The Daddy Box Set

“Here, take a purple crayon,” she said, handing over the crayon.

I took a stray coloring page and started to fill in the picture with my purple scrawl. “Honey, I want to talk about Layla.”

Gina sighed. “I know you like her. I don’t.”

I stopped coloring. “You didn’t like her?”

“She nice, but she’s too slow, Daddy,” Gina said.

I pressed my lips together. Layla would have agreed with her at that moment. “So, you’re okay with her leaving?”

“Yeah,” she said, concentrating on her coloring. “I want to come to work with you. I miss you. You’re too busy.”

I frowned, feeling the familiar pang inside of my heart that I felt each morning when I left Gina at home. Hearing it from her made the feeling even worse. More than half the time, I sa

w Gina sleeping more than awake since I left early and arrived home late over the last several months. Sure, we’d hit record breaking sales, but at a very personal cost.

I reached over and lifted Gina and placed her on my lap. She grabbed my thumb with one of her hands and held it while she filled in my coloring page.

I wrapped one of my arms around her and pulled her close, inhaling her scent. She was the most incredible thing in my life. It wasn’t the first time I was in utter disbelief that I’d made such a beautiful thing. I needed to show her how special she was to me. I needed someone who she liked and who loved her back, just as I would if I had the time to watch her all day. This time I would have to find someone younger who could give Gina everything she needed and wanted at this age. I needed someone who could keep up with her too.

Where was I going to find someone like that?

Chapter Two

Jess

I ran up to the entrance of Baker’s Brothers Records, holding the hood of my jacket tight against my face. I shouldn’t have even bothered to straighten my hair that morning. Even with the slick yellow jacket, the rain somehow managed to turn my brown hair into a rat’s nest.

The door opened, and I stepped back, letting some guy out first. He barely looked at me as he sprinted toward his car to avoid the thick raindrops from assaulting him. By the time I registered what had happened, the door had closed in my face.

“Asshole,” I muttered under my breath and pulled open the door, stepping inside of the warm record shop.

Whenever my best friend, Sierra, worked at Baker’s Brothers, she always cranked the heat since she claimed she was cold-blooded. But we both knew it was her lack of body fat. Usually, I sweltered, but today it was perfect.

I slipped off my jacket and hung it on the coat rack next to the entryway. I shivered and tossed my wet strands over my shoulder. In the heat of the room, I was sure my locks would be dry by the time I left.

“Oh, thank God you’re here,” Sierra said from the back of the room.

“What’s up?” I asked.

Sierra rushed over to me and held my arms in place by my side. “I need you to tell me if this shirt does anything for my chest.”

She posed in front of me, and I inspected her black tunic with spaghetti straps. The neckline plunged down to almost reaching her belly button, making it obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra. With her thin frame, Sierra was obsessed with making her chest look bigger. I didn’t know how many times I told her she couldn’t have it both ways. She preferred the thigh gap over chest size, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

“It draws some attention,” I said.

She grinned, placing her now bright red wavy locks over her shoulders to finish the look. She had a tendency to go with eccentric hair. “That’s what I was going for.” She headed to the front desk, and I followed her, draping myself over the counter.

She started unpacking a box of records and organizing them on the surface. “One week of unemployment and you’re already sulking?”

“I hate not working,” I moaned.

“Give yourself some time to relax before getting back on the horse,” she said.

“I don’t know how to relax,” I said.

“I’ve noticed,” she said with a smile. She adjusted the gold chain that linked her double piercings.