Page 47 of York

He was right.

I was kind of pissed at myself that I hadn’t considered that before. Of course she would need some new clothes and shoes. She seemed to have her collection of National Park shirts still, but not much else.

She might balk at a new wardrobe. I think she only accepted the apartment and all the things inside it because she saw them as things for Denali. She couldn’t make that argument about new clothes for herself. But maybe if I sprinkled in some new clothes for Denali too, I could get away with it without upsetting her.

As I brought another drink with me back out to the pool, I tried to convince myself that getting her some new things was just a way of paying her back for taking good care of our daughter on her own for so long.

But some part of me knew it was more than that. That there was still a spark between us, whether she wanted there to be or not. And that the more time I spent with her, the more I liked her as a person.

I just wanted her to have something nice, just for herself, for no reason other than she would feel good about it.

And luckily for me, she’d left a bag at the clubhouse with a change of clothes for both of them for the next time they came over for a pool day, so I had her sizes.

Now I just had to find a way to get them out of the apartment so I could put the clothes in her closet.

I made a plan to meet them in Miami to go to an indoor trampoline park, then made my way to their apartment building. Once I saw them leave the complex, I texted her saying I would be fifteen minutes late, then hauled ass upstairs to put all the clothes away, along with a surprise toy for Denali, before locking back up and driving one of Che’s cars into Miami.

“How’s she settling in?” I asked as Runa and I stood back to watch Denali as she jumped around, laughing, squealing, and making a fast friend to play with.

“You’d think we’ve always been in that apartment. She has all her toys organized. Has a bunch of her art on the fridge and taped to the back of her bedroom door. She made a friend in the complex. He has one of these neat Ezyroller things that you move side-to-side to make it move. They took turns using it.”

“I’ll buy her one and send it to the apartment.”

“You don’t have to buy her everything.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“In that case, you better make a plan to come over when it arrives because I have absolutely no skills in putting things together. I am forever grateful I have a stuffed animal and figurine kid, not a playhouse kid.”

“I can do that.”

“You can also be in charge of teaching her how to ride a bike.”

“Why’s that?”

“I get too anxious just thinking about her falling off it. My stress would only rub off on her.”

“Has she never gotten hurt before?”

“Not much. She’s always been a careful kid. Maybe a scraped knee or palm here or there. But nothing bad.”

“All the stories you’ve told about your childhood are of you falling out of trees or off of horses. And your hiking stories are practically horror stories with how often you’ve done some field medicine because you were too far away from civilization to get actual medical care.”

“Sure. But it’s different when it’s your kid.”

“I can see that. I’m surprised you’re not freaking out about this,” I waved to our kid as she dropped backward, arms and legs spread, falling onto the mat, then flying back up with a giggle.

“Oh, trust me, I’m imagining all the ways this could go wrong. And I don’t just mean an astronomical medical bill.”

“You don’t have to worry about her medical bills.”

I could feel her gaze boring into my profile.

“What?” I asked.

“How much money do you have?”

“Enough.”