I checked my watch once again. Kadee’s flight had landed and I paced at the quiet gate for a glimpse of her. My sweet Kadee, the daughter I’d not seen in so long. She was still learning full sentences the last time I had seen her, but now was an entirely different matter. During our brief opportunities on the phone or Skype, that Karen had occasionally allowed, she was a proper little person, all questions, full of curiosity and wonder.

Regardless of the aggravating cause of this visit I had to make the most of the time I’d been granted. I would get to know my daughter and hopefully we could forge a strong relationship for the future. I just hoped my heart wouldn’t break in two when I would have to send her back to her mom.

I’d made the airport in plenty of time, time enough for the coffee I had missed this morning. It had also offered me the chance to browse the soft toys that caught my eye in one of the gift shops. Surely a bear would be suitable, but I just didn't know where Kadee’s preference lay anymore. Was she still clinging to her favorite thread-worn blanky? Did she even like bears and stuffed toys? There was so much to learn about the daughter that had been cruelly taken away from me.

“Kadee,” I called out the moment I saw her, brandishing the bear in my waving arm.

The sight of this slightly forlorn little girl, by the side of an airport attendant, making her way amongst the jostling travelers towering above her, made the anger I felt for Karen rear its ugly head.

Kadee looked like she was about to topple over from the weight of her backpack; belongings stuffed into it and which was clearly far too large for a kid her size. How could Karen do this? I had to swallow the anger back down, I was here for the rescue, and I wouldn’t take my anger out on my precious girl.

Kadee’s eyes darted all around her, searching. I waved again and called her name. A small smile appeared on her angelic face.

“Hey, baby girl.” I knelt to welcome her with open arms.

“Hi.” Her reply sounded sad, and her hug felt more like a tired surrender. She must be exhausted, I thought and wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and whisk her away to somewhere safe, but first I had to deal with Kadee’s airline chaperone. I handed over my identification, and the paperwork was quickly accomplished. She was all mine, at least for a couple of weeks.

“Let’s get you home shall we? I have your room all ready. And how about you let me take your backpack?” She nodded and let the weight fall from her shoulders. I stood, hefted it over my arm and took her tiny hand, ready to lead her back to the parking garage.

“Is that for me, or is it yours?” Kadee asked pointing to the bear I held in my other hand.

“Oh, yes,” I replied, completely forgetting the gift which I now offered. “Though he doesn’t have a name yet. What do you think his name should be?”

Kadee shrugged but took the fuzzy brown bear into her arms and hugged him to her belly.

“How about Herbert?”

Kadee wrinkled her nose.

“Well, you two can get to know each other before you decide on a name.”

Once back at the truck I placed her backpack on the rear seat, and she climbed in the front and buckled up without a word. Each of my inquiries on the journey home were met with little more than shrugs or unenthusiastic “yeahs”. She just sat there inspecting the bear in her hands.

I was feeling dismayed after the quiet and awkward journey, maybe once I got Kadee home she could relax. I pulled into the driveway slowly and saw my obnoxious and irritatingly attractive neighbor out of the window. She was fighting with a large box from her overloaded battered truck. This was the first thing to peak Kadee’s attention it seemed.

“Who’s that?” Kadee asked with a noticeably perkier tone.

“Just the new neighbor, not to worry.”

“We should help her out, that’s a heavy box.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t want us interfering at the moment, hon. Let’s just get you settled in.” I stepped out and went to gather Kadee's belongings from the back.

The clash with my neighbor the previous night had left me wanting to have as little to do with her as possible. But I could already see Kadee marching across towards her.

“Kadee, where are you going? Don’t you go troubling her,” I called after her loud enough so as not to alert my neighbor, but Kadee paid no attention and just kept marching.

“Dammit,” I muttered to myself. I slammed the door and walked hastily after her.

I could hear Kadee in full swing as I approached, her voice now confident and cheery.

“Hi. I’m Kadee, welcome to the neighborhood. Would you like some help? My dad can lift boxes. He’s strong, don’t you think he looks strong?”

“Hi there, and thank you,” she replied, obviously taken back a little by the sudden appearance of a five-year-old by her side.

The neighbor looked a little tired, most likely the result of a rough first night in the new house I imagined. She was wearing casual clothes today, jeans and a long-sleeved jersey, ready for a day of action, hauling boxes and doing up the house that should have been mine. I couldn't help but notice the sexy snug fit of the jeans as she bent to dump the large box on the sidewalk, but I tried to avoid catching sight of this, I just wanted to retrieve my daughter and get inside.

“Kadee, you are not to go walking off like that. This may be the end of the road, but it’s still dangerous okay? Surely your mom has told you you’re not supposed to talk to strangers either?” I scolded her in a stern voice as I arrived at the scene. I could already see the pout forming on Kadee’s face.

