“Oh, youdefinitelyhaven’t seen her in one of her moods. Girl can back-sass like no other.”
I couldn’t help myself as I said, “She gets it honest, then, huh?”
Nathaniel cracked up. “Definitely. She is one-hundred percent my spawn.” Ruffling Kennedy’s dark hair with his gloved hand, he tilted his head to one side. His eyes, which were the same burnished shade of hazel as his daughter’s, pinned me in place with a curious look. “What about you, Brinden? You and your Alpha doing anything special for Valentine’s Day?”
“Uh…” My brain shorted out.
“Don’t you have an Alpha?”
“No.” Feeling my cheeks grow warm, I tried to change the subject, but Nathaniel wasn’t having any of it.
“Why not?” He seemed incredulous, like he’d fully expected me to be married with my own kids. He planted a hand on his hip. “You’re cute and you’re definitely great with kids. Kennedyadoresyou.”
Swallowing around the emotion knotting up my throat, I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. “Nobody really wants a fat Omega.” It was blunt and to the point, but I think it stung me more than it stung him.Damn it…
He scoffed. “Bet you’re wrong. My Alpha wanted me even though I was pregnant with another man’s child.” He chin-nodded to Kennedy, who’d busied herself emptying pebbles and dead leaves from her coat pockets…onto my carpet. “So there’s an Alpha out there, just waiting to meet you. I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
He smirked. “Trust me on this. Say bye, Kennedy.”
“Bye-bye!”
My smile felt out of place as I watched them go, Kennedy hanging onto Nathaniel’s hand all the way out the door. My shoulders slumped. Once everyone else had shuffled off and the daycare stood vacant and lonely once more, I began cleaning up.
I ate alone, as I always did—frozen pizza and cherry Kool-Aid—while half-heartedly flipping through a magazine. But try as I might to keep my mind from wandering down that dark path, it kept drifting back to Nathaniel’s words. Cute. Being cute didn’t get you married with three kids.Maybe I’ll start a diet. Or take up jogging.
Instead, I took another bite of lukewarm pizza and wished that Nathaniel was right, that maybe there was someone out there who could love me for me.
CHAPTER 3
Oliver
“Hey, Oliver, it’s Nathaniel.”
“Hey?” I blinked and tucked the phone between my ear and my shoulder. Nathaniel wasn’t one to call and chat on a whim. He was more of a text-you-later sort of guy, which I appreciated about him, so I knew it was serious. “What’s up, man?”
“Yeah, sorry, look, I know it’s such short notice, but is thereanyway you could pick Kennedy up from daycare?” He blew what sounded like an exasperated breath into the phone. “We’re running behind. Got stuck in traffic and now we’re late to my appointment, and I want to make sure Kennedy’s safe. I mean, not that she’s not safe at daycare, but—shit, this isn’t coming out the right way.”
“Nathaniel, chill. I’m not doing anything right now. When does she need picked up?”
“Around five-thirty? I hope you don’t mind, but I put your name down as a contact when I enrolled her in the program, just in case something like this ever happened.”
“Yeah, I can do it,” I told him. I felt kind of bad. The poor guy sounded so stressed.
“Are you sure? It’s already snowing pretty hard and I know how you get…”
I glanced out the window and groaned. Shit. Itwassnowing. I fucking hated driving in crappy weather. If it was anyone else, I would’ve said no, but this was my goddaughter we were talking about.
“It’s okay. I’ll manage, I promise,” I told him, and before he could second guess, I added, “Relax, Nathaniel. I’ve got everything under control.”
“Thank you. First Mr. Hop, now this? I owe you big time.”
“You do,” I agreed, making us both chuckle. “Drive safe.”
“You too.”
Shit, shit, shit. No use moping about it now, though, so I might as well get it over with.
