I left them to their uncomfortable seating positions and annoying movie and headed through the house to my office. The paperwork glared at me the moment I stepped through the door, and the sigh that left me when I sat down was heavy.
I blinked at the paperwork.
I was falling in love with Perrie Fox and I hadn’t even realized it. We’d been inseparable since I showed up at her house.
Maybe that should have been my first clue. That the first thing I had to do when I left work that night was go and explain to her. The second one was the fact I was so desperate for her to understand, I did the one thing I’d never done before. I told her about Katie.
The third clue should have been the fact that the idea of not having her in my life anymore was almost painful to think about.
But, no. It took a two-second kiss to my son’s cheek to make me realize it. It took the momentary delight on his face when she’d done that.
He was attached to her. I hadn’t even known it until then. Maybe I hadn’t been looking for it, or maybe he’d just never made it clear. I knew now, though. I knew Zac loved Perrie as much as he loved Lola.
That was it.
It was the swift realization that my son loved her. That was all I needed to recognize that I did, too.
I ran my hands through my hair. I was screwed. I knew she still looked at me and saw me as the enemy, no matter how many times I kissed her and she melted into me. I knew she saw me as the person who almost ruined her life a second time around.
And I didn’t know how to change that.
I didn’t know if I should.
After all—she was a Fox. If the rumors I’d heard at the station about Benedict Fox being in rehab and Damien having full control of the business were true, her life was about to change again.
She’d become a multi-millionaire, getting her Cinderella story. The one she deserved.
The one that set us a million miles apart.
I fired up my computer, tapping my fingers against the desk.
I did the one thing I promised myself I wouldn’t.
I set the paperwork aside.
I opened the database and pulled every file related to the Fox family.
She would never tell me—and if I was going to lose her, I wanted to know why.
***
One hour into the reading of the files had told me nothing. They were all restraining orders and other smaller charges. None of them against a Fox had ever amounted to anything, but there were plenty of things the Fox family had thrown out that had stuck.
Of course.
Money talks, and Las Vegas knew that better than anywhere else. It was corrupt to its core.
The other annoying part was that I’d barely made a dent. Was I in for more reading of this menial bullshit, or was there some other more important stuff? As far as I could figure out, all of the stuff I’d read so far was before she was even born.
Fucking awesome.
I stretched my neck on the way to the bathroom. The movie would have finished now, and a poke of my head into the living room said I was right. Floorboards creaked from upstairs, so after doing my business in the bathroom, I padded my bare feet up to the stairs.
“Do you think my mommy and your daddy will get married?” Lola’s soft, gentle voice asked.
I froze.
There was a pause before Zac answered. “I don’t know. Grown-ups are dumb sometimes.”
“If they did, would you be mad if you had to share your daddy?”
“You’d be sharing your mom, too.”
“I know. But I’d share her with you. You don’t have one.”
I closed my eyes.
“That’s why I’d share Dad with you. You don’t have one, so you could have mine.”
A lump formed in my throat.
“I think I’d really like a dad,” Lola said softly. “Do you want a mom?”
I slumped down and quietly sat. I didn’t want to hear this answer, even though I already knew it.
“More than anything,” Zac replied quietly. “I asked Santa for a mom last year.”
“Oh, good thinking. Santa can get anything. Do you think my mommy is the mom he’s bringing you?”
“I don’t know. I’d like to have your mom. I think she’s perfect.”
I opened my eyes and quietly blew out a breath. Tears stung my eyes—they were so young, so innocent, and here they were. Talking about how they would share their parents with each other so they both had a mom and a dad.
There were no words for the pain—and pride—that ran through my veins as I sat and listened to them.
“I think so, too,” Lola replied after a minute. “But she’d be perfecter if she was happy more.”