"Aren't you putting the photos online? Everyone's going to see them eventually."
She sighed, her breath visible in the cold air. "I'm not decided on that. I'll probably chicken out and put something else on that page. But Wynter insists that the pictures are amazing, and I'm going to pull in a lot of customers."
"You owned that outfit. I think women will be drawn to your confidence. You are a bad-ass business owner who wears sexy lingerie. I can see how women would be attracted to your brand."
She paused on the trail to face me. "You think so?"
"I know so."
Just then Ayla ran up to us, tugging on my hand. "Come on. It's Santa and Rudolph."
"Can't miss that," I said.
We kept walking to where a crowd had formed around a Santa in beach shorts. We waited our turn to get a picture and when Ayla posed in front of Santa, I asked Angela, "Why don't you get in the picture too?"
Angela handed me her phone, and I lifted the screen to take the picture.
"I can get all of you in it, if you'd like," a woman to my side said.
"Sure," I said, not wanting to explain that I was just the contractor in this situation, not the husband or the father.
I stood next to them, and Ayla directed me to stand behind her. I placed my other arm around Angela's shoulders, feeling more comfortable than I expected.
The woman showed Angela the pictures, and she said, "These are great. Thanks."
The woman walked away, and I looked over Angela's shoulders at her screen. We were standing close with Ayla in front of us. We looked like a family. "That's a good picture."
"It is," Angela said, tucking her phone away.
I refrained from asking her if she could send me a copy. What use would I have for it? It wasn't like I could use it for my home screen or put it on the fridge. We weren't together.
We moved onto the next theme, which was Charlie Brown. We sipped our hot chocolates, and somehow, I ended up holding Ayla's cup so she could run ahead of us and dance around the blowups.
"You're being a real trooper," Angela said.
"What do you mean?" I asked, sidestepping a kid who was wrestling with his brother.
"You didn't have to come to dinner or the light trail. Yet you're here, posing for pictures and holding Ayla's drink."
"It's not a big deal."
She gave me a pointed look. "It kind of is. I broke up with her father because he wasn't interested in things like this."
"He wouldn't go out to dinner with you or to holiday events?" That seemed unbelievable.
"He wasn't interested in doing family things. He said events like this were too pressure filled. Or maybe he wasn't that into us. Or at least that's the way it felt."
"I'm sorry he wasn't what you wanted," I managed to say, not quite sure how to handle this conversation.
"You're a good man, Hudson Sterling," she said, and then she hurried to join Ayla. I stood back trying to process her words. She thought I was a good man, better than Ayla's father?
It didn't seem plausible, but I was here, spending time with them. I had to be careful because I didn't want to lead them on or make them think that I could offer them more than I could. I wasn't even sure what I was capable of in this situation.
But at the same time, the evening was really nice. I couldn't remember enjoying one more. Usually, I went home to work out and eat dinner solo. Or I hung out with my brothers and their friends at a bar. Neither was particularly fun.
I couldn't imagine not wanting to spend time with these two if they were mine. Which meant that her ex was an idiot.
CHAPTER 8
