I pulled open the door, actually looking forward to spending the day with the little four-year-old.

“Hi Abby!”

“Can you come to my house?” she blurted out.

“What?” I asked, looking up at Colton.

“I want you to see my new dresses, but Daddy said I couldn’t bring them here.”

I grinned, completely understanding the need to put on a fashion show after a shopping spree. “I would love to, if it’s okay with your daddy.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t mind a bit.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see what you picked out. You’ll have to model all of them for me.”

Abby grinned and looked up at her dad, giving him an I-told-you-so look. He shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t know it was something that had to be done.”

My eyes widened in exaggerated shock. “What? She didn’t get to put on a fashion show!” I asked in horror.

“Alright, alright, I get it. I have to get going. You two knock yourselves out.”

“Bye Daddy!” Abby waved.

I grabbed my phone and followed Abby back to her house. It felt a little strange to be in the house without Colton there.

My phone beeped. It was a text from Rose. She wanted to hang out. I quickly text her back, letting her know I had Abby for the day, but she was more than welcome to come hang out with us. She promised to be over in an hour.

“Okay, let me see your new dresses!”

Abby opened her closet and pointed to every new dress and explained why she liked each of them. Then, she proceeded to put each one on, doing a little modeling for me while I properly clapped and appeared impressed.

I helped her put together some outfits using her old skirts and shirts to create new ones. She acted like I hung the moon. This led me to believe she hadn’t had another woman in her life to show her the fun of fashion, which was odd considering she was such a diva.

“Okay, my friend Rose is coming over. We better go back to my house,” I told her.

She grabbed a couple more dolls and we headed out. Rose arrived a few minutes later. Abby was in love from the moment she saw Rose.

“I love your name. I’m going to name my doll Rose.”

“Aw, that is very sweet. Thank you.”

I put together a quick lunch, the three of us sitting at my little table, chatting about our favorite colors and what we wanted to be when we grew up. I loved the fantasy of the game and happily played along. Rose did as well.

After lunch, Abby was content to watch television while Rose and I quietly talked in the kitchen.

“So, how’s it going with the boss?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows.

“The boss?”

“Oh, don’t pretend you’re innocent.”

I sighed. “There is nothing going on with the boss. Not since the last time.”

“The last time?”

I looked down at my hands. “I can’t help myself when I’m around him. the only way to describe it is a moth to a flame. I feel like I get trapped in his orbit and I can’t escape. I don’t want to escape. He is so good,” I hissed.

Rose burst into laughter, slapping my shoulder. “Then why are you denying yourself?”

I shook my head. “Rose, there’s something about him. Remember that self-defense class we took a couple of years ago, and the instructor told us we all had intuition and we should never ignore it?”

She nodded her head. “He was talking about rapists or attackers in general. This is not that.”

I shook my head. “No, I know. But, there is still that little niggle in the back of my mind that won’t be quieted. I can’t explain it. I mean, I feel no physical danger from him, but I do feel he is dangerous in general. I think it’s because he is so reserved and tells me nothing about his life.”

“Maybe he has a dark past. That doesn’t mean he’s bad in general. You like him. I can see that. Give it a chance,” she lectured.

I sighed. I wanted to believe it. I wanted to find out he was a good guy and all my worry had been for nothing.

“This is going to sound super cheesy and I’m embarrassed to even say it, but what the hell. Follow your heart. That attraction you’re feeling. Follow it. I think it knows better than your jaded self.”

“I love you,” I said with a cheesy grin.

She burst into laughter. “So, have you seen that new bakery that opened up?”

I shrugged. “I drove past it.”

“Let’s go check it out.”

“I have Abby.”

“Is she not portable?”

I laughed. “Colton did leave me a booster chair for her in case we had to go somewhere.”

“Good, I know that girl wants a pastry.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Alright. Sounds good to me.”

I walked into the living room and filled Abby in on our plans. She was of course ecstatic. The bakery was busy when we arrived, which wasn’t a surprise. Abby waited quietly in line. I watched another little boy bounce all over the place, disobeying his mother and being a nuisance in general. Abby was such a good girl. She stood with me, holding my hand despite her eagerness to get to the front of the line.

To keep her occupied, we talked about all the choices we had to choose from. Rose was worse than the little boy. She kept getting out of line and walking up to the case to ogle the many delectable treats.

“Chocolate croissant. That’s where it’s at. That’s what I’m getting,” she announced.

“What do you think, Abby?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

I imagined it was all a little overwhelming for her. “I think we will get chocolate croissants too. We can always come back again and try something new.”

