Six Month Rule (Kingston Ale House) (19 page)

“Weird?”

She let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah.”

The light changed, and the signal for them to walk lit up. “And I do want you to meet her,” he added, realizing right then that he meant the words. He’d introduce Holly as his friend, not caring that Tara would know it was a lie. He could still protect Sophie the best way he knew how, but he wanted his daughter to at least meet the woman he’d fallen for, even if Sophie would never know he loved Holly as he did.

They crossed the street, and despite the chill—it couldn’t be more than twenty-five degrees outside—Will could feel the perspiration on the back of his neck. He’d kept his life neat and tidy for so long. He wasn’t sure how to proceed with a situation as muddled as this one was, but he guessed introductions were a start.

When they reached the opposite side of the street, Holly let go of his hand. She was limping still, but steady on her own, so he let her shove her hands into her coat pockets as they approached Tara, Phillip, and Sophie, still watching from where they stood.

Sophie let go of Tara’s hand and ran to him once he was only a few feet away.

“That was so heroic, Daddy!” she squealed as he bent to hug her. “Mummy said you were daft, but I said it was lovely what you did, and Phillip thinks Americans are terrible drivers, but you saved that lady.” Sophie took a breath and backed up a step to look at Holly. “Do you know the lady?” she asked and then gasped. “She needs a plaster. Are you going to put a plaster on her knee?”

Will couldn’t help it. He laughed at his inquisitive little girl, and when he looked at Holly, she was smiling, too.

“Sophie, love,” he said. “This is my friend Holly. Holly, this is my daughter, Sophie.”

The two girls shook hands.

“Pleased to meet you,” Sophie said.

“I’m very happy to meet you,” Holly told her. “You’re just as lovely as your daddy told me you were.”

Sophie beamed, and Will couldn’t help but smile, too.

His daughter led them the last few feet to where Tara and Phillip stood.

“Mummy, Phillip, this is Daddy’s friend Holly. She’s lovely, isn’t she? Daddy’s going to get a plaster for her knee, aren’t you?”

Will nodded.

“Holly manages Tallulah Chan’s account at Trousseau. We…work together.”

Phillip shook Holly’s hand enthusiastically while Tara kept her arms crossed as she nodded.

“Pleasure,” Phillip said.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Holly told them, even as Tara sized her up.

Will knew what went through her head—that no woman was worthy of Sophie’s praise. Hell, she didn’t even think
he
was worthy of it. But that’s why he was working so tirelessly to do right by his daughter—not just because he loved her but to prove to Tara that he was the father he should have been from the start.

“I’m sure you all need to check in and get situated,” he said. “Ring me in an hour to let me know when I can pick Sophie up for our trip?”

Tara finally opened her mouth to speak.

“Is your
friend
going to be joining you, William? Because we never discussed—”

Sophie bounced where she stood. “Oh, yes,” she said. “Can you come, Holly? Mummy and Phillip need to rest, and I do like how Daddy smiles with you.”

“Sophie,” Tara said, “I’m sure Holly has plenty she needs to do today.”

“Aw, come on, Tar,” Phillip said. “It’s just a museum. She’s not asking Sophie to call her Mum.”

Holly gasped. “Oh, no, I wasn’t—I mean, it’s Black Friday. I’ve got shopping.” She nodded to herself. “Yes, I’m going to go shopping.”

Will met Tara’s stare. It was her call. He wouldn’t go against her will. He knew the worry. It was the same one he had every day, that Phillip would cease to be Phillip and eventually turn into
Dad
. He had to remind himself that while Phillip was a good guy, a great stepfather, in fact, that
he
was Dad, and he always would be. Just as Tara would always be Mum.

“Tara?” he asked, and she sighed.

“You want Holly to join you?” she asked Sophie, and their daughter nodded.

“Right then,” Tara said. “I’ll ring you in an hour, and the three of you can head to the museum.”

“Aquarium,” Sophie corrected. “With the dolphins.”

Will chuckled. “So you’ll join us,” he said to Holly, careful not to phrase it as a question, knowing she could still decline. “That is, if you can postpone your shopping.”

Holly’s lips pressed into a small smile. “I guess I could find some good deals online as well,” she told him.

