Hendrix - Kelsey Clayton Page 0,30

open the door and give him a polite smile.

“Brenna!” I call up the stairs. “Colby's here!”

The sound of her little scream has the two of us chuckling as she comes out of her room and down the stairs. “Colby, Colby, Colby!”

She runs straight toward him and leaps into his arms. He catches her with ease as she latches on and hugs him tightly.

“Hey, B,” he greets her. “I've missed you.”

“I missed you, too!” she replies. “I asked Mommy every day when we could go see you again. Didn't I, Mommy?”

I cringe, but I know I need to answer her. “That you did, princess. That you did.”

As she hugs Colby again, he subtly glares at me. It doesn't take him saying anything for me to know he's pissed that I kept her from him when she wanted to see him. It was wrong, I know, but I couldn't bring myself to let her see him again. A part of me is afraid he's going to take it upon himself to tell her the truth, and make me out to be the bad guy in the process. Not that I think he's vindictive like that. Maddie called it—a part of me really believes I am the bad guy in this.

“Where are you taking her again?”

He pulls a piece of paper out of his back pocket and hands it to me. There's an address for a penthouse downtown scribbled across it.

“It's my best friend Asher's place. We're just going to hang out there for a bit and have some pizza.”

It's understandable, being as it's already four in the afternoon, and there isn't really much he can do with her at this point.

I nod. “And you'll have her back before nine?”

“Yeah. I'll even text you when we're leaving Asher's.”

“Thank you.”

Giving Brenna a hug, I watch Colby take my daughter...our daughter, and buckle her into the car seat he bought shortly after he met Brenna. My stomach is in knots as he gets in the driver's seat and pulls away.

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE this whole thing is a catch-22. No matter what I do, no choice I make is good enough for Topher. I thought he was pissed that I was spending too much time with Colby, but now that I'm purposely letting Colby take Brenna by himself, he's still mad. Every time she goes with him, I get a lecture from my fiancé about how I'm a bad mother for letting her go off with a guy she's known for less than a month.

Clearly, I can't win.

I'm sitting at work on Saturday afternoon. To be honest, I'd rather be anywhere but here. However, a huge client needed a party planned at the last minute, and they only trust me to get it done right in such a short time. Thankfully, Colby wasn't busy and I was able to drop Brenna off with him. The second she saw the brand-new trampoline in his backyard, she shouted her goodbye to me and ran out the door.

Well, at least I know she's happy.

I print out a few things, putting together a vision board for the theme they're going for along with the other people I'm going to need to hire. They want the works. Five different kinds of performers. A band. A DJ to play when the band is taking a break. Even a fireworks show to take place at the end of the party. Something like this would normally take weeks to plan, and I only have five days to make it happen.

I'm just hanging up after striking out with the third band I've called when my cell phone rings and Colby's name appears on the screen. That's weird. He normally just texts me updates.

I swipe to answer it and put it on speaker. “What's up? I'm kind of swamped.”

“Uh, hey,” he says, the dread in his voice evident. “I hate to bother you at work, but there's been a bit of an accident.”

My heart drops. “What kind of accident?”

He sighs heavily. “Brenna fell while climbing off the trampoline and hurt her arm. We're at the ER now.”

My whole body goes cold as I realize my daughter is in the hospital. My sweet, innocent, perfect little girl is sitting in a bed surrounded by doctors, and I'm not even there with her because I'm at work. I don't even bother turning off my computer as I grab my things and rush out the door. I barely even get the name of the hospital out of Colby