of the first graders in the dust this fall at her new school, aren’t you, Abbs?” Red stands and moves to his granddaughter. “Your daddy said you could have the iPad after you read.”
The child has no desire to continue our conversation and turns to skip away from me as fast as her little legs will take her.
Cole – I’ll stop at the store on the way home. You know my shitty skills in the kitchen but I’ll do my best. What do you want?
I ignore Cole because Red pauses where he stands at the front door. So much for leaving me be and putting me out of my misery. “Gotta admit. You’re not at all what I expected.”
I’m not sure I want to know but lean back in my chair and ask anyway. “How’s that?”
“Thought you were gonna come in here and try to stake your claim to my boy. Cause drama in the life he’s tryin’ to build for Abbott. Worm your way in then escape back to your job that’s so important to you. You do that, Cole’ll never recover. He finally settled down and neither him nor Abbs need a woman flyin’ in and outta their lives like a drive by.”
I shake my head and swallow over the lump in my throat that feels more like the bullet I caught. “I know my place, Red. Trust me, I’ve been trying to stay in it for years now.”
“My son is nothin’ if not persistent.”
I know that better than anyone. “Yes, he is.”
“You care about Cole?”
Cole – Baby, what sounds good?
My eyes shift to the old man whose expression shows me he’s as serious as a terrorist threat and I tell him the truth. “A great deal.”
“Then do him and Abbott a favor—don’t let him win. Take your show on the road and keep it there. I know why you’re here, why you’re a secret, and why you’ve been creepin’ around that part of the world. He thinks he can save you, but we don’t need your drama, not when life for my granddaughter has been