Will grinned. This was good. It would all work out. It was actually better than he could have hoped, and as he kissed Sophie good-bye for the hour and helped them all inside, Tara and Phillip with the luggage and Holly with her injured knee, he looked forward to the day, his guilt all but vanished.

Then he and Holly were in the lift alone, heading to his room where he would tend to her knee. He laid a palm on her cheek, bending to kiss her, but she backed away.

“You’re going to explain why you didn’t tell me they were coming to Chicago, right?”

Oh. Right. There was still
that
.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Gemini: Be careful what you wish for. Today has the power to be exactly what you want, but don’t bite off more than you can chew. Don’t be afraid of needing someone else’s care, but do be sure you offer that same care in return, even if it isn’t well received.

Holly slid out of her jeans, albeit reluctantly. Ha, there was a first, her
not
wanting to drop her pants for Will Evans. She knew he saw the sulk on her face, the clenched teeth and furrowed brow, but she didn’t care. She wanted him to know there’d be
nothing
but wound cleaning going on today.

“Do I at least get to be angry, too?” he asked as he sat her down on the couch. “You did follow me like Inspector Clouseau. A really
bad
Inspector Clouseau.”

She huffed out a breath. “Maybe I came to talk,” she said. “Clear the air after, you know…”

“The weirdness you keep speaking of?”

She nodded. “Right. The weirdness.”

He raised a brow.

“Okay, fine. I followed you—
because
of the weirdness—but you lied first,” she said. She knew she was right. She also knew she had sort of stalked him, and she was so not proud of that.

“I omitted information that would have informed you of Sophie’s visit. Not exactly a lie.”

She pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing to slits. Yeah, he was not getting off on a technicality here. No freaking way.

“It’s called a lie of omission for a reason, William. Because it’s a
lie
. And you didn’t just leave out that Sophie was visiting. What about your ex-wife?”

He shook his head. “We were never married.”

It didn’t matter. Seeing Tara, the woman he’d made a baby with? Holly wasn’t prepared for the punch to the gut that would be. Will wasn’t just a father. He was a father with another woman, one he’d probably loved at some point. And no matter how he felt about Holly right now, he’d shared something infinitely bigger with another woman, something she couldn’t compete with—not that she thought she wanted to.

She hissed as he brought a wet cotton ball to her knee.

“Sorry,” he said. “You made a right mess of yourself. I need to clean it.” She nodded. “Also, I’m sorry for not telling you. About Sophie and Tara and—I didn’t know how to do it.” He paused for a breath. “I didn’t know what came next after I told you,” he added.

This she understood. Holly was never supposed to be a part of Will’s life in England. But now his English life was here, and she’d thrown herself into the thick of it without giving him time to process. She got that, too.

He narrowed his eyes at her as he held up a box of Band-Aids. “I bought these to prepare for Sophie’s visit. Looks like I was worried about the wrong girl.” Then he got back to work at fixing her up from her fall.

Holly blew out a breath. There was no point in arguing because he was right. Maybe she did need looking after now and then. But what would it mean if she wanted Will to be the one to do it?

“I’m sorry, too,” Holly said softly. “I had no right to follow you. I swear I’ve never done anything like this before. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I always have things under control.”

He grinned as he finished cleaning the blood from her knee, kissing it just above the wound before he covered it with one of those giant Band-Aids that always went unused whenever she bought the variety pack. Looked like there
were
wounds big enough for such a bandage, yet the thought only made her sigh. Would this thing with Will—these
feelings
—really dissipate when he left? Or would there be an ache too big for the myriad of remedies in her medicine cabinet?

“Are you saying I make you lose control?” he asked, looking up at her through dark lashes, and suddenly his hand on the back of her calf felt hot, the spot where his lips had just been—utterly molten.

Her anger melting away, Holly was acutely aware that she was sitting in front of him pantless, so she reached for her torn jeans on the floor and wriggled back into them, somehow without leaving the couch.

“You know you do, Evans,” she admitted, leaning back to button her pants. “I guess I wasn’t expecting things to be different with you,” she added, blaming her verbal fountain of honesty on her near-death experience. But the truth was, she’d stepped into the street because her eyes and thoughts were on what she saw on the other side, Will and his daughter and everyone—and she’d already forfeited control.

