Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,15

up and I really hope she receives it this time around.

“See, he’s always thinking of you.” I open my arms and she rushes in squeezing my neck.

“Love you, bug,” I whisper in her ear.

“Love you, Mommy.”

We part ways and she skips ahead of me. “So, Sometime Daddy then?” she asks.

Should’ve known I couldn’t deter her from defining her daddy’s role in her life. She’s persistent.

“I’d prefer just Daddy, but...”

“Yeah, I’ll tell the kids I have a Sometime Daddy.”

We reach the steps of St. Patrick Catholic School, the buzz of early morning in full force. Two familiar moms stand at the bottom of the staircase sipping their coffees and having their usual morning chat about every other parent’s incompetence in the school.

“Victoria,” Darcie coos, pushing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Jade,” she says my daughter’s name like she’s been bouncing on the balls of her feet all morning to see her.

“Darcie. Georgia.” I bend down and tighten Jade’s ponytail, smoothing out the wispy unruly hairs. “Have a great day. Grandma will be here after school.”

“Okay. Love you, Mommy.” She gives me a looser hug than she did moments ago and before I’m standing upright again, she’s with a red-haired girl talking nonstop as the two venture up the stairs.

“Have a great day, ladies.” I turn to leave and head to the train station.

“Oh, Vikki,” Darcie says. I knew it would be asking too much to sneak away.

I smack on my court smile. The smile I had permanently fixed on my face when my ex and I were going through the divorce. The Stepford creepy-wife one that says I’m content and even-keeled, when really, it’s like World War Z in my head.

“Victoria,” I clarify for the five-hundredth time since we moved here.

“As you know, the carnival is a month away and since you missed the parent meeting, we signed you up to run an event.”

I stare blankly at her. Mostly because I will lose my shit and that will not help Jade with this transition. We need St. Pats. It’s the closest school to my house and it’s a good one.

“What event would that be?” I ask with the patience I can only assume I honed well while I was working for my old boss, Jagger Kale.

When exactly is this carnival? I don’t even know if I’m available. And a carnival? Seriously, get a new idea. It’s not the eighties.

“Your choice,” queen bee says. “Just make sure there’s no food involved. All food has to be inspected before coming in. We don’t want anything that could endanger the children. That should be easy for you, right?”

Again, I stare blankly at her, trying to compose myself before I grab her Starbucks cup and squeeze it until it soaks her ridiculous khaki belted jacket.

Hello, if I was a stay-at-home-mom and had all this time on my hands, I’d be sporting the ‘I’m on my way to the gym outfit’ when in reality I’m going home to lay on my couch And the only reason I’d be wearing yoga pants is because they won’t impede the pound of chocolate I’m going to consume. Ladies shouldn’t be ashamed of the bonbon stereotype. Everyone knows a mom’s real work is from six to eight in the morning and three to nine at night.

“Great, I’ll arrange something,” I say with a smile and a nod, then turn to step away before I tell her what I really think of her signing me up for something without my consent.

Like a flash of lightning in the sky, the sight of the smiling man leading a little boy up toward the school stuns me. I stop and stare, my mind blank.

I don’t think about the Sometime Daddy dilemma, or getting to work on time, or the carnival event I have to plan. Instead, I try to figure out how many years it’s been since I last saw Reed Warner.

Chapter Two

“Who is that?” Georgia whispers to Darcie behind me.

I turn and face them again. I’m surprised because I figured these two knew everyone at this school.

They already knew my name and Jade’s on our first day. Scary as shit, let me tell you.

“I have no idea, but I need to find out.” She sips her drink.

If I were among friends, I’d have made some smart-ass joke about their teenage behavior, but I’m just as enamored by this man.

His blue suit jacket is stretched across his broad shoulders with the front open, so I can see his taut waist with a