“Getting her to change hasn’t been a winning point today,” he mutters.
Hadley bounces up in her chair. “Can I throw the flour?”
I laugh as I set up the machine. “Maybe not throw, but you can help me roll.”
“Okay.” She jumps off the stool and runs in the direction of the stairs. I make a mental note that I need to figure out which bedroom is hers. I’m going to assume it’s the one near Spencer’s that I thought was a door to a linen closet, because I seem to think Spencer has a gazillion closets.
A clearing throat draws my attention to Spencer.
“She isn’t great with listening or eating,” he states. “You also don’t need to be afraid to say no.”
“Duly noted.”
Awkward silence floats between us, and I hate it. “Any news on the situation?”
He shakes his head. “No. An injunction was issued, and I have confidence in my lawyer. If she says not to worry, then I won’t worry.”
For some reason, I trust his words, and I should question that more.
“Who hacked you?”
“Probably the same guy who hacked a teammate and wants money. He might not even have the video and is waiting to see if we'll call his bluff. He sent us each a message, but I didn’t answer, only had my team check it out. I’m not the first famous person to have this happen. I don’t know more, but since it isn’t just me then the lawyers actually have a better chance.”
“Right.” Why am I too calm about this? I should want to know every detail. Instead, I begin my quest around the kitchen for items that we got at the grocery store yesterday.
“Aren’t you going to ask?” Apparently, Spencer notices my focus is on other topics.
I play it cool, but I am bursting at the seams. “Okay. What’s the story with Hadley?” I grab a bowl from the shelf.
“She’s mine.” There is strong conviction in his voice.
“Got that when she announced you were her daddy.”
“Our relationship is a struggle sometimes due to my career,” he mentions, and it pulls a pin on the grenade inside of me that sometimes surfaces.
I set the bowl down with a bit of force because the bomb inside me just detonated. “Tell me that I’m not about to hear how you put your career first. I don’t need to hear you one of those guys who just hands the kid off to the nanny.” I scoff.
Spencer steps forward and grabs my arm, pulling me to him and taking my other arm too. “No. I’m. Not.” He seems offended. “What the hell. You just want to think the worst of me.”
I close my eyes, and I recognize my own insecurity and how I’m out of line. Opening my lids, I own up to my error. “I’m sorry. My biological dad isn’t in the picture so lack of fathers is a touchy subject.”
He loosens his grip on my arms. “Right. I forgot about that.”
It’s not a hidden fact that my mom used sperm donation so she could experience motherhood when she had nobody in her life because she was married to her career and felt she didn’t have much time left on her clock.
“As much as I think it’s great that I am the product of sperm donation and my mom was able to have me, because she is a great mom, I can’t help but be slightly mad at Mr. Anonymous because he doesn’t want to know who I am.” It’s the sore point of my life. Part of me is thankful that he gave the gift to my mom, otherwise I wouldn’t exist. The other part of me simply can’t comprehend why he wouldn’t want to know who his child or children are.
“I get that. But it’s not the same situation.” Letting go of me, we don’t take a step apart.
“Whatisthe situation?”
“I’ve always been in her life,” he states, and it feels like he has a point he wants to prove.
“Okay.”
He walks to the fridge and grabs a beer. “Just trust me, I love her like a father should.”
My breath catches because his words strike me in an unusual way. But before I can speak, the sound of feet running down the stairs draws our attention to Hadley in leggings and a t-shirt, closing the opportunity for more questions.