“I’m Georgie. Pleased to meet you, Kadee. There, I’m not such a stranger now,” she replied and shot me a look. Georgie had barely glanced up at me before taking this initiative, undermining my parenting like this. I ground my teeth behind a forced smile. “You have lovely manners, Kadee… unlike some people I know,” Georgie added quietly.

“Are we going to help her, Daddy?” Kadee asked as she looked up at me her face innocent and pleading.

“As I said, we shouldn't be bothering the nice lady,” I replied with as little sarcasm in the “nice” as I could manage.

“But we can help.” Kadee was starting to sound adamant. “Well, I'm going to help. What can I carry, Georgie?”

I sighed. It looked like there was no way to tactfully extricate myself at this point without upsetting Kadee. She had taken charge of the situation and had said more words to me in the presence of Georgie than she had on the ride home, so that was something at least. I caught my neighbor’s eye with a shared look of resignation and a subtle shrug. Sure those were certainly pretty eyes as they caught the sun here in the daylight, but I wouldn’t let myself get distracted, I was just going to do this for Kadee.

“Okay. Let’s get this done,” I announced. Kadee immediately squealed and dashed off up the neighbors steps.

“Be careful, those steps aren't safe.” I shouted after her. This time she listened to my warning and carefully approached the steps, then bent to perch her new bear in the corner.

“She’s a delight. I do have to wonder where she gets that from?” Georgie fired off as I turned my attention back to her. I did not honor the remark with a response. If we were going to do this I was going to be civil for Kadee’s sake despite the underlying irritation, and irksome attraction.

“Why don’t we get all these boxes in and we’ll be out of your hair soon enough?”

“Fine.”

The box Georgie had been fighting with was indeed heavy, it was labeled books and it appeared to be entirely full. Kadee had already skipped back to the sidewalk and they were both following me toward the house carting suitably sized loads. In Kadee’s case this was a couple of shoeboxes. I arrived at the steps and took stock of last night’s damage, peering into the hole to access the state of the wood and the supports.

“This looks in fairly rough shape,” I called back as I continued up.

I carefully tested the step on the far right hand side and by missing the already broken step ascended to the front door. Georgie was a little too lost in Kadee’s questions to respond. Either that or she was ignoring my expert advice. But as I approached the open doorway she called up.

“Everything’s going in the dining room for now. It’s on the—” I already knew the dining room was on the left and my deliberate movements had interrupted her directions.

For the next half hour or so, back and forth we went, passing awkwardly and silently at the half way point while Kadee mostly skipped around her new found friend conversing with glee. With the final box in hand I headed up once more. Georgie met me at the bottom of the steps to take transfer of the box. Despite my best efforts, our hands brushed against each other accidentally, hers were soft and warm. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second. Had she felt the same heat spark up her arm as I’d felt? Georgie glanced away and I escaped the moment by quickly launching into a new topic of conversation.

“You would be best stripping all this wood out, and setting new supports in. It looks fairly rotten under there.”

Georgie was too busy depositing the final box to reply until she returned to the doorway.

“It’ll be fine, I'm sure. Just needs a quick patch before anyone else falls in.”

Really, A quick patch? That wasn't the attitude this house needed, or deserved.

“Well sure, but you could lose more of the porch at this rate. It would be well worth seeing to it now, or risk having to do the job more than once. Better to do it right the first time, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you though, did I?” she quipped. “But hey, thanks for helping with the boxes, I’m good now. I know what I'm doing here.”

“If you say so, just trying to offer some advice. But clearly you know what you’re doing, carry on,” I said, my tone dripping with sarcasm. It was obviously not worth persisting at this point or arguing with my stubborn neighbor. I would be wasting my breath getting into what a mistake it would be to patch the porch while the underneath rotted out.

“Come on Kadee, we are done here. Let’s go.”

“But I don’t want to.”

“Kadee,” I warned but soon caught myself and stopped. I would gain nothing by getting angry at my daughter on our very first day together. “Come on, sweetie, you must be hungry?” I crouched beside her and tickled her belly. She giggled and offered me a small, shy smile.

“What do you fancy? Caviar on toast? Lobster linguini? Chicken cordon blue? Nothing’s too good for my little princess,” I said with a broad teasing smile.

Kadee giggled again and I spotted Georgie looking too, the apples of her cheeks rounding out.

“Daddy, don’t be silly, I don’t like any of those.”

“Let’s make something you do like then. Anything you want, I’ll make it.” She slipped her hand into mine and nodded, then turned back to wave goodbye.

“See you later, Georgie!”