Page 3 of Finding Home (Willow Valley #1)

THREE

EVERETT

T hree Weeks Later

“Daddy,” Lila’s voice carries down the stairs of our new rental in Willow Valley.

“Yeah,” I call back.

I listen to the sound of her thudding footsteps until she appears at the top of the stairs.

“Can we paint my room purple with pink polka dots?”

This girl has become obsessed with polka dots since one of her favourite characters wore them and said it was so she could wear both her favourite colours at the same time. Ever since, Lila has tried to get me to get everything polka dotted.

I shake my head. “Liles, you gotta pick one colour.”

She juts her bottom lip out in a pout, and it almost gets me, but I stand firm.

I don’t have the time to be doing some ridiculous pattern on the walls of her bedroom.

I barely have the time to paint it. I start work in three days and need to set up the house and get Lila registered in school before then.

“But, Daddy.”

I shake my head. “Liles, we can paint your room, but it’s gotta be one colour.”

She huffs and turns around and marches back to her new room where the only set up furniture, her bed, is.

I shake my head and make my way back out to the truck to continue unloading the stuff into the house.

I hired two people to make the journey with us from Calgary.

They drove in the moving truck while Lila and I drove in mine.

They’re currently putting together the couch while I move the boxes into the appropriate rooms before we move my bed.

I’m dead on my feet already. It was an all-day drive yesterday. We stayed at the motel in town last night after arriving late and got an early start today.

After I’ve brought in the last box, Lila comes and finds me in the kitchen.

“I’m hungry, Daddy.”

I check the time and notice it’s way past when I’d usually feed her lunch.

“What do you want?”

“Waffles!” she cheers.

“We don’t have any, Peanut. Daddy has to run to the store. Why don’t we order something? How about pizza?”

She grins up at me and nods.

“Pepperoni?” I ask, and she nods again.

I pull out my phone and do a quick search and find there’s one place that has pizza and delivers in town. I shake my head as I pull up the number. The lack of options is one thing I’m going to have to get used to.

The phone rings, and a cheery teen girl picks up.

I place an order for delivery, which she says will take fifteen minutes, and hang up.

I brace myself on the counter, dipping my head between my shoulders as I take a deep breath.

I remind myself this move was what was best for both Lila and my grandmother.

As much as I love the city, that’s not where I’m needed anymore.

One more deep breath, and I get to work on a box in the kitchen, hoping to find the stuff to make us dinner at least.

Our food is delivered, and I hand a pizza to the moving guys and join Lila on the floor. She picks the pepperoni off the pizza, her tongue sticking out as she concentrates on stacking them before shoving them in her mouth.

When we finish, Lila leaves her crust on her plate and runs upstairs to find her box of toys.

I remain quiet when I hear Lila push my bedroom door open the next morning, quietly making her way to the other side of the bed before climbing on and snuggling into my side.

She only manages to stay still for two minutes before she’s rolling and squirming, and I wrap my arm around her pulling her into me as she giggles.

“Daddy,” she whines through her laughter.

“Lila,” I mock back, which only causes her to giggle more.

I kiss the top of her head and loosen my grip on her, and she settles against me again.

“What’s for breakfast?” she asks, the ever-hungry child.

This is just another thing I fucking hate about moving, not having easy access to everything or enough food in the house to feed my daughter.

This is the first big move we’ve made together.

Before, I’d make the move while she was with her mother and I could get my shit together and be ready for when she came back to me, but now that Renee’s gone, I’ve got Lila all the time.

“Why don’t we go out for breakfast?” I ask, and Lila is immediately up and bouncing on her knees as she shouts, “Yay!” over and over.

“That means you’ve got to go get dressed.”

I shake my head as she scrambles off the bed as fast as possible and runs to her room.

Tossing off the blankets, I slip out of bed and stretch, the muscles of my back tight and tense from the craziness of the last few days. I start work the day after next, and getting back into a routine will be nice. Falling back into structure is exactly what I want and need.

After quickly throwing on an old Calgary FD shirt and a pair of gym shorts, I meet Lila at the bottom of the stairs where she’s slipping on a pair of white sandals to go with the white dress with pink polka dots she convinced me to buy her last week .

“I thought we were saving that for your first day of school?” I ask, slipping into my runners.

She shakes her head, her tongue between her lips as she focuses on doing up the clasps of her shoes. “No, the purple one is for the first day of school, Daddy. Purple is lucky.”

I nod as I crouch and help her with her shoes. “I see. So the purple is going to make it a good day, then?”

She nods. “Yup, and I’ll make lots of friends.”

I’m not sure where my little girl gets her endless positivity, because it sure wasn’t from me or her mother.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she says when I finish with the clasps, and I smile to myself.

