Page 2 of Second Chance Baby

I changed into more suitable clothes for a shoot, unsure if they’d provide a decent wardrobe. Knowing the hair and makeup people would be at me, I didn’t bother with anything else.

I made it downstairs barely a minute ahead of Carrington. She raced down the steps with her giant can headphones on,blasting music that I knew couldn’t be good for her ears at that volume. But I wasn’t new to this parenting game. “Hey, turn that up.” I mimed raising the volume until she rolled her eyes and raced outside to the truck, hopping into it before slamming the door.

I grabbed my keys and my wallet and followed. I watched her bopping her head to the music for a moment before I climbed into my truck and reversed out of the drive with a squeal of tires that made me wince.

Might not be new to the parenting game, but some habits were harder to break than others.

“Did you do your homework?” I asked before she could get on me for my driving. Which she loved to do.

Sometimes I went too fast, so sue me. A guy had to have some indulgences here and there, even if he was a dad. God knew I didn’t have any others lately, other than the occasional smoke I sneaked when Care Bear wasn’t around. But even so, she was the first thing I thought of when I woke and the last thought in my mind before I dropped off to sleep.

As it should be. Maybe my modeling career wasn’t bringing in the mondo bucks any longer, since the money was definitely less lately now that my work in commercials had dried up in recent months.

Hell, years if I was honest.

That was why I’d allowed Daphne to rope me into this book cover calendar deal. I’d shot both the book cover and the month I’d been assigned over the summer. It should have been a one and done, but then the woman I’d modeled with had lost her damn mind at a signing event, saying some truly awful things that sent her image into the crapper. So mine didn’t end up in the same place, we had to reshoot our month—and the book cover—with a new model.

Fast.

I didn’t even know who this mega star model was I was on tap to shoot with today, but the calendar was to benefit kids on the spectrum, so no matter what, we wanted to make sure the reputation of this project stayed above reproach. Whatever it took.

“Yes, Dad,” my daughter said in a long-suffering voice as she dragged her headphones down around her neck. “I did it right after school yesterday.”

“Great. Any notes I need to see?”

“No, Dad.” More long-suffering. “You just drove past the school,” she said patiently as I missed the turn off into the circular drive in front of the school.

I nearly swore again. At the last moment, myfor fuck’s sakebecamefudge it, making Carrington let out a loud giggle.

“Nice save.”

“Thanks. I’m a little out of practice. Been a few weeks.”

This had been a relatively short shoot so I’d left Carrington in the care of my folks while I traveled on my own to Alaska then a bonus job on the way home. I tried not to lean on them too often, but my mother had encouraged me, telling me she wanted some one-on-one girl time since now her nest was very empty.

My baby sister, Maddie, the last Masterson kid at home, had moved out just about a year ago. She’d had a whirlwind romance while I’d been traveling for work. Now she was living in a big house on the lake with her extremely wealthy new husband, so my mom had been feeling a little at loose ends.

“Yeah, so stop working so much, Dad.”

“I’m definitely slowing down for the winter.” I pulled my truck to the curb and reached out to run a hand over her silky hair. “How do you feel about spending the next few months at home? In the Cove,” I clarified, since we weren’t the usual family always planted in one place.

She spent more time here than I did, that was for sure, but I often brought her on my longer shoots so I didn’t become a stranger. I tried to group projects together whenever possible for the same reason.

She already only had one parent in her life most of the time—other than her mother’s drop-ins every few months—and now that she was going to be a teenager sooner than later, I wanted to be more hands-on.

Here. In the Cove. In our home near the lake with my huge, awesome family just a few miles away.

“Oh, yeah? What about that movie you mentioned?” She undid her belt and shifted toward me on her seat.

“Didn’t get it.” I shrugged. “Acting isn’t my passion, just thought I’d try something new. I got a movie once without even trying so I figured why not, right?”

Something with a bigger paycheck I could stash away for our expenses for a while.

Yeah, well, that hadn’t worked out.

Back in my early modeling days, cash hadn’t been a concern. When I’d first landed on the scene, I’d been lucky enough to snag some high-profile jobs with big paydays. Big enough that I’d bought my house in the Cove so me and my girl would have a permanent home base. Now that the real estate market had blown up locally, my house had turned into a great investment.

Good thing, since the acting job I’d gone out for had ended up as a giant fail whale after my two auditions had resulted in athanks but no thanks.