When we finally got our turn, we took our croissants outside to eat on the curb. The inside was packed, and the outdoor seating was all taken.

I took the first bite and groaned as the buttery, sugary croissant melted in my mouth.

“Seriously, amazing,” I muttered. “Did you take a bite?” I asked Abby.

She was looking at the croissant with confusion. “Is it a donut?”

“Nope. It’s better than a donut. Give it a try.”

She took a dainty bite, slowly chewing as she let the flavor wash over her taste buds. Her eyes lit up.

“Do you like it?” Rose asked.

Abby was vigorously nodding her head. “It’s so good! We should get one for daddy!”

I turned to look at the line inside the bakery, grimacing at the sight.

“Come on, it’s a good excuse to get seconds,” Rose said with a wink.

“I cannot eat another one of these. I can feel the sugar in my blood already.”

“It’s so good, though!”

“Alright, let’s finish and then we’ll get back in line.”

The three of us took our time enjoying our treat before getting back in line and going through the whole process again. I had a feeling I would become a regular. I was going to need to start working out at the gym with Colton if I kept eating here.

Rose drove us back to my house, said her goodbyes and left me and Abby to ride out the sugar crash. I turned on the TV and Abby climbed up next to me, snuggling close. It wasn’t long before I heard her breathing slow and her hand slipped off her leg. She had crashed. I was feeling the same crash and leaned back, closing my eyes for just a minute.

The next thing I knew, Colton was standing in front of me, looking at us with serious worry on his face.

“Are you two sick?” he whispered.

I smiled and slowly rolled my head back and forth. “Sugar coma.”

“A what?”

“We went to the new bakery in town.”

The look on his face told me I had overstepped.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out. “I should have called to see if it was okay.”

“It’s fine. Really. I don’t mind.”

Abby stirred beside me, rubbing her eyes. When she saw her dad, she jumped off the couch, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Guess what, Daddy?”

“What?” he said.

“We ate a cro—”

She turned to look at me. “What did we eat?”

“A croissant. A chocolate croissant.”

“We got you one too, Daddy!”

“You did! I don’t know if I can eat it. Look at you two.”

Abby looked at me, completely confused. She ran past him and grabbed the little white bag off the table before racing back to hand it to him.

I watched as Colton opened it up and peered inside. “This looks yummy. How about I eat it after dinner?”

She nodded her head. “Okay.”

“Why don’t you get your dolls and stuff,” he told her.

When she was out of the room I stood up. “I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t realize how sweet those things were.”

He chuckled. “I feed her donuts for breakfast. I am not going to criticize a croissant.”

I sighed in relief. “Good. It was really good.”

“Thank you for watching her. She seems to be doing great. She really likes you.”

“She’s a lot of fun to hang out with. And boy, have you done a good job raising her. She is so well-behaved and really listens.”

“Thank you. I don’t know if I can take all the credit. She’s a smart girl. It’s just her personality. Good genes or something I guess. We got lucky.”

I nodded my head, pretending I didn’t catch the word that was very telling. It was the first time he had even mentioned the mother. His use of “we” told me they had at least been together at one point in her life. The wistful look in his eyes made me wonder if she had died. My mind was in overdrive, thinking about the many different possibilities.

“You did. She is a fun, smart girl and I absolutely adore her fashion sense.”

He groaned. “I don’t know where that comes from. I do know I need to start saving up for her shopping sprees now. I have a feeling she is only going to want designer clothes.”

I laughed. “Maybe she’s going to grow up and be a successful designer.”

He rolled his eyes. “That’s all we need.”

Once again, he used “we.” I couldn’t pretend I didn’t hear it. There was a stricken look in his eyes as he realized what he had said. Thankfully, Abby returned with her backpack just then.

“Let’s get going, bug, we need to give Jenna some time to relax.”

I waved goodbye, shutting the door behind them before going back to the couch to collapse. The croissant had done me in. I needed to think about how I would pass the time with Abby. I needed one of those kiddie pools. I didn’t exactly have any toys in the house and I wasn’t sure how to keep her entertained. She was doing fine thus far, but I was sure it would get old really soon. I needed to have a backup plan.

I thought about calling my mom and asking her what kinds of things four-year-old girls liked, but quickly scrapped the idea. I didn’t want to tell her about Colton. She would get the wrong idea. I didn’t want to get into the details. My mom would see right through me and press me until I spilled my guts.

This was not something I was ready to share just yet. I knew she would find out about the diner situation soon enough too. I was dreading that conversation.