“Let’s get you some food, Peanut.”

She follows me out the front door, waiting as I lock it before getting her settled in her booster seat in the back of my truck.

We make our way into town, finding Main Street, really the only place to find shops, and park on the street.

I figure a walk could be nice for Lila, and it will be a good way for me to get my bearings in town.

As we walk down the street, with Lila’s hand in mine, people nod and smile as they pass, a few offering “good mornings.” We pass the pizza parlour I ordered from last night and see they’re closed until later in the day.

The motel I stayed at a few weeks ago now has a sign that their restaurant will be opening next summer.

Downtown, although you can’t really call it that with how small it is, is peaceful. Laughter travels through the air as the sun beats down, and a light breeze passes off the lake just a few blocks away. As I take it in. I know this is going to be a good place to raise my daughter.

“Daddy, look,” Lila says, pointing to the sign of the coffee shop that has a cup with polka dots on it, the words Grounded Bliss written below it.

Memories of that night three weeks ago hit me.

What I did with Chloe was such a fluke for me.

I never pick up a random girl at a bar, let alone take her back to her place and leave right after I’ve had my way with her, but it was like I had no way to say no to her.

Something about her pure sunshine made me want to revel in it.

To absorb all of it while she was offering .

“Can we go there?” Lila asks, giving me her puppy dog pout she does when she really wants me to cave.

I give my head a quick shake, ridding myself of those memories, and say, “Yeah, Peanut, we can go there.”

I push open the door to the café, a small bell chiming above it as we make our way inside, and Lila runs up to the clear case filled with treats.

I look around and see a blonde with her back to me, her hair high on her head in what looks to be some sort of messy bun as she steams milk at a machine.

She looks over her shoulder at us, and I stop in my tracks. It’s Chloe.

Her cheeks pinken slightly, but her smile grows when she looks at Lila through the glass.

“I’ll be right there,” she says, her voice chipper, the same way it was when I first met her.

All I manage is a grunt in acknowledgement before joining my daughter. She fawns over all the different items in the case, telling me all the sweet treats she wants, and I have to be the mean dad and tell her she needs something real before sugar.

“He’s right,” Chloe’s voice comes from the other side of the display.

“Filling food, or real food like your dad called it, will help you grow and feel full. Fun food, the stuff with sugar and that’s sweet, will give you energy for a little bit, and then you’ll be tired and still very hungry.

I like to eat filling food first and then a small fun food after as a treat. ”

Lila stares at her as if she’s given her some big problem she’s got to ponder before she looks at me and says, “Daddy, if I eat that”—she points at the breakfast quiche—“can I get a cupcake?”

I look between her and Chloe, who’s still smiling at me, and nod.

I order those for Lila and a breakfast burrito for myself with a black coffee, and we find a table in the corner.

When Chloe drops off my coffee, she places some colouring sheets in front of Lila with a plastic cup of crayons, and she immediately gets into them.

I tip my chin at Chloe in thanks, and she heads back behind the counter to finish our food.

I take in the quaint little café, the windows that overlook the lake on one side and Main Street on another.

Tables line the windows, and display cases separate the seating area from the coffee bar against one wall.

People fill almost every table, laughing and chatting as others walk around outside, many making their way towards the lake.

Summer is about to wrap up and school’s going to start, so everyone is taking full advantage of the nice weather.

Chloe drops off our food, and Lila pays us no attention when Chloe asks, “Are you just passing through again, or are you sticking around?”

“Just moved,” I say, and she nods, like she’s trying to process that.

She stares at me, her eyes dropping to my mouth before she gives her head a shake and says, “Enjoy,” before turning around and heading behind the counter again.

“Liles, you’ve gotta eat some breakfast.”

She sighs in an overdramatic six-year-old way before she drops her crayon on the table and picks up her quiche and takes a bit. She tilts her head as she chews and then says, “I like it.”

I can’t help my small chuckle as I shake my head.

She says it like it needs her opinion, or rather that her opinion is law.

I manage to get her to finish her breakfast before diving into her mini cupcake and grab her hand as we make our way to the front door.

Lila waves over her shoulder, calling, “Bye.”

Chloe smiles at her and waves back. Seeing Chloe today was a reminder of why I shouldn’t have slept with her.

Was it amazing? One hundred percent. But now I’m going to have to see her around town and risk her wanting more than I can give her.

I’m not going to date her. I just want to take care of my daughter and grandmother and work. Nothing more.

I still find myself looking over my shoulder through the window and experiencing a weird feeling in my gut when she’s not looking back. It’s almost like disappointment, but it can’t be. I push the feeling aside and walk back to the truck with Lila.