Playing For Her Heart - Megan Erickson Page 0,39

it absentmindedly, thinking of what she’d done that morning, who she’d been thinking about.

“Chloe?” Ethan asked as he washed the soup pan.

“Yeah?”

He paused for a minute, then shut off the water and dried his hands. “Are you seeing anyone?”

She blinked at the sudden question, and stammered out the first thing her panicked mind thought of. “N-no.”

Ethan chewed on his lip. “No?”

That wasn’t really a lie. She wasn’t sure what she and Grant had done—were still doing?—had any sort of classification. She shook her head.

Ethan dropped the towel on the counter. “Okay, just wondering. Uh, Grant asked me for your number. Something about a security question. You know anything about that?”

Her blood roared in her ears. Grant had to be slightly desperate if he was willing to stick his neck out and ask Ethan. Again, she could do nothing but shake her head.

Ethan shrugged. “I didn’t give it to him. Do you mind if I do?”

Her mind whirled. “Uh, I’m busy. With work…and stuff.”

Ethan waved her off, as if he was relieved about it all. “I’ll blow him off. No worries.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief, even as a pang of regret hit her in the chest.

While Ethan finished cleaning up, Chloe made her way into her office to check her email.

She scanned through them, getting rid of spam. An unfamiliar email caught her eye—SydKid247. She clicked on it and read the email from Sydney, asking if they could meet for coffee within the next couple of days to discuss more about Chloe’s job.

Her first inclination was to say no, no way. For a few minutes when they were chatting at the career fair, Chloe thought she could maybe make a difference in the girl’s life. But Sydney was so vibrant. So excited about the future ahead of her. What could Chloe do for her? Nothing, that was what. She’d inevitably let Sydney down, maybe even give her a negative opinion of women in her profession, and she didn’t think she could live with herself if that happened. But the girl’s email was so excitable, full of exclamation points about how she wanted to see Chloe again…about how her dad said it was okay, and that he’d come to supervise, like Chloe had asked.

Chloe set her jaw, deciding then and there she would not fail this kid. She was going to do her damnedest to help her. Hell, she had to start somewhere. Before she changed her mind, she wrote back saying yes, she’d love to meet up.

And like the last time she’d seen Sydney, she’d be comfortable enough to be herself.

Chapter Ten

Chloe walked toward the front of the coffee shop, feeling a little exposed, but psyched by the opportunity to do something positive. She’d agreed to meet Sydney on Friday after school, and Chloe had been looking forward to it all week. The teenager was fun and excited and she reminded Chloe of all the reasons she loved her job. Why Chloe herself had value in the world. It was…refreshing.

It also helped ease the ache of disappointing Grant. That wound was still too fresh for Chloe to do anything but wait for it to heal over.

But she couldn’t think about that now. She took a deep breath and donned her professional Chloe hat, pushed open the door, and glanced around the coffee shop. It wasn’t too busy, but there was a decent crowd. Sydney, her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, waved at her from a table. A man sat across from her, his back to her. Chloe figured this was Sydney’s father. She walked toward their table, bringing her hand out to shake his. He stood when Sydney waved, then turned slowly.

His head was down, and when he lifted it, Chloe’s steps faltered.

Grant stood there, his blue eyes cautious, completely unsurprised to see her. Chloe’s eyes darted to Sydney. “Hi, Miss Talley. This is my dad, Grant Osprey.” Sydney studied her face and frowned. “He said he knows you? I didn’t know you were Ethan’s sister.”

Dad.

Grant had a daughter.

And not just any daughter, but Sydney.

Chloe hadn’t known he had a child, or maybe she had at one time, but had forgotten. Either way, her mind spun.

She’d planned to avoid him as much as possible, make excuses whenever Ethan mentioned his presence, hoping time would begin to smooth over the hurt of not being able to have Grant.

This…this was too soon. She was too fragile, still too raw from their last night together. Yet here he was, his