Page 13 of Healing Hope

Hope nodded her head vigorously, making Paul smile. Jess laughed as well. “Okay, we’ll pick one to make tomorrow, but not both. Can you help me cook?”

Hope’s big blue eyes rounded in her face and her mouth fell open a little. Again, she nodded her head, staring at Jess like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Let’s let Sophie out to go potty and you can finish up your snack, then head to bed.”

Hope jumped off the chair and jogged to the French doors. Sophie ran after her and outside, happy to go out. Then Hope returned to her milk and wafer cookies.

Paul watched the interaction, a little bemused. Hope had been so stalwart and quiet. More quiet than a child should be. It wasn’t normal. The counselor he was taking her to, though, said that it was normal for her to be withdrawn after what she’d been through, and all the other changes.

So, he’d been trying to be patient and give her time to get used to their new arrangement. It was hard, though. She’d been a beautiful, cheerful baby, but as she’d aged, she’d become more withdrawn. Since he hadn’t been able to see her often, the change had been very pronounced to him. Frustration had built, and he remembered sending angry texts to Hope’s mother, asking her why Hope had been so down. Tara, of course, had told him she’d been down because Hope was forced to visit him, and unfortunately, it was very easy for Paul to believe her.

But it had been very hard to do anything about it. He didn’t have custody, so the only thing he could do was file complaints with his lawyer.

He huffed out a breath. That was all done and over with. Now that he had Hope he could raise her and care for her the way he wanted. Moreso, the way she needed.

His daughter got up and started to leave the kitchen, but Jess called her name. “Put your cup in the sink, please.”

Without a word or a grumble, Hope did as she was told, then she took off down the hallway, Sophie bolting along at her side.

Paul looked at Jess incredulously. “She has never put one dish in the sink, ever. You’ve made her do it two nights in a row.”

Her brows quirked. “Have you ever told her to?”

Paul snapped his mouth shut. Had he? “I don’t know that I have,” he said eventually.

“She needs to have chores. She’s old enough to pick up her toys and get her dirty clothes in the basket, or whatever. Gather dirty dishes. This is her home, now, so she needs to take part in its upkeep. Is she enrolled in preschool?”

“Not yet,” Paul admitted.

“You need to be researching those to figure out which one she should go to,” Jess told him.

It amazed him how patient she was being with him, and non-condescending. It chafed to take advice from her, though. The woman struck him as a damn beach bunny, which shouldn’t even have angered him. It was California, after all, and he’d seen the type many times before, both in the hospital and in actual life.

So why was she aggravating him? Was it her casual beauty? Because she was stunning. He worked with good-looking people every day. None of them were inhisspace, though. Maybe that was the difference. This was his home, where he relaxed and could be his most vulnerable.

Perhaps it was just a territorial defensiveness. Whatever it was, he was very aware of her. His skin prickled when she was near, and he found himself breathing her in.

She’d seriously saved his ass over the past day. Despite his prickliness, she was sharing her knowledge with him, and he needed to appreciate that and absorb.

“I’ll start researching them when I get to work tomorrow, or I’ll have my assistant reach out to them. Assuming you can take over tomorrow.”

Jess gave him a crooked smile. “I think we’ll be okay.”

Paul had done a lot of things by relying on his gut, and this would be no different. “Okay.”

6

Paul thought of those words two days later. Mostly, Jess had been incredibly polite and conscientious, responding to his texts and calls when he requested an update, even though he might have been a little nagging. It was hard to let go, though. After all this time, having his daughter in his life was important, and he needed to know that she was safe and cared for.

Jess had stopped responding to his texts, though. He pressed the phone icon and tried to call, but it only beeped. Had they gone somewhere and gotten stranded? San Diego was a big city, and they had more than their fair share of crime.

“Paul!”

He looked up at his assistant, Jane. It was obvious by the look on her face that she’d been calling his name for a while. “Sorry, what do you need?”

For the next two hours he was enmeshed in a series of emergencies, and he wasn’t able to check on Jess and Hope. When he pulled up his text messages, though, he saw Jess had sent a two-line message.

We’re fine. Talk later.

He thought about sending an aggravated response, but restrained himself. They could talk when he got home. And he would tell her that she needed to respond to him.