Big Daddy

“Thanks. I know it’s going to be okay. It’s just a bit harder than I thought. She’s a great kid, though.” I watched her playing on the floor with Jackie and her gifts, and remembered my brother and me on our birthdays. If we’d had half of what she’d gotten for her birthday, we’d have felt rich. Then again, none of that replaced the value of a stable household with loving parents.

“Maybe if there was a nice young woman around—”she started.

I rolled my eyes and held up a hand to stop her. “Thanks, but no thanks. I have enough on my plate right now just taking care of Star. I don’t need a clingy woman to demand my attention as well.”

Cynthia pursed her lips. “You just need the right woman,” she said.

I shook my head and stood up from the table to excuse myself to the rest room. No way was I going to sit through this lecture again.

A night of great sex here and there was one thing, but I needed a relationship like I needed a hole in the head.

CHAPTER 2 – DREAM

“Why aren’t these people at church? It’s Sunday.” I placed my tray on the stack and straightened my nametag and apron.

“We always get a rush around ten on Sundays. All the heathens that were out on Saturday night are just waking up while the holy rollers are walking into church. You’ll find it happens every week. They come in here to get a hot cup of coffee to nurse their hangovers.”

“Ah, and I thought Sundays would be a breeze for some reason.” I couldn’t complain too much, and not just because my boss, Harold, was watching from the register, but because Liza had gotten me the job at the diner just days ago after taking me in. I was lucky to have found her and a steady job.

Beggars surely couldn’t be choosers, especially a beggar on the run from a dangerous man.

“You’ll get the hang of it.” She had been so kind and encouraging.

“Thanks again for the job, Liza; and for taking me in. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

“Think nothing of it. You can clean a few of my tables though if you like. That’ll cover it.” She gave me a wink as I raked my hand through my ponytail. A slow ache throbbed in my temples. I’d not worn my hair up in such a tight ponytail in ages.

I also hadn’t stood on my feet for so long, but it was decent money, and I’d already earned a few big tips from men who liked to make naughty jokes about my name.

Liza leaned close as she walked past. “Pull down your sleeve, Dream. Your bruises are showing.” I quickly tugged down my sleeve and let loose a long breath. The deep bruises that my ex had given me were still fading on my arm and had turned a sickly shade of yellow that had mixed with a putrid brown. If seen, they would provoke questions I was not willing to answer.

“Thanks. I keep forgetting.” I tugged the sleeve down until she gave me a thumb’s up. “You’ve been so good to me. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you” She’d not only found me a job but given me a place to stay. “You’ve been a light in the dark.”

“You’re no trouble. Now, that sorry ex of yours—you ain’t heard from him, have you?” Liza’s thick southern accent was unmistakable. She’d grown up in a place called Caney Head in southeast Texas and had moved here to Buffalo, Wyoming, when she was just twenty to marry a man who had been about as good as my ex, Nick.

She’d met Brady’s father a year later. Unfortunately, that hadn’t worked out either.

“No, not since I got a different number. Still, it’s scary thinking he can find me easily given his ties with the police force across the country. Listen, I appreciate everything you’re doing for me, but if you ever feel it’s too much for you and Brady, then you just say so. I’ll find another place.” I didn’t want to put anyone else in danger.

She laughed softly. “Not around here you won’t. Besides, me and Brady always share a room and rent the other. It helps with the bills.”

Mack called out as the order bell sounded and I grabbed the tray and carefully walked it over to the table as Liza busied herself pouring refills from the coffee pot.

The bells on the door chimed and in walked the sexiest man I’d seen since coming to this sleepy little mountain town.

His dark hair and beard were trimmed short, and his eyes were an icy blue that didn’t just meet mine but seemed to penetrate them. I was so entirely captivated by his muscular body and impeccably good looks, that I almost didn’t notice the young girl by his side. He towered above her, and she was so tiny, she couldn’t have been more than five years old. She had his eyes, but her skin was much paler, and her rosy cheeks were bright and framed by a mess of curly blond hair that had fallen out of her ponytail.