“Um, can I get pancakes and scrambled eggs?” Blake folded up her menu and handed it to Kelly who was now looking at Asher.
“I’ll take the mountain man special.” He handed the menu to Kelly who he noticed hadn’t written anything down.
“Pancakes, scrambled eggs.” She nodded toward Blake before turning her attention to Asher. “And a mountain man special coming right up.” Kelly lingered for a moment longer than was comfortable before turning and heading back toward the front of the café.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Blake leaned forward doing her best breathy, Marilyn Monroe impression. “One mountain man special coming right up.”
Asher couldn’t help but grin as he shook his head at his smart ass of a daughter.
“Don’t get a big head,” Blake cautioned as she leaned back in her chair. “You’re not the only one who gets hit on all the time. Mom constantly has dudes comin’ up trying to spit game.”
It didn’t surprise Asher that his ex got a lot of male attention. He remembered the first time he laid eyes on Jenna he’d thought she was the perfect combination of girl-next-door and sexy, a combination few women pulled off. And, unfortunately for him, Blake took after her mother. Both had long blonde hair, huge blue eyes, and heart shaped faces. His daughter was practically his ex’s twin which meant teenage dudes were most likely spitting game at her.
Asher didn’t like to think about the fact that his baby girl was getting older. And he sure as hell didn’t like to think about the fact that she’d already had her first boyfriend thanks to Jenna and James’ more lenient rules.
A few months ago, Jenna had called to let him know that she’d talked to their daughter about going on birth control when she was ready. Birth control. She was thirteen. Sure, she would be fourteen in a month, but still.
As much as he didn’t like it, he knew that Jenna had done the right thing. He wasn’t naïve. He’d seen girls her age who were moms. The last thing he wanted was for her to have to deal with a teenage pregnancy.
He was too young to be a grandfather.
“James doesn’t care that Mom’s milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. He says that he doesn’t blame any man for trying to shoot their shot. Did it bother you when guys drooled over her?”
Asher thought about it for a moment, and he realized that he’d never really noticed how other men acted around his ex. Which was yet another one of a laundry list of complaints that Jenna had listed for why she’d left him. He didn’t pay enough attention to her. She’d claimed that even when he was home, he wasn’t present, and she wasn’t wrong.
“That was a long time ago.” Asher gave a non-answer. “What about you? Does it bother you?”
Blake lifted the back of her hand to her forehead and dropped her head back dramatically. “It’s the curse of having a DILF and a MILF as parents.”
Asher cringed hearing his daughter refer to him as a DILF, and his ex a MILF for that matter. “Please, don’t ever use those terms again.”
Blake lifted her head back up as she laughed, obviously getting exactly the reaction she’d wanted out of her dad.
This breakfast was the most she’d talked to him since Jenna dropped her off with him a week ago. He wasn’t sure what had happened since they went to Mountain Ridge, but she’d had a serious shift in her attitude.
Logan had told him that there was something special about the town, that his wife Emma even said that it was magical, and Asher was starting to think there might be something to that.
“Asher Ford?”
Asher looked up when he heard his name and saw Karina Black standing next to the table looking as shocked to see him as he was to see her.
After he’d been shot and could no longer do undercover work and been relegated to a nine-to-five desk job within the department which left a lot of time on his hands. That professional development ironically coincided with his divorce so he’d taken a second job working security at Madison Square Garden to fill the hours and hours of loneliness. He’d worked detail for Karina Black several times over his years at MSG.
“Ms. Black.” Asher stood and Karina pulled him into a warm hug before swatting his arm.
“It’s Karina.” Over the years he’d worked with her she’d always insisted that he call her by her first name, but when he was on the job that was out of the question.
Now it was a different story.
He grinned. “Karina, this is my daughter Blake. Blake this is…”
“Karina Black,” his daughter finished the introduction as she stared up in awe at the singer. All of the color had drained from his teen’s face and she looked like she was about two seconds away from bursting into tears.
“Nice to meet you, Blake.” Karina must have been used to that sort of reaction because she didn’t seem at all fazed by it. “I love your hair! I’ve always been jealous of natural blondes,” she complimented Blake before turning back to Asher. “What are you doing in Hope Falls?”
“I’m relocating here for work.” He left out the part that he was doing it to try and save his daughter from a life of crime.
“In security?” Karina questioned.