Chapter 2

Which wasn’t often—she was bitter towards him, and could he really blame her? Five years of their lives were gone, thrown away as quickly as it had taken him to sign the divorce papers. The only good thing to show for the time was their daughter. Everything else hurt too much to mention.

* * * *

Kasey stood on one of the dining room chairs, directing Evan as he filled their plates with spaghetti. “That’s too much, Daddy!” she said with a laugh. “You can’t eat that many. Put some back.”

Evan grinned at her and scooped up a large spoonful of the pasta. “How’s that?”

She frowned at the plate, picked up one long noodle, and stuck it in her mouth. It dangled down her chin. “Help.”

Evan held the noodle out as she slurped it up between her lips, and when he touched her nose with the tip of it, she giggled. “That’s good enough,” she told him, pointing at his plate. “It’s time to eat now. Did you turn off the TV?”

Evan set the pot of noodles aside. “Yeah, I did—”

Suddenly the doorbell rang, echoing through the townhouse and startling them both. He wasn’t expecting company.

Don’t let it be Mere,he prayed, though he knew it wouldn’t be. She was at the beach with Paul this weekend, enjoying her time off from motherhood. Raising his eyebrows at Kasey, he asked, “I wonder who that can be.”

The little girl jumped down from the chair. “I’ll go see!”

Before Evan could stop her, she raced through the living room towards the door.

“Kasey! Don’t run in the house!” As Evan set the pot of spaghetti on the table, he heard her fumble with the latch. He hoped it wasn’t Meredith. She had never interfered with his time with their daughter before.

From the living room, he heard Kasey open the door. “Hello?” she asked, her voice so tiny, so chipper. Maybe it was one of his neighbors. Maybe it was UPS.

He was wiping his hands on a dish towel when he heard a voice he hadn’t heard in years. It made his knees weak and his hands shake. “Hey there, baby girl. Your daddy home?”

Charlie. Oh my God.

Evan’s heart began to race. Before Kasey, before Meredith, there had been Charlie Madison, star pitcher for the Richmond Rebels who single-handedly took the minor league farm team to the state playoffs the last season Evan played first base. It’d been six years since Evan last saw Charlie’s warm brown eyes and sexy grin. Back then, Evan’s life had been in control and he knew what he wanted.

What I wanted was him. When I thought he wanted me, too. But I was wrong about that, wasn’t I?

And I thought I was over him, finally. Only now he’s back and guess what? I was wrong about that, too. Damn.

“Daddy!” Kasey called.

Evan wondered how rude it would be to ask her to just shut the door and come to the table, dinner was getting cold. But she’s only five,he reminded himself, crossing the living room. How old are you? Time to play the adult here.His stomach churned like the towel he twisted in his hands.

His daughter looked up as he approached and he forced a smile for her sake. “Who is it, honey?” he asked, even though he knew damn well who it was. His heart stopped in his chest when he saw the baggy jeans, the short denim jacket over a black muscle shirt. The scant chin hair, the full chapped lips, the confident grin that always made Charlie look so impossibly young, those dark eyes, that careless hair. He still wore it at a bushy length, chestnut waves across his brow that flowed over his ears and across the nape of his neck. How often had Evan’s fingers itched to push back those errant strands? How many times had he thought he would die if those eyes weren’t on him?

Nothing had changed. Six years and not one damn thing about the guy had changed. “Hey, Charlie.”

The grin faltered. At least there was that. “Hey, Evan.” Charlie nodded at Kasey. “You have a beautiful daughter. She has your eyes.”

Evan placed a hand on Kasey’s head, mussing her hair. “Thank you.” Then, because he didn’t know what else to say, he added, “She looks like her mother.”

“Very pretty,” Charlie said softly. Bending down, he gave her a sunny smile. “What’s your name, baby girl?”

“Kasey,” she replied, suddenly shy. She wrapped a tiny arm around Evan’s knee and hid behind his leg.

Charlie reached out and tweaked her nose, eliciting a giggle from her. “Well, baby K.K., you’re going to break hearts one day with eyes like that, aren’t you?”

She laughed as she rubbed at her nose but didn’t reply. Evan noted the duffel bag Charlie had slung over one shoulder. He didn’t want to think about what that might mean. “What are you doing here?” he asked quietly.