“But it is different with me?” he asked, and she nodded. “It’s different with you, too,” he said.

So, there it was. Saying it without saying it. Holly still felt guilty about feigning sleep earlier that month, hearing his profession of love yet never letting him know she felt the same. At least she thought she did, but how could she know for sure? She didn’t think she’d actually loved anyone before, and until she was 100 percent certain that her feelings for Will were the real deal, she wouldn’t do that to him, say something she couldn’t back up with definitive proof.

“So what do we do now?” he asked.

She wanted to tell him to kiss her, to take her pants off again, but this time so he
could
do more than tend to a wounded knee. She wanted to say with their bodies what she couldn’t yet put into words, but where would that get them other than late to pick up Sophie?

“We go to a museum,” Holly said.

“Aquarium,” he corrected, “with the dolphins.”

Holly laughed, a nervous kind of sound, then leaned forward to where he still knelt in front of her and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” she said, and he didn’t hesitate to respond.

“Always,” he said. An unrecognizable warmth coursed through her veins, and she wondered what it would mean if that word were true.

Sophie gripped Holly’s hand in hers, forcing her to a slow jog as she took off down a ramp.

“Look here!” Sophie yelled. “Otters!” She pulled Holly farther until they were in a near gallop down the stairs. “Sea lions!” She couldn’t contain herself. “And the dolphin tank!”

When they were flush against the large salt-water tank, Sophie let Holly go so she could belly up to the glass, palms and nose pressed as close as they could get without injury.

Will caught up to them, too cool to run alongside Holly and Sophie as they nearly bulldozed everyone in their path. Actually, Holly enjoyed the few minutes alone with Sophie after they’d all watched the dolphin show together.

He stood at her side, sandwiching Holly between Sophie and himself.

“I told you she’d adore you,” he said quietly, and Holly grinned.

“Why didn’t you warn me how much I’d adore
her
?” she asked. “Did you know she has an English accent? You could warn a girl how irresistible an English accent is on a six-year-old. I may have to keep her forever and ever.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Holly wanted to suck them back in. She knew a day at the aquarium equated to nothing in the grand scheme of mothering. She wasn’t an idiot. But she was learning something that day, something that was becoming easier to articulate. Because these feelings she had for Will—they grew even stronger in Sophie’s presence. Before, Holly had guessed he was a wonderful father. But seeing him in action was something she hadn’t been prepared for.

“What if that was a possibility?” he asked, eyes still aimed at the tank just as hers were. “What if after our six months are up—”

He spun slowly to face her, and Holly’s heart leaped. His hand rested lightly on her cheek, and then his lips were on hers. There it was. That inexplicable warmth, but Holly knew what it meant now. It meant this was
real
. What she felt wasn’t fading, and instead of relying on the fact that it would, she let those words loop over and over again along with the rhythm of the kiss.

What if after our six months are up—

Will pulled away with a start, and his eyes went wide, the blue of his irises so dark they nearly looked black. She took a step back, furthering the distance between them.

“Will, what—” But then she realized what that look in his eyes was for, and she was sure hers now mirrored it. Because when she backed up, she should have stumbled into a six-year-old girl.

“Where is she? Fuck, Holly. Where the hell is Sophie?”

She spun to her left, and the precocious six-year-old with the British accent wasn’t there.

“Oh my god, Will. Oh my god, I don’t know. She was right there!”

“Sophie!” Will was searching the lower level where they were, his gait wild and unsteady as he bumped into patrons, his hands tearing at his hair. “Sophie!”

Tears pricked at Holly’s eyes, and she didn’t try to sniff them back. Not this time. She’d messed up, somehow. Hadn’t she? Sophie was standing next to her, so she should have noticed her wander off—or worse, if someone had…

She shook her head.
No.
Sophie was fine, and they were going to find her, and the big thing that Will was about to say—he’d say it again. This wasn’t how the day was going to end.

Holly caught up to him and grabbed his forearm. But he shook it free, looking at her like he didn’t know her.

