Ridge watched as the instructor began speaking with Delilah, asking her name and her favorite color. His daughter didn’t respond, but instead, she gripped his arm and tucked her head against his shoulder.
A little boy toddled over with a green bear in his grip toward them. Ridge watched in fascination as the boy sat back and held out the bear to Delilah in welcome, wondering how his daughter would react. She glanced up at Ridge, her soft brown eyes asking if it was okay. At his nod, she released her grip on his arm and joined the little boy, smiling as she took his proffered toy.
Ridge continued to sit by quietly, watching his daughter interact with the boy and then joining Trevor and the other children in the class. He startled as a hand landed on his shoulder and he turned to find Poppy crouching down beside him.
“Want to step out and see how she does?” Poppy
whispered. Ridge nodded and stood, slowly backing out of the room so that his daughter wouldn’t notice.
Together they stood at the two-way mirror, allowing those out in the hallway to see into the room and Ridge had to force back a sigh as Delilah continued playing alongside her new classmates.
“She’s going to do great, Ridge.”
“Yeah. I’m not so sure about me, though.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get there.”
Together they watched for a few more minutes until Poppy led him back to her office to fill out the entrance paperwork. It was a lot more cumbersome than he had initially planned and he ended up having to text his uncle that he was stuck at the daycare for a while. Luckily, Joseph understood, especially since he had six known-grown children of his own.
After filling out more information than he had when he and Penny divorced, Ridge followed Poppy around the facility to see how they functioned and what the curriculum consisted of for each age. She made sure to introduce him to each worker as if they were a member of her family, which was one of the things he liked most about his cousin’s wife.
As they were inspecting the indoor play area and jungle gym and voice called out from around the corner and Ridge watched as Poppy turned around in glee.
“Oh, I am so glad that you’re here!” she exclaimed to the newcomer. “I have someone I want you to meet.”
“Ridge, this is my new hire and friend River, who I am hoping to take over the assistant director position. And River, this is my husband’s cousin Ridge. His daughter is enrolling in the infant class.”
At first, Ridge was stunned into silence. He knew Carson was a small town and that he would run into his gorgeous neighbor every once in a while, but he hadn’t planned on the off-chance that she worked with Poppy.
“We. . .ugh. . .have met before.”
***
River wasn’t sure if someone could genuinely die from embarrassment, but she was convinced that she would be one of the candidates if it was possible. Of course, she would run into the man that had taken the leading roll in her dreams all through the night, and somehow, she hadn’t done him the least bit of justice. Even standing before her in a pair of faded jeans and a snug navy T-shirt pulled tightly across his chest, Ridge was far more attractive than her imagination had recalled.
And here she was in a pair of tan pants that now sported a large coffee stain from where she spilled it on her drive into work, and a polyester-blend shirt that was too sizes too big.
She felt frumpy and not put together, especially compared to her boss, who looked like a bohemian princess.
“We’re neighbors,” River managed to add to the conversation with a squeak.
“Oh my gosh, that’s right. You’re both in the properties Jameson and I overhauled. What a small world. As you can tell, I completely forgot about that. Honestly, I just get people in the homes and let the property management company handle the rest.”
“So, your brother-in-law Austin,” Ridge chimed in with a tilt of the corner of his full upper lip. River wondered if that was a move he had mastered as a teen or one later in life because it was certifiably panty-dropping inducing.
“You got it,” Poppy replied. “Now, since you’re both here, and I’ve finished the main tour, why don’t we head back to the infant room and we can check on your daughter.
In agreement, both River and Ridge dutifully followed Poppy back down the hall, where she touted off River’s background in childhood education and her work at a private school in Asheville. It took all of River’s strength not to blush when Ridge glanced at her from the corner of his eye, seemingly impressed, but she was certain that she failed.
She caught his eye and they smiled at each other, neither noticing that they had reached their destination and Poppy had stopped walking. If not, again, for his superhero reflexes, they both would have piled into Poppy’s back. Instead, it was just River and her clumsy nature that found herself running chest to back into her boss.
“Sorry,” she murmured as she tucked her chin to her chest in mortification. Luckily, her friend simply smiled and opened the door to the room.
River remembered the little girl Ridge had held in his arms the day before and grinned as her face lit up at the sight of her father.
“Dada!” she cried out joyfully with a pink teddy bear wrapped tightly in her fist.
River heard the instructor explain that the little girl had pulled it free from the diaper bag and that they’d write her name on the toy so that it wouldn’t get mixed up with the others.