If Kadee had been over excitable the first morning with her bike, this time around she was bursting at the seams. She talked about Georgie constantly begging to charge across the street to get her. And all this before eight in the morning. Though, I was just as guilty… I hardly needed encouragement to hold Georgie in my mind after the previous night, I had woken up thinking of her. She practically infiltrated my dreams.

“She said anytime, Daddy,” Kadee implored.

“Patience honey, if you don’t finish your breakfast you won’t be going at all.”

Kadee pouted and pushed her eggs around the plate. I returned to my laptop and began hunting through the realtor listings, as I had every morning since my offer across the street had fallen through. I noted two new listings, properties that might prove promising for a full-on restoration. The first of them was one town over but a fairly easy commute. I’d take a look at that one first and planned to call the agency promptly when the offices opened. I checked my watch, it was almost time.

“When you’ve finished your breakfast, do you think you can run into the garage and get your cycling pads? Daddy just needs to make a call.”

“Yes!” squealed Kadee. She made short work of what remained of her breakfast, devouring the eggs mercilessly with the promise of a morning of fun to come.

“I’ll be done here in a moment and we can go and see if Georgie's up.”

I felt a little odd that Kadee was the excuse for me to head over and see Georgie this morning, like I was using my daughter as a prop so I could get a glimpse of the woman who’d dominated my thoughts and who’d managed to shake the cobwebs free from my heart. But then again Georgie had technically ruined Kadee’s lesson yesterday, so it was only fair that she would make up for it, I thought playfully. That was all. I kept telling myself it would have nothing to do with what had happened between us, or the desperate urge I had wanting to address the elephant stomping around the room of my head, begging me to take notice.

Without another word Kadee leaped from her stool and dashed off to the garage.

Checking my watch once again I made my calls. There was no reply at the first office and the second agent I tried, resulted in them needing to call me back. I flung my phone on the table and shut the laptop. The sense of urgency to find another house in order to fulfil my plans was mounting. But all thoughts of renovations, and flipping houses were obliterated when I heard a sudden crash from the garage.

“Kadee!” I called out in panic. I ran into the garage, my heart racing. Kadee stood there, a sheepish downcast look on her face. But from a quick glance at her, my eyes searching for a broken bone or a trickle of blood, I found she was unharmed. Thank god. The last thing I needed was Karen to accuse me of not taking care of Kadee properly.

At Kadee’s feet a tool box lay on its side. It had been knocked off the workbench and its contents were strewn across the garage floor. Among the clutter with her pads half on awkwardly, Kadee finally lifted her eyes to mine, full of guilt.

“So sorry Daddy, my arm caught it,” she said as her bottom lip trembled.

“That’s okay, sweetie,” I said, kneeling to collect up some of the tools. “It was only an accident.” I stopped my task of putting things back in order when my daughter’s face crumpled. I scooped her into my arms and felt a momentary shudder as she let out a quiet sob.

“Don’t cry, baby girl. You did nothing wrong.”

I pulled away to look at her. It was my fault. I had meant for Kadee to come and get changed in the house where I could see, I guess I still needed some practice in my directions.

“But aren’t you going to yell at me? Are you going to send me home?”

I shook my head. “No, of course not. Why on earth would you think that?”

Kadee sniffed and used the back of her hand to rub at her button nose. I could see the uncertainty in my daughter’s eyes and it troubled me.

“Kadee, you can tell me.”

Her little shoulders juddered as she shrugged. “Brian doesn’t like it when I make a mess.”

I frowned at this admission and fought the immediate desire to succumb to my anger; thinking the worst of my ex-wife’s new husband. Breathing through my nose, and taking great care with my tone, I asked, “Does Brian shout at you a lot?”

“Only when I’ve been naughty, or if I leave my toys out, or when I don’t finish my meals, or if I’m too noisy… He makes me go to my room all the time.”

So a lot then, I thought, biting my tongue. What else had my daughter had to put up with? From an outsider’s perspective, Karen and Brian barely paid attention to her, yet still loved to use her as a pawn when dealing with me.

