think that’s true,” Tara said, old pain pinching her heart. She’d been in the exact situation little Ashley was in now more times than she cared to admit, growing up. Her own parents’ work had kept them apart a lot of the time. Unfortunately, Tara hadn’t had anyone to really talk about it with, so she’d just internalized all that, figuring out how best to deal with it on her own. And sure, maybe it hadn’t done her any favors on the personal front, considering she was still single at twenty-seven without a happily ever after in sight, but hey. She was making a difference, right? That was what she’d really always wanted. To make a difference. To be relevant. To be a priority.
Isn’t it?
“Is too!” Ashley cried, her bottom lip quivering. “Daddy told me he’s too busy right now. He doesn’t love me anymore. He’s going to leave me just like Mommy did.”
“Oh, sweetie. No!” Tara reached over to pull the little girl into her arms. “Your daddy’s not going anywhere, honey. And he does love you. So, so much. He’s just got a lot on his plate right now and sometimes grown-ups don’t always deal with stress the way they should. Sometimes—”
“Sometimes what?” Clint said, walking through the front door, looking about as harried as Tara felt at the moment. Things weren’t easy on any of them at the moment, she supposed. He tossed his keys aside and grabbed a soda out of the fridge in the kitchen. The white dress shirt he’d worn was a tad wrinkled now and the sleeves were rolled up. A button was undone and the collar and his tie were loosened and askew. Even rumpled, he was still the best looking man she’d ever seen close up. Tara swallowed hard, noting the shadows beneath his eyes and the tightness near his jaw. “What’s going on here? Sorry I’m late. Got caught up in something at work.”
“Ashley and I were just talking about how she’d like to take you outside and show you how well she’s doing at her riding her bike without the training wheels,” Tara said, letting a squirming Ashley free. “When you have time.”
“It’s going to be a while,” Clint said, taking a huge sip of soda and heading down the hall. “I need to take a shower and have some food before I get some more work done. We’re still knee-deep in your investigation, Tara. Plus the guys also have other jobs they’ve taken on and with me away from the office for that stretch after the rally, things have fallen behind.”
There was nothing wrong with what he was saying, in itself, but he hadn’t even bothered to look at his daughter to see how she was taking it. Tara looked, and saw when Ashley’s little face crumpled. Tara’s anger grew. Dammit. She knew his job was important to him, but so was his daughter. She stood and walked to the bedroom, where Clint was in the process of stripping down. He pulled off his shirt, leaving him bare-chested in just his suit trousers. She did her best to ignore his muscled torso and concentrated on her mission here instead. After closing the door behind her, she stepped closer to him and crossed her arms. “Listen, I know you’ve got a lot going on right now, but Ashley’s been so excited to show you her riding and I really think if you just take a minute and pay some attention to her it would go a long way toward building a better relationship between you two and—”
“Don’t tell me how to raise my daughter,” he snapped, tossing his shirt in the hamper across the room. Then he stopped and sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap like that. I’ve just got to get caught up on some of this office stuff for the guys—things that piled up while I was on mandatory leave. We can’t afford to lose clients because of it if we want to keep our bottom line in the black. I need to put that first now.”
“Ahead of Ashley?” Tara dug her fingers into her arms, her temper rising despite her wishes. Memories of conversations with her own mother flooded back to her mind. How her mom had put everything and everyone else ahead of her own child. How she’d provided for her daughter’s physical needs and completely failed to nurture her emotionally. Well, Ashley deserved better. Tara deserved better too. “Isn’t that what all of