“My name isShannon. And shouldn’t you be in Japan right now?”
“The last stop on the tour was cancelled because of some crazy storms, so I’m home a few days early,” he explained.
“Well, your mother should’ve told me. I could’ve arranged for—”
Jace turned to Zara, his hand sweeping over her hair. “Why don’t you go say hi to Granny and Granddad while I talk to your mam?” he suggested.
Zara nodded happily and skipped into the house. Jace brought his attention back to me, his expression less cheerfulthan before. “I wasn’t going to miss my baby’s first ever gig, and I’m sure you weren’t either, so we were both going to be in the same room anyway. Besides, I wanted to discuss a few things with you.”
“It’s not a gig; it’s a school concert. And what exactly do you want to discuss?”
Jace rubbed his jaw, and my attention went to the five o’clock shadow there. He’d always been attractive, and annoyingly, he seemed to be getting even more so with age.
“The tour is over, so I’m going to be home for a while. The band agreed to take some time off.”
“Okay,” I said, a sinking feeling coming over me about where this was heading.
“I was hoping we could come to a new arrangement so that I can spend more time with Zara. I’d like to start bringing her to school every morning and collecting her in the afternoons. I’d also like to have her stay with me one or two weekends out of the month.”
I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. I was conflicted because I knew our daughter would be overjoyed to see her dad more, but at the same time, I’d miss her being gone. Not to mention, seeing Jace in person on a regular basis would be tough for me emotionally. I knew I couldn’t be selfish in this, though. Spending more time with Jace would be beneficial for Zara, and that meant I couldn’t say no to his proposal. Despite his addiction, he’d always been a good father.
“Okay, that sounds reasonable.”
“And I want to be able to come to your house, Shannon. No more of my mam acting as the go between.”
Ah hell. Now I really wanted to argue. Only having to deal with Matilda had made my life so much easier these last few years, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t fair on her. She might’ve been Zara’s grandmother, but she had a life, too. She couldn’tbe expected to deal with communication between Jace and me forever.
“All right. I’ll consider it,” I replied soberly and met his gaze. Those intense eyes had been my undoing so many times in the past, always managing to penetrate my defences. I felt them assessing me, gauging what I might be thinking.
“I’m not trying to make things difficult for you, Shannon. I just want to take care of our girl in the best way possible.”
“I know that, and I completely understand.”
A silence fell as we studied one another. My throat constricted when his gaze wandered over me, taking in my neatly tied back hair, my clean black shoes, and the stylish tan trench coat I’d gotten from Ted Baker in the recent sale. My attention went to the glint of his silver lip ring, the tattoos peeking out from under the collar of his black T-shirt, and the ones that adorned his arms. Zara’s name was inked in pretty script on the inside of his forearm right next to mine.
Despite our split, he’d never had it removed.
We’d always been such opposites. Me the studious rule follower and him the wild and reckless rebel. At school, people often wondered at our friendship, but we’d been neighbours and best friends since we were twelve. That was back when we were just a couple of kids and all those teenage hormones had yet to kick in.
“You look well,” he said in that sincere tone, the one that was always accompanied by a soft look in his eyes. It was his tender side, and I knew it was genuine.Thiswas why it was so hard to hate him. He’d destroyed our marriage with his addiction, but in spite of that, I understood that it was a sickness, one he couldn’t control at the time, though he seemed to have tamed the addiction now. Jace was clean and sober, and it looked good on him.
“You, too,” I replied at last. “You look healthy.”
The faintest hint of a smirk touched his lips, like he knew very well just how sexy and attractive he was, and that “healthy” didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Thanks. Angelica hired a fitness coach and nutritionist to come on tour with us. He’s been keeping us all in shape.”
“Angelica always had the best ideas. How is she?” I’d been fond of the band’s manager. She was half the reason they were so successful, a steady hand and guiding light who managed to wrangle the chaos and mayhem that was Astro.
“She’s good. She asked me to send you her best, by the way.”
“Well, send mine back,” I said, glancing inside the house. “Um, can I go in now, or is there anything else you’d like to talk about?”
His lips twitched at the hint of attitude in my tone. “No, that’s all for now. My parents are taking us to dinner after the concert if you’d like to come.”
“Oh,” I said, shifting from one foot to the other. “I’m not sure. I have some work to finish. Zara can go though, so long as you’re able to drop her home after.”
His eyes got that determined look I knew so well. “Come to dinner, Shannon. Please. We’re going to Sorrento’s.”
