“On days he works, I pick Winter up from school and she comes and hangs with me until he gets off.”
“That’s sweet.”
“What can I say, I’m a sweet guy.”
“I somehow find that hard to believe.” I mumble and he chuckles. “Where’s her mom?”
“She lives in Denver.”
“Oh.” I rub my lips together not sure how to respond to that.
“She flies in as often as she can, and Winter spends the summer and some holidays with her. It sucks, but it works for all of them.” He pushes away from the counter then takes the towel from my hand, tossing it onto the counter. “Come on, I’ll clean up in a bit.”
“Okay.” I follow him across the space to the double doors where we find Winter sitting on the floor in front of her dollhouse. She’s wearing headphones but focused on Skye, who is lying next to her on her back getting a belly rub. I take my eyes off the two of them and blink. I thought the rest of the house was big, but I was wrong, this room is huge, and a dream hang out spot for kids and adults alike. Not only is there a giant TV with comfortable looking couches and a bar set up with rows of liquor bottles, but there is also an entire kids’ playground and I’m not talking about one of those rubber ones some people have inside their houses when their kids are little. No, this one has a full-sized slide that drops into a pit of foam, swings, and monkey bars.
“Holy cow.” I breathe when I spot a mock treehouse tucked into the corner of the room that is so tall it almost reaches the ceiling.
“I had this all built when Miles and Winter were staying here before their place downstairs was finished. I haven’t had the heart to take it all out,” Clay says.
I focus on him. “It’s very cool.” I shake my head. “So, they live in the building?”
“Yeah, he and Winter live on the fourth floor, which is divided into two apartments. Dayton will eventually share the fourth floor with them when his place is finished, and he moves here.”
“Dayton?”
“You met him the morning you slept here. He still lives in Denver, so he’s not always around, and when he is, he crashes in my guest room.”
“So, he’s your brother?” I guess, and he lifts his chin. “And you live in this building, are renovating it, and have all your family moving in here, so either you’re a builder or the leader of some kind of cult.”
“No cult.” He laughs. “I have a few properties around the US and other investment properties but I’m not a builder,” he says, but doesn’t add more making me even more curious about him and who he is. I mean I deal with people starting businesses, buying property, and moving huge chunks of money around every single day and know how much things cost. And this place alone was probably close to twenty million dollars if not more and that’s not including all the remodeling he’s done and is doing. That’s a whole lot of money to have at your disposal...
“Willow,” Winter calls, dragging me from my thoughts.
I turn to look at her and find her with her hand held out with a doll in it. I walk over and take a seat on the ground next to her and take the toy she gives me. “You can be the mom.”
“Sure.” I place the doll in the house then start asking her in a funny voice if she’s made her bed and done her chores, which makes her start to giggle and run her smaller doll around the doll house. When she eventually gets bored with the dollhouse, she takes off across the room to climb on the playground equipment and I can’t help but to join her. It’s been forever since I’ve slid down a slide or gone across monkey bars, and I honestly forgot how fun it was and why I always looked forward to recess and the park on weekends when I was a kid. As I chase her all over, I feel Clay watching the two of us and glance over to where he’s standing with his arms crossed over his chest at the edge of the foam pit. Like he feels me looking at him, his eyes meet mine and the smile he gives me causes an odd feeling to fill my chest. And if I didn’t already know I was in over my head, that would be one hundred percent clear now.
Chapter 8
Clay
WITH THE FIREPLACE on and the lights dim, I look between Willow and Winter then down at the cards in my hand.
“Do you have a hammerhead shark?” I ask Winter, and she groans before handing me her card. I smile as I place my full set on the table next to my others.