Page 62 of Singled Out
“That’s Mills’s chair,” Lisa said. “Food just started arriving so we should be able to eat soon.”
“Are you hungry, Danny?” Beth Ann asked as I lowered him to the ground.
Standing next to me, Danny held on to the bottom of my swim trunks and nodded.
“I heard there’s chicken nuggets,” Beth Ann continued, bending down to Danny’s level.
“She’s good with kids,” I said to Lisa as I dug out Danny’s bib and sippy cup.
“She’s ready for us to have one,” Lisa confided.
“Yeah?” My brows went up as this was the first I’d heard of it. “Are you?”
Lisa’s smile as she watched her wife was softer than the ones she used at work. “We’ve started the process.”
“Congrats,” I said, handing Danny his water.
“A little early for that, but thanks.”
“Water for you?” Mills joined us, holding out an ice-cold bottle to me.
“Thanks, man.” I took it, opened it, and downed half of it.
As I screwed the lid back on, my hunger hit. I scanned the food-serving area, set up under a large white awning closer to the road than the lake.
Joanna, one of the office staff who always oversaw the food at these events, was unloading food onto the long folding tables. I glanced to the other end of the tent, expecting to see Bronwyn, the school secretary.
Instead of Bronwyn’s bottle-blond head, I saw dark, glossy hair in a messy pile on someone who bent over a rolling food carrier. There was something intensely familiar about that color, that shininess…
At that instant, Harper stood, sliding a covered tray from the carrier onto the table. As hungry as I was, I ignored the food, my gaze locked on my boss’s breathtaking daughter.
She wore a slate-blue bikini top, a long, flowered skirt with a slit up to her hip, multiple necklaces that, even from this distance, I’d bet were her creations, and large hoop earrings.
My stare got hung up on her, and my dick stirred in my swim trunks.
Fuck.
What was she doing here?
“Good thing you two aren’t a thing,” Mills quipped.
I glared at him. His grin said he’d witnessed every second of me watching Harper.
Luckily Lisa and Beth Ann were focused on my son, with him demonstrating the bulldozer at work.
Mills leaned closer, his smug smile disappearing. “I’m just a bystander, but she’s pretty tough to ignore, huh?” Instead of smart-assery, his tone was empathetic. I let my defensiveness come down a notch and nodded.
“That’s one way to put it. I’ll just keep my distance.”
“Looks like if you want food, you’ll have to interact.”
“It’s not a problem.”
I was glad I’d spotted her ahead of time, because when I went through the food line, I’d have to manage a balance between politeness and warmth that would fluctuate depending on who was around us and how close they were.
Not a fucking problem at all.
I kept a close eye on the serving status as Mills and I talked about upcoming statewide test dates. As soon as the call went out for us to fill our plates, I scooped up Danny and headed that way. If there was a long line behind me, I couldn’t be expected to do more than say hello, please, and thank you.