I gave her another hug, and wished everything had gone according to plan. If only I had the money to move out west to be closer to my daughter; if only I had won the bid for the house across the street. Now it felt like I was five steps behind, and precious time with my daughter was slipping through my fingers. She was growing up so fast. I needed to flip just one more house, then I’d have enough to afford a semi-decent place close to my ex from the sale of both properties. They lived in the city, brushing shoulders with celebs, and a house like this close-by with my budget would still be a forty minute drive. But it would be better than a costly six-hour flight all the time.

“Don’t worry, Daddy will fix this. I’m not going to shout at you and I’ll make sure Brian knows he’ll have me to deal with if he yells at you again.”

“Okay,” she replied with little conviction.

I adjusted the pads for her, made sure they were on nice and secure. Nothing bad was ever going to happen to my baby girl. I booped her on the nose for good measure, and returned the smile I managed to coax out of her.

“There we go, all tidy. Good as new, like nothing ever happened. Now, shall we go and see Georgie?”

“Yes, yes,” Kadee squeaked hopping on the spot, her smile broader than ever now.

I retrieved the bike from the garage and wheeled it for her as we crossed the road.

“What do you have to watch out for, Kadee?” I asked as we approached the porch.

“The bad steps,” Kadee replied with slow rehearsed words.

“Smart cookie.”

Kadee grabbed the porch banister and tiptoed up the far right of the steps before leaping up to knock. A small indistinct shout came from inside and when I arrived to stand next to Kadee the door swung open.

Georgie had a coffee cup in one hand, the edge of the door in the other. Her hair was slightly disheveled, her face dreamy, and she blinked in the bright direct sunlight.

“Morning, late night?” I asked coyly, taking in her radiant glow. Fingers itching to feel the warmth of her sleepy body once again.

“Hey you,” she returned matching my soft romantic tone, “and what’s this you’ve brought me, it looks like a big pillow monster? Should I be scared?”

Kadee giggled and threw up her arms. “It’s me, Georgie!”

“Aha, just the little lady I was thinking about. We are bike riding today aren’t we?”

“Uh huh,” nodded Kadee.

“Sorry if we’re a little early. Did you sleep okay? I mean, we can come back if you’re busy…” I said.

“No you’re fine. Hey, I don’t look that bad do I?” she said as she messed with her hair.

“Oh, no. Of course not. I didn’t mean—”

Georgie laughed and bent down to inspect Kadee’s pads. “Your dad gets a little tongue tied doesn’t he?”

“It’s probably cause he likes you,” Kadee said, surprising us both.

“Kadee!” I blurted. “I…” I couldn’t find the words and I certainly couldn’t deny the truth she’d let out into the world, not when Georgie was standing right there.

“You should quit while you’re ahead. Besides I had the best night sleep since I got here,” she said flashing me a sly wink. “Come on then, little monster let’s get started.”

“I’m not a monster,” Kadee complained.

We strolled back across the street to get set up. Kadee was asking questions the whole time about how fast she would go and how long it would take her to cycle here from Mommy’s. Georgie waited at one end of the drive watching us set off. She offered support to Kadee about shifting her weight and looking ahead, a pleasant change from the argument yesterday. Kadee kept peddling back and forth, her large pads rattling against the frame of the bike as she wobbled slowly forward.

From inside the house my phone rang and I was reminded of the urgency with the properties I needed to see.

“Shit, I need to get that!” I called out to Georgie, “do you think you could supervise for a moment?”

“Daddy!” exclaimed Kadee, pure shock evident on her young face. “You said a bad word.”

I was confused for a moment till I realized the curse word I had let slip.

“Sorry!” I replied with a whine. I looked up to Georgie for acknowledgment as the phone continued to ring.

“Go. Us girls have got this. We don’t need any stinky boys do we, Kadee?” she said and pulled a face, tongue out, eye crossed. Kadee wailed with laughter and I knew she was in good hands, as I rushed inside for the phone.