“Maybe we could decorate while you’re here? Make it more your own?”
“Maybe. Though I’m not planning on staying too long, you know. My life’s back in Brooklyn and I need to return there as soon as I can.”
Daniel nodded. He looked a little disappointed and that made me feel bad.
“Though I guess it wouldn’t hurt to do a little makeover, given the hideous paint colors in here.”
“Great.” Another smile broke out on his face. “It would be good to get the house looking a little more modern. I need to make the most of having a hot Realtor in the house.”
At that, my face burned so hard I thought I might need a fire extinguisher.
Daniel ran a hand through that still shaggy brown hair. “Christ, Kayla. I meant hot as in good at your job. Jesus, I’m an idiot.”
“It’s fine.” I waved my hand in front of my face. “I knew what you meant and I am really great at my job.” I needed to get sassy Kayla back as soon as possible. That’s how I was. Confident and not afraid to speak my mind. “I’ve seen enough of this room for now. How about you fix me that drink and we sit out on the deck?”
“Sure,” Daniel answered.
I needed him out of my bedroom.
We walked back down the stairs, entering the hallway and then walked off to the right, through his vast living room with its dark leather chairs and huge TV, and out into the back yard. There was an acre of lawn out there, complete with a heated swimming pool at the rear of the lawn and a pool house. I had spent a lot of time in the pool house when I had visited when my mom lived here. It had been a place to escape, with its comfy couches and two separate rooms, one with a queen sized bed, the other a bathroom. Right now I could see it was all opened up. At the left hand side was the living room area with its large screen television against the far wall. To the right was a kitchen with all mod cons. It was perfect for hot summer evenings, lazing by the pool and eating a barbeque. We had never done that there. We had never been enough of a family to eat together, never mind relaxed together.
“I know you always kinda liked staying out there.” Daniel nodded towards the pool house. “But it’s better for this trip that you stay in the house.”
He excused himself to go fix the coffee and I took a seat on the swing seat out on the decking. There were two separate seats on it so I didn’t have to sit too close to Daniel. He came out with two steaming hot mugs of coffee and placed each one on a side table at the side of the swing seat before taking his own seat.
“So, what’s she done this time?” I cut to the chase. No point in waiting around to find out what chaos my mom had caused.
Daniel turned to me. “She’s shacked up with a film producer this time. They got married a month ago.”
It was good to see my mom hadn’t changed. Still after the men with untold riches and still keeping her only child out of her life. Not that I would have attended anyway but hey it would have been cool to know my own mom was getting hitched again.
“So how does that impact on us. Are they making a film about her life and they want us to star in it?” I joked.
Daniel sighed.
“Ah, nothing so amusing.”
“Her husband has a son. By all accounts, he’s always been a little rebellious. Excluded from school. That kind of thing. His mother died when he was eight. His father excused his behavior, right up until he met your mom.”
“Figures.”
“He threw him out just over two weeks ago. Parker—that’s his name—went through your mom’s belongings and found my address, so he headed here to find you. He thinks he can get you to reason with your mom. I’ve tried to explain but he won’t listen to me. I said I would invite you over and we could all talk. See if there was anything we could do. I said he needed to let you explain your relationship with your mom and that you hadn’t had it easy yourself.”
“So, where’s the little brat so I can put him straight?”
Daniel’s lips curved at the corners as if he knew something I didn’t, which of course would be the case seeing as he had already met this son who had been excluded from school.
“I told him to wait in his room. I’ll call him now.”
“Wait! In his room? He’s living here?”
“Yeah. I felt bad for him. He has no one. So I told him he could stay here until he got back on his feet. I kinda think he needs a father figure.”
I shook my head. “Daniel Scott’s home for stray kids. You can’t save us all you know? Sometimes parents are just wastes of space.”
“Yeah, my own was like that, so I guess it hits a nerve when I see it someplace else. Anyway, I’m thirty-five. I’m too young to be your dad or his dad. I know you always considered me as a stepfather, Kayla, but your mom and I were never married, so I wasn’t really.”
The door banged as Tom Hardy walked through it. Well, he looked like Tom, dark hair shaved close to his head, doe eyes and a wide pout to his mouth. Obviously some employee of Daniel’s. He needed to watch his manners. He was acting like he owned the place.