Her Every Fantasy (3 page)

“You two have a wonderful night and a great weekend.”

One corner of Brigette’s mouth curled upward. “You do the same.”

A small grin spread across Kayla’s face as she headed to her own vehicle because she had a strong feeling that in spite of the shocking information that had just been revealed to her, it would be.

“So what do you think, Dad?”

James looked over at his oldest daughter. “I think that you have your work cut out for you for the rest of the school year.”

Jamie sighed heavily. “Come on, Dad. You know what I am talking about.”

The corners of his mouth tilted upward. He did know what she was talking about. Jamie had been going on and on about Kayla Smith. In Jamie’s opinion, Ms. Smith was wonderful. In a lot of people’s opinion, she was wonderful. She was attractive, intelligent, honest, and fair. He’d already met her younger sister Kristen when he enrolled Jenna and Josh into her childcare center. She’d been nice, but there was a definite personality difference between the two. Kayla Smith was unique in her own way. He’d run into Kayla when he’d first come to town and had stopped by Sam’s Café to pick up dinner.

The meeting had been electrifying, and he hadn’t walked away unfazed. The only two reasons why he hadn’t approached her were, first, the fact that he’d just suffered a bad loss from his last relationship and, second, he was pretty certain that Kayla was seeing another man. He hated that because the woman was beautiful. Today her thick, dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her mahogany brown face had high cheekbones and full, kissable lips that captured his gaze in a mesmerizing hold. He wanted to press his lips to hers to find out if they were as soft as they looked. He was not afraid to admit that he was attracted to women of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Nicole had been half black, half white
herself
. Her skin had been fair. Therefore, most people could hardly tell that his children were of biracial decent.

Still, when he looked at Kayla, something about her made him want her more than he’d ever wanted anything, including his deceased wife. He felt awful saying that, but it was true. Kayla had a lot of bravado. She’d taken on six people like they had only been one. The other parents seemed to respect Kayla in a way that was admirable. From what he’d gathered, it had been that way for a while. There
was a
lot of history in that room, history that he didn’t care about, nor did he want to get involved in. He didn’t plan on being in Baxley too long. This was just until the end of the school year, and hopefully his father would be well enough to be on his own. Still, deep down, he was starting to wonder if his sister had been right. Maybe he needed to find someone to start over with.

At the age of thirty-five, he’d accomplished a lot. But in the end, Nicole had taken him through a whole hell of a lot, and he’d lost almost all of it. The first thirteen years had been good to them. Everything had gone downhill after she’d become pregnant with Josh. It was due to the fact that he’d recently found out Nicole had been having an affair. He’d stuck by her side until Josh was born. At that time, he’d requested a paternity test. The test results had come back showing that Josh was his, but Nicole’s behavior had only gotten worse. It had resulted in her getting drunk, going for a drive, and leaving him with four children to
raise
on his own, including an eight-month-old infant. A year later, they were still struggling to recover. He’d put himself and the girls into therapy, and that had eased the pain somewhat, but it would never be completely gone. The only thing that he could do was
cope
the best that he could.

“Dad?”

He looked over at his daughter and realized that he’d drifted off into his own thoughts. He gave her a kind smile. “You were right.”

What he was not going to tell his daughter was that he’d already known. He had just been trying to avoid it. Kayla Smith seemed to be a complicated woman, and he had enough of those in his life already.

A huge grin spread across her face. “So you will ask her out?”

“No.”

Jamie’s face fell.
“Why not?”

He sighed, prepared to do battle with a daughter who had his own headstrong characteristics. “Conflict of interest to begin with, and secondly, I don’t think that she is interested in me.”

Jamie rolled her eyes. “Dad,
please.
That is a horrible reason. Ms. Smith would never show any favoritism toward me. Then there is the fact that you won’t know if she likes you or not if you don’t ask.”

He gave his daughter a look. “Well, judging from our conference today, others would.”

Jamie shook her head, and he knew what he was in for. He recognized his own expression on his daughter’s face every time.

“How many times have I told you that their opinions don’t count?”

He chuckled, wondering when they had reversed roles. “Several.”

His daughter was wise, sometimes too wise. For the last six months, Jamie and Jana had been trying to convince him to start dating again. Not too long ago, Jamie had confided in him that she knew about the trouble that he and her mother, Nicole, had been having in their marriage. She’d reassured him several times that he was, and always had been, a good father and husband.

The fact that he wouldn’t let anyone bad mouth their mother in spite of all of the horrible things that she’d done was proof of that. It had broken his heart to know that he hadn’t been able to protect his children in the way that he’d wanted to. His children were everything to him, the one thing that he’d been successful at. There had been times his children were the only thing that had kept him going. He was not sure if he wanted to put his heart on the line again. Everything that he had in
himself
had been given to Nicole, and it hadn’t been good enough. A thirty-minute parent conference with Kayla made him doubt that he would be capable of satisfying her. She was on a higher level than Nicole could ever be.

“So you should ask her out,” Jamie hinted.

James smiled at his daughter’s persistence. “What makes you think that she will say yes?”

