Daddy in Disguise (Crescent Cove 7)

I wasn’t surprised that her father wasn’t here, even though all of his crew had shown up. I didn’t quite know what I was going to say to Gideon, but I desperately wanted to at least see him.

Even if killed me.

I tried to duck into the kitchen, but a voice behind me killed that dream.

“Macy, this place is amazing.”

I turned to smile at Seth and Ally Hamilton. “Hey. I’m so glad you guys could come.”

Ally waved me off. “You can stop with the hostess smile.”

I gave my aching face a break. I wasn’t sure I had ever smiled this much before. “It’s been nuts. I still haven’t made it into the kitchen to check on Mason.”

“The food is awesome. Be careful or Sage will try to steal him for the B&B.”

“Actually, Mason is making plans for his own place, so I only get to keep him for a little while anyway. At least it gives me some time to find another decent chef.”

“Well, I’ll be going to his place for sure.”

I laughed. “Thanks.”

Ally’s cheeks pinkened. “You know what I mean.” She glanced up at Seth. “Care to take a whirl through the Freddy section over there? There’s even dioramas. It looks freaking cool.”

“That’s one of my favorite corners. I hope you like it.”

Ally waved as she slid her arm through Seth’s to lean into him.

I tried not to let my heart shred itself. It wasn’t even like Gideon and I were super PDA-types—well, except when it came to kisses, which we tended to steal often—but I did miss his strong arms around me. Especially in the dead of the night.

Especially every frigging moment.

I didn’t make it back to the kitchen for the next hour, but I’d already been around so many people that my head was throbbing double-time. Instead, I escaped to my office. I went right to my desk and found my bottle of Advil, then looked up and dropped the cap.

I hadn’t allocated much space for my office. It never seemed important for me to have a space to do paperwork. It was just a necessary evil. But tucked in the corner, there was a tall armoire with an intricate design of bats and jack-o-lanterns and skulls along the front. It was obviously August’s handiwork for the furniture portion.

But the middle panels were pure Gideon.

The bats along the top matched the little carvings in my bar. I came closer to smooth my fingers over the relief pattern he’d designed, and my eyes swam at the three pumpkins in the bottom half. They had such character. So much life in their little faces. They were me, Gideon, and Dani.

A knock on my door had me dashing away tears. “Just a second,” I called out. Probably some freaking emergency.

I cleared my throat and opened the door.

Dani stood there swaying back and forth in a swishy little A-line dress with pumpkins all along the bottom of the skirt. She gave a delighted laugh and pointed at my jack-o-lantern tights. “We match.”

“We sure do.” I crouched down in front of her. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s your party, duh. Of course I’m going to be here.”

I pulled her in for a hug. “I’m so glad. Where’s your dad?”

“He’s here.”

My belly flipped. “Where is he?”

“It’s a surprise.”

I let her go and stood up. “Is that so?”