Standing outside, Gabe looked back at the house, still unable to believe that he had a daughter. He had a daughter with Alex. All the feelings he’d pushed deep down when she’d left were bubbling back, and were boosted by the fact that she’d given him an amazing little daughter. A daughter he barely knew and who barely knew him. How had he not known? Why had he chosen the promise of stardom and fear of losing money over her?

Looking back on it, he regretted the moment he signed those papers, but he was fooling himself if he didn’t admit that he’d wanted the fame and stardom and money. He’d wanted all of that and hadn’t been willing to make the sacrifices he needed to make to keep her in his life. He was a different man now and he would do what it took to make it right.

Grabbing his bags from the trunk, he slung the duffle over his shoulder and made his way back to the house. He opened the door and had the same reaction he had the first time. Comfort and relaxation. The whole house smelled just like her, citrus and a hint of vanilla. He made his way through the living room, looking at more pictures of the two of them together over the years. There were big smiles from both, surrounded by bubbles, playing on the lawn, out on vacation, at the beach, and in every one of them they were so happy. He wanted to be a part of that with them.

Her footsteps sounded across the floor above him and he made his way upstairs to the guest room. He’d been surprised when she suggested he stay in the guest room. From the way she was acting, she would much rather have him anywhere other than near her, but keeping low profile would be ideal until they figured out where everything stood.

Turning into the guest room, he bumped right into Alex, who was walking out with an arm full of sheets. He grabbed onto her arms to steady her and stop her from falling. She quickly pulled herself from his grasp and stood firmly.

“I needed to take off the old sheets. I hadn’t changed them since Jen stayed over last.”

“No problem. How is Jen?”

“She’s good, great actually. She just started working at a firm in LA. It’s a big entertainment law firm. She was working in New York for a while, but the office in LA asked if she’d be interested in the transfer and she said yes.”

“Glad to hear she’s doing so well,” Gabe said, placing his carry-on suitcase on the trunk at the bottom of the bed and his messenger bag on the desk against the wall.

“It was really sad for us to see her go and not have her so close anymore. It was easy for her to hop on the train and head down here for the weekend when she wasn’t completely swamped. But it was good to see her get some recognition. Maybe you’ll run into her in LA sometime,” she said, standing in the middle of the room.

“Maybe, I will. I don’t tend to interact with lawyers much in LA, but if she’s an entertainment lawyer, I’m sure she’ll pop up at a party or two.” He pulled his laptop out of his bag and placed it on the dark wooden desk.

She gave him a nod and then popped out of the guest room. The room had that same fresh citrus smell that was everywhere in the house. The blue and green patterns from downstairs were also reflected up here with light green walls that made the small room feel airy. There was also an en suite bathroom.

She came back into the room with an armload of folded sheets and pillowcases. He went to take them from her, but she pulled them back to her chest.

“It’s okay. I can do it.”

“I can do it, Alex. I didn’t get to do the dishes. The least I can do is make the bed.”

“Really, it’s no problem,” she said, walking over to one side of the bed.

“Why don’t we do it together?”

She started to say something before she pulled back. “Sure, of course. It seems we’ll have to be doing a lot of that in the future, so why not start now?” She unfolded the fitted sheet and threw him the other half.

“You did really well with Emma today,” she said as she began fitting her half of the dark blue sheet onto the bed.

“She’s a great kid. Truly amazing. When she was showing me her room, she showed me just about every toy she’s ever gotten. She started to read me some books as well. That’s great that she’s reading already. I didn’t know kids read that young,” Gabe said as he slipped his side of the sheets over the mattress.

“Emma enjoys reading. She usually tries to get at least three books out of me at bed time. Sometimes, like a bartender, I have to cut her off,” Alex said, tucking her side under the bed.

“I can imagine. Alex,” he said, pausing. “I can’t apologize enough for what happened.” She snapped up to look at him.

“What do you mean? Sorry for what exactly?” she asked warily.

“I know I just found out about Emma, but I’m sorry that I didn’t try harder to get in touch with you after what happened in LA. I’m sorry that I didn’t come after you and try harder to contact you. But I knew what the contract required and I didn’t think it would be fair to you to come when there would be all these rules about what we could and couldn’t do.”

“So that’s all you’re sorry for?” she practically spat. He was a bit taken aback by her venom and tried to think of what else she could be talking about.

“Alex, I know it couldn’t have been easy. I know I should have known the two of you were out there somewhere, but I’ll do everything I can to be there for Emma and for you from now on. I promise you that,” he said, seeking out her eyes as she evaded his gaze. She shoved the pillows into the cases a bit harder than was necessary.

“Just stick to keeping your promises to Emma and we won’t have an issue,” she said, punching the pillows. Gabe got the sneaking suspicion that she was imagining it was his face.

“Alex,” he said as he started around the bed. She backed out of the room.

“Gabe, I can’t talk to you about this right now,” she said, her eyes glistening. His heart started to race at her reaction. He knew it was an emotional day for all of them, but Alex had seemed to be handling it all well—as well as could be expected—up until then.

“Alex,” he tried again.

“Gabe, I can’t right now. Okay? I need some time alone.” Her voice cracked. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Opening them, she seemed to have composed herself a bit more.

“Keep an ear out for Emma, okay? She should be up from her nap soon. I need a little bit of time in my office. I’ll be back out shortly. I have a few calls to make,” she said before she darted off down the hallway.

He was still standing in the doorway of the guest room wondering what the hell just happened. Knowing that mending what was broken wouldn’t be easy, he started to unpack and looked forward to the time he would get to spend with Alex and Emma over the next week. He couldn’t imagine how difficult it had all been raising her all on her own. He’d seen how much she loved and took care of Emma.

She’d done a wonderful job and his only wish was that he could have been there to help her. He knew that it was unrealistic to believe that he should have known he had a child out there somewhere, but he should have. He shouldn’t have allowed Aaron’s treachery to steal this time away from him and Emma and Alex.

Aaron would be another cluster to deal with. He would need to get out of that contract. He could never work with Aaron again and would rather never work again than help him make another single cent.