“Card is right here,” he stated, pointing to the card in the middle of the bouquet. “Enjoy!” He tipped his hat at me before pivoting back to the entranceway.
I didn’t bother asking about the tip, knowing it’d already been taken care of. I headed back to my desk and carefully placed the bouquet down. A low whistle grabbed my attention, and I remembered my father was still there.
“Those are beautiful.”
I grinned, marveling at the flowers. I hated and loved how a simple gesture could reduce me to feeling like a sixteen-year-old girl again. I pulled the card out of the envelope.
Enjoy your day, Baby Girl.
Simple yet sweet.
“I think that’s my cue to go.”
My eyes went over to my father who was now standing. “No, wait.”
My father looked at me expectantly.
“I have about forty-five minutes until my next meeting. Do you want to order something from the bistro downstairs for lunch? They deliver.”
“I’d like that,” he agreed, giving me a half-smile and sitting back down.
I handed my father the bistro menu and glanced at the flowers again. I picked up my cell to send Xavier a quick text thanking him. I knew he was in meetings all day and we wouldn’t be able to talk until later that night.
“You know what you want? Lunch is on me.” My father interrupted my thoughts.
I looked at him. While his apology and admissions hadn’t erased the pain of the many memories from my childhood, I could feel them start to let up. I briefly wondered if that was what healing felt like.
“I’m not arguing with that,” I agreed, picking up the phone to place our orders.
****
“What’re you up to, baby girl?” The deep rumble of his voice made my belly tingle. I squeezed my toes underneath my blanket and bit my lip to keep from blurting out that I’d been counting down the minutes until I could talk to him since I got home from work.
“Not much, just watching a littleReal Housewivesbefore bed.”
“Lying ass. You know you were up waiting to talk to me. That’s why you don’t have your headscarf on.”
I laughed at his accusation. We were FaceTiming again, so he could see I wasn’t completely prepared for bed.
“I don’t sleep with a headscarf every night. That’s why I have silk pillowcases. Thank you very much.”
“Yeah, if you say so. How was your day?” he asked around a yawn.
“You’re tired.”
“It’s all good. Never too tired to talk to you. Tell me about your day.”
I glared at him suspiciously, taking in the slight redness of his eyes and the increased hairs on his beard. He looked tired, but damn if he didn’t look good enough to eat as well.
“Looking at me like that is gonna get your ass in trouble.”
“Promise?”
He made a sound between a moan and a growl. “I swear, you’re gonna have me take a short trip back to Houston. Tell me about your damn day.”
I laughed at the look of pure agony that covered his face.
“All right. My day was busy as usual. Had an important meeting this afternoon with Richard Crawford and then—”