Jamie rolled her eyes as if the answer was so obvious he shouldn’t have to ask. “Come on, Dad. You are hot, and the ladies love you.” She sighed heavily. “If you would open your eyes and see what is actually in front of you, then you might realize it.”

James shrugged his shoulders. He had a mirror, and he knew that he was a decent-looking guy. Finding a woman had never been hard to do, even when he had been married and had worn his wedding band proudly. Then there was the fact that when the women realized he came with four children, their interest in him quickly disappeared. Yet, finding the right woman had been a hard thing to do, so much to the point that he was no longer interested.

His main focus was to raise a healthy family and keep his career that he loved. He was a CPA, and it could be demanding at times. Being on call could come as an inconvenience as well. He’d just signed a two-year contract with Lockhart, Collins, Vickers, and Associates, a major law firm. There was a firm located in Austin,
Texas
, another in Manhattan,
New York
, and a third in Los Angeles,
California
. Before his father had gotten sick, they had resided in Austin. His mother moved them there after her divorce from his father. The relationship between his father and himself was a little strained because of the distance and the bitter divorce, but it was getting better. It was mainly because he realized that there had been a lot more to his parents’ divorce than he’d originally thought.

His father felt that he’d been a horrible husband, and even more of a horrible father, and the reality was that his mother had been just as much at fault. He had to admit that up until he was an adult, he’d felt like his father hadn’t wanted him. Unfortunately, he’d been with a mother who had been too busy trying to move on with her life to deal with a confused child. Not that Louis was a bad guy. He’d been a decent stepfather and had provided him with another brother and sister. He loved his brother and sister dearly, but there had been times when he’d resented them for having their father near whenever they needed him. Because of that, James hadn’t felt whole again until his high school graduation had rolled around, and he made a sincere effort to renew the bond between his father and himself. He was glad that their bond had grown stronger over the years, especially after he and Nicole had gotten married and started a family. His father loved his grandkids and tried to have a better relationship with them while they were still young. When James saw his father with his kids, he realized just how good his father was. How much he truly did care.

When his marriage with Nicole had started to fail, James had come to realize how much he and his father had in common. After his father had a heart attack, it seemed only natural that he go and take care of him. Having a job that was flexible enough to let him work from home had been a benefit. He’d taken a family vote, and with his children’s permission, he’d put the house that held good and bad memories for all of them on the market, and they moved to Baxley to take care of his father and hopefully to get their lives together in the process. So far, it had been a good move. Even with the events that happened tonight, everyone was in good spirits. He was just glad that the incident hadn’t escalated. Jamie had a big heart and always stood up for those who were being picked on. How could he fault her? Everyone needed a protector.

He looked over at his daughter who was looking back at him expectantly. “So you think that I should impose on someone else’s relationship and ask Ms. Smith out?”

Jamie gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

He looked over at her again as he pulled up to a red light. “Isn’t she dating someone?”

Jamie shook his head. “No. There is a guy named Jonah that she goes out with from time to time, but they are friends that go way back.
Nothing more than that.”

James frowned. He should have known that his daughter would do her research.

“So you think that I have a chance?”

A slow smile spread across her face. “I think that you have more than a chance.”

Turning his attention back to the road, he sighed. “What do you think your sisters are going to say?”

Jamie laughed. “Congratulations.”

He chuckled. Jana and Jenna would have a little more to say than that. He was certain of it. Sure his children wanted him to be happy, and they wouldn’t complain if he found a good woman in the process. She would have to pass his daughters’ intense scrutiny.

He pulled up into the parking lot of Kristen’s childcare center. “I will be right back.”

After getting out of the car, he went inside and picked up Jenna and Josh. It was not too late, and a few other children were still present, but he normally picked the children up prior to five, no later than five thirty. He bid Zebbie and Gerri a good evening before heading back to the sports utility vehicle that he’d bought on a whim after Nicole had died. He didn’t want another minivan, so he’d taken the kids to the car dealership and let them pick out the tan SUV that he now drove. The kids had chosen well.

He opened the back door and buckled Josh into his car seat. Once he was certain that Jenna was situated, he pulled out of the driveway and headed for the house. He asked Jenna how her day was on the way to the house. Her day didn’t seem to be as interesting as Jamie’s, but it had been fun for her, and she’d learned something new, so that is what was important to him.

“What’s for dinner?” she asked after telling him about her day at school.

“Shrimp and French fries.”

“Fried?” she
asked,
her voice full of hope.

“Jumbo?” Jamie asked, with her own optimism.

James laughed at his daughters. Everyone loved Friday and Saturday nights because they were junk-food nights. They were also movie nights. To him, the weekends were for them to sit down and spend quality time which each other. It was time used to find out how everyone’s week had gone.

A short while later, he pulled up into the driveway of his father’s home.
The home that he’d spent the first ten years of his life in. His father hadn’t made many changes to the house at all. Pictures of him at all ages still lined the wall. He got out of the SUV, undid the buckle on the child seat, and picked Josh up out of his car seat. They entered into the house.

“Will we be doing homework tonight or Sunday night?”