“We need to find security,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm even though she was anything but. Will was terrified enough as it was, and he didn’t need her adding to that. She took his hand in hers, and he let her lead him around the whale tank where they found someone wearing a museum polo shirt and name tag.
Lia.
She wasn’t exactly security, but she had a walkie-talkie holstered on her belt. She could help.

“My daughter,” Will said, his breathing labored. “I’ve lost my daughter.”

Holly squeezed his hand, trying to offer whatever reassurance she could.

“We were watching the dolphins,” Holly added, pointing to where they’d just come from.

“Okay,” said the woman, doing a way better job with the whole calm thing than she and Will were, which was good. Calm was good. If she wasn’t worried, then everything was going to be all right. “I’m going to radio security.”

Within seconds of her doing so, a uniformed security officer came jogging down the staircase and into the lower level.

“Sir, can you give me a description of your daughter?” the man asked, and Will fumbled for his phone, pulling up a photo, where Sophie’s beautiful smile filled the screen.

“Take it,” Will said, thrusting the device at him. “The longer we stand here, the worse our chances are of something…”

He didn’t finish, and Holly guessed he both couldn’t and
wouldn’t
, as if stating what the possibilities were made them—possible.

“We’re on it, Mister…” the man said.

“Evans,” Holly told him. “Will Evans, and her name is Sophie.”

“Sophie Montgomery,” Will added and then mumbled under his breath. “She doesn’t even have my name.”

The man nodded and spoke briefly into his walkie-talkie, then listened to the response. “We’ve got someone on every level, sir, and at every exit. We’re going to make an announcement—”

As soon as he said the word, they heard it.

“Attention, Shedd Aquarium patrons. Sophie Montgomery, please find the nearest aquarium employee. Your parents are looking for you.”

Will shook his head. “Just me. I’m the parent.”

Holly’s stomach sank. Of course she wasn’t the parent, but Will’s need to clarify hurt in a way she wasn’t expecting. But this wasn’t about her.
He
was hurting.
He
was on the brink of losing his mind with worry.

“Will, listen to me,” she pleaded, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I came to this place all the time as a kid. I practically grew up here. Let security do their thing, and we’ll do ours. We can divide and conquer.”

He nodded, and Holly didn’t waste any time.

“Okay, it goes off in two directions down here. I’ll go left toward the area where you can pet the sea stars. You go right, toward the penguin play area. If she wandered off, either one of these places would catch her interest.”

He nodded again.

“I need to find my daughter. Please. I don’t know what I’d do if…” He trailed off, and she reached for his hand, giving it a quick squeeze.

“We’ll find her,” she said, and he pulled his hand from hers and walked swiftly away. Holly did the same.

Maybe Sophie had moved slowly along the glass with the dolphins, as Holly was doing now. They were Sophie’s favorites, after all. Maybe she didn’t even realize she’d strayed from their spot. Sophie didn’t seem like the type to get distracted and wander off, yet that’s what Holly wished for. If it was nighttime and she could see the stars, she’d take back every single wish she’d ever made and trade them all for the one she had right now, to find Sophie safe. To take that look of horror from Will’s eyes. She’d give anything not to see that again.

“Holly, look! I’m touching a sea star!”

She heard her before she saw her, but tears were already leaking down her cheeks at the sound of Sophie’s voice. And when she rounded the shallow pool of starfish, she found the little wanderer, sleeves rolled up and arms plunged elbow deep in the shallow, reef-like environment.

“Sophie, thank goodness!” she yelled, scooping the girl into a hug and pulling her up onto her hip. “Did you hear them calling your name?” Holly didn’t care that she was getting soaked by Sophie’s dripping arms. She just knew she had to make it to Will as soon as possible.

“They called my name?” Sophie asked, then added, “Are you crying, Holly?” Holly choked out a laugh. “I told you and Daddy I was going to explore.” She giggled. “You were kissing, and no one said
not
to. Explore.”

She lowered Sophie to the ground, then swiped at her tearstained cheeks.

“It’s okay,” Holly said. “We were a bit distracted.” She grabbed Sophie’s hand. “Come on, though. We have to find your dad. He’s very worried.”

Sophie frowned. “Will he be cross at me?”

She shook her head, laughing again through still-falling tears.

“No, sweetie. He won’t be cross. He loves you so much. Do you know that? Your dad could never be cross at you.”