“Then I’ll check in with Nick so he can list everything that needs doing to finalize the recording sessions.”
“You can take that mountain of fan mail back to Nashville with you, too,” Laurie said. “Have the staff there get busy answering it. You’ve got more important things to do.”
More important than being used by a man to play surrogate mother to his lonely little girl, Val told herself firmly. But when the time came to get on the plane, she wasn’t nearly as certain that she believed that. Annie had stolen her heart. As for Slade, she was very much afraid that he had captured her soul.
* * *
When Annie discovered that Val had gone to Nashville, she was inconsolable. Slade found her huddled in the rocker on the front porch sobbing her eyes out. He guessed she’d already heard the disconcerting news that had reached him just an hour or so earlier. In case he was wrong, he approached the subject cautiously.
“Baby, what’s wrong? What happened?” he asked, hunkering down in front of her.
“It’s Val,” she whispered, sniffing loudly. “I did something wrong and now she’s gone away and left me.”
Slade had heard all about Val’s abrupt departure from Harlan Patrick. His boss seemed to take great pleasure in breaking the news that she’d gone off to Nashville. Nowhere in that discussion had Annie’s name come up. Neither had Slade’s. In fact, it sounded as if she’d left without giving a thought to either of them.
“Honey, she had work to do. You know she helps Laurie. Sometimes that means she has to go away. It wasn’t about you.”
“Yes, it was. It’s because of what I said.”
Slade regarded her with puzzlement. “What did you say that could possibly make Val leave?”
“I told her I wanted her to adopt me,” she mumbled, so low he could barely hear the words.
Even so, once they sank in, Slade felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He pulled the other rocker close and sat down so he and Annie would be at eye level.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“I told you. It happened when I was grounded. I said I wanted her to be my mom. She’d said she really liked me, so I figured she’d go for it.”
Slade had been through a similar misjudgment all too recently. Apparently neither he nor Annie was good at gauging Val’s likely reactions. “Where did I fit into this?” he asked, fearing he knew that answer, too.
Annie gazed down at the floor. “You didn’t.” Her chin jutted up. “You were mad at me, anyway. I figured you wouldn’t care.”
“Well, I do,” he said forcefully. He reached over and tucked a finger under her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “You’re my little girl, okay? I know I’m not the best dad in the whole world. I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes since your mom went away. But I love you, Annie. I wouldn’t let you go for anything. I certainly wouldn’t let somebody else adopt you and take you away from me, not even Val.”
“But she’d be such a great mom,” Annie said plaintively.
“I know, baby. I think so, too. But right now it’s just you and me. We’re stuck with each other. Think we can make it work?” He realized as soon as the words were out just how fearful he was that she’d say no.
“I suppose,” she said finally, the lackluster response accompanied by a heavy sigh of resignation.
“How about going into town for ice cream to celebrate?”
“What do we have to celebrate?”
“The fact that we’re starting over, that we’re a family, just you and me.”
Her expression brightened ever so slightly. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“It can wait,” he said, standing up. “This is more important.”
As if she sensed that she had the upper hand for now, she regarded him slyly. “Hot fudge?”
“If that’s what you want.”
She stood on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I love you, Daddy. I never really wanted to leave you.”
“I know, baby. I love you, too.” He resolved then and there to make sure she always knew that, no matter what it cost him in time or effort or words. No child of his was ever again going to feel so neglected that she’d rather be adopted than stay with him.
In town, they went straight to Dolan’s, where Sharon Lynn greeted them with a look of astonishment. “Playing hooky, Slade?”
He grinned. “Yep, it’s a special occasion. I’m out with my