It was a treasure trove of information.
Since there hadn’t been any activity in the last couple of hours, he doubted anyone was around, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to lay out his situation and see if anyone had advice for him.
Not a minute after hitting Send, the replies started coming in.
This is fantastic.
After he’d gotten a world of information, he was ready to try out some of the ideas. He wondered if Hailey would let him practice on her.
Kidding.
Well, but actually…if she was awake, he could go see her—nope.Not cool to show up in her bedroom. He’d just shoot her a text. If she were sleeping, she’d have her phone on silent.
What the fuck’s the matter with you? You’re not a kid anymore.In high school, he’d followed her around like a little puppy. You’re not doing that shit anymore.
Leave her alone.
Because as much as he wanted her, he couldn’t risk the emotional fall-out with the kids. When he fucked up—and he would—they’d be on bad terms, and that wasn’t fair to the girls. Hailey was smart not to take things further with him.
The best gift he could give all of them was distance. He’d provide for them, he’d be there when they needed him, but he wouldn’t risk their well-being by getting too close. Inevitably, he’d take things too far like he always did.
The nanny had been right about one thing: he was a menace.
You’re going to get yourself killed one day. You’d just better hope you don’t take someone with you.
Truer words…He’d nearly taken Booker.
Fuck. Now, he was wide awake. He needed to get out of bed, read a book, do something to switch things up.
First, he’d check on the girls. He’d gotten a baby monitor for their room so he could hear if they had nightmares. He knew from personal experience how upsetting they could be. When he’d had the bad nanny, he’d wake up in the night sweating, sheets twisted around him, heart pounding. He didn’t want that for the girls.
They kept the door ajar, a night light plugged into the wall, so he could see them clearly tucked into their double beds. Evvie was sprawled on her belly. With her chubby little cheek and cute, puckered lips, she held a fist right in front of her mouth.
His gaze slid to Paisley, and he got the shock of his life when he found her watching him. He came into the room and sat on the edge of her mattress. “You okay?”
She nodded, looking wide awake.
He had an idea. “Come with me.”
As he popped into her ensuite bathroom to pick up some supplies, she sprang out of bed, slid her little feet into her moose slippers, and then the two of them padded down the hall to his bedroom. “I think you and me are night owls.”
“I’m not an owl.”
“You sure? Because you’ve got that beak.” He tapped her nose, and she broke out into a grin as bright as sunshine. “It’s an expression, silly. Owls are awake at night, not during the day, so that’s where it comes from. It just means people who stay up late. Come here.” He led her to his bathroom and turned on the faucet in the tub. “Since mornings are tough for you, I thought we could get you ready the night before school.”
Paisley stood watching, oddly trusting him enough to see where he was going with this conversation.
“You take your bath, we set out your clothes—”
“But what about my hair? If I sleep on it wet, it sticks out, and I hate it.”
“Well, that’s the thing. I talked to some parents about your hair texture. Turns out, we can braid it the night before, so when you wake up, you step into your clothes, and you’re ready to rock and roll. You want to give it a go?”
“I don’t know how to braid it.”
“Well, I think I might know.” He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a few times until he got to the last tutorial he’d watched. “I learned from this. So, what do you say? Should we give it a try?”
She smiled and nodded, immediately pulling up her nightgown.