Chapter Four

Cameron

The morning came a little too soon for my taste, but that was the way it was with kids. At least, that was what I had been told. I stumbled into the kitchen to get Ella a bowl of cereal and me some coffee. She was her usual perky self.

“What do you want to do today?” I asked her.

On my days off, I made sure I spent all my time with her doing fun things. It was hard being a single parent with a rotating schedule. I always felt like I was failing at the parenting thing. I worked a typical forty hours a week, but since Ella had started kindergarten, I felt like I rarely saw her.

“I want to go to the park,” she said with perfect clarity.

I smiled. “The park it is. We have to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner tonight. So, we can clean up around here, head to the park, and then to dinner.”

She sighed. “Grandma already cleaned up the house.”

I nodded. “Yes, she did, but I have to wash some clothes.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know how to do that.”

“And you don’t have to learn. Not yet anyway. I’ll do it.”

That seemed to satisfy her. I knew it wasn’t exactly fun to do housework, but I hated my mother doing it. She wasn’t my maid. I was still struggling to find the balance between work, kid, and fun. I would get it. Plenty of single parents did. I was probably a little slower than most.

I took my coffee to the laundry room and got the first load started before heading for the shower. Ella was in the living room watching cartoons, which meant I had about half an hour before she got bored. As I stripped for the shower, I thought about my last call last night. I wasn’t sure who was who in that foursome, but I had a feeling my new neighbor had gotten a new boyfriend and now the ex was jealous. Hell, maybe she left the ex for the new guy. Someone was paying a lot of money for that house next door. None of them looked like the kind of people that had high-paying jobs. I guessed, judging by their attire, they had been out partying. I had smelled the alcohol on all of them.

I shook my head and hoped the neighbors didn’t become a nuisance. If it looked like there was going to be a revolving door of young people shacking up and coming and going all hours of the night, I would put a stop to it.

“Daddy, I’m ready to go!” Ella hollered at my bedroom door as I was getting dressed.

“Okay. I’m almost ready,” I said, checking my watch. It was only ten, which meant we would have some time to kill before dinner.

I opened the door to find her waiting for me in the hallway.

“You took a long time.” She was pouting.

“Sorry. My body is a lot bigger than yours. It takes me longer in the shower,” I reasoned.

She shook her head. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, let me throw the clothes in the dryer and we’ll go.”

She impatiently followed me around the house while I picked up, started another load of laundry, and tidied up the kitchen. In all, it took me ten minutes, but by the way she was sighing, a person would have thought I had taken hours.

“Let’s go,” I said, heading for the door.

She bounced out. When I turned to check the lock on the door, I noticed my neighbors in the driveway. The girl—Scarlett, if I remembered her name right—was hugging the other three, who then all climbed into a car and left. She waved as the car disappeared down the street. When she noticed me watching, she gave a small wave before heading back inside.

Interesting. She was living there alone?

Ella and I headed to the park before visiting a children’s museum that had recently opened. It was close to four by the time we got to my parents’ house.

“Hi, guys!” my mother greeted as we walked inside the house.

“Where’s Grandpa?” Ella asked.

My mom smiled. “He’s out in the shop. You can go find him.”

“Can I help you with anything?” I asked.

She laughed. “No, dear. Relax. You look like you could use a nap.”

I shrugged. “I’m fine.”

She shook her head and gave me that familiar worried-mom look. She had been doing her best to pick up the slack since Becca had died. I had a nanny who watched Ella sometimes, like last night, but my mother insisted on watching her as often as possible.

“How was work?” she asked.

I followed her into the kitchen and sat on a barstool. She poured me a glass of orange juice, which I desperately needed. I was dragging ass and needed the pick-me-up.

“Good. Easy.”

She laughed. “That’s what I like to hear.”

“I did get a call to my new neighbor’s house,” I told her.

“Really? That doesn’t sound good.”

I shrugged. “She’s young and got a little freaked out that her ex was calling her. I think it had more to do with the new boyfriend being there and that they had been drinking.”

My mother didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know. I don’t have to tell you how dangerous those domestic violence situations can be. Be careful. I don’t want you or Ella getting caught in the crossfire of some love triangle.”

“I don’t think it’s anything all that serious. I listened to a couple of the messages. The guy will get over it.”

She nodded. “You keep your eyes and ears open.”

My dad and Ella came in through the back patio. He was a retired detective who had served close to thirty years on the force. We had a decent relationship, but neither of us was the touchy-feely type.

“Son,” he said, nodding his head.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes. Everyone wash up. Ella, you can help me set the table.”

We sat down to my mother’s famous meatloaf dinner. Ella chatted about school and the new friends she’d made. I was an only child, which made Ella the only grandchild. My parents doted on her but insisted they would never spoil her. That was laughable. My little girl had them both wrapped around her finger. They knew it, and I suspected Ella did as well. So far, she had never used that to her advantage.

“We should get going,” I said after we had helped Mom clean up the kitchen. “I need to finish the laundry and get Ella in the bath.”

After saying our good-byes and arranging the schedule for the week, we left.

“Let’s grab the mail,” I said to Ella.

The day was finally catching up with her. She wasn’t quite as energetic as she had been. I hoped that meant an early bedtime with no fuss.

The mailboxes were a few houses down from mine. With Ella’s hand grasped firmly in mine, we headed down the sidewalk. I hadn’t checked the mail in days, but it wasn’t like I was expecting a check from a long-lost relative.

“Stay put,” I ordered Ella as I opened the box.

“Hi,” I heard Ella say and turned to see who she was talking to.

It was the pretty neighbor.

“Hi,” she said, looking at Ella, then me.

“I’m Ella. This is my dad. He’s a police officer,” she announced.

“Hi, Ella,” Scarlett said with a smile. “How old are you?”

Ella held up her hand. “Five.”

Scarlett smiled. “Wow, you’re a big girl. I met your dad, twice now,” she said, looking at me with a smile. “I’m Scarlett. I moved into the house next to yours a couple days ago. It’s good to meet you, Ella.”

I studied our new neighbor a little closer in the fading evening light. I had pegged her to be in her early twenties, but she had a way about her that suggested she was a little older than she looked. Her green eyes were stunning. Her light brown hair was falling around her shoulders in thick, choppy waves. She was very petite—I guessed she was maybe five two or five three. The top of her head could have fit under my chin, I mused. Her small stature made her look young and vulnerable. I had this primal instinct to protect her that went beyond my vow to protect and serve.

She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. She had caught me staring. I didn’t care.

“Did you forget to check your mail yesterday too?” she asked, her green eyes staring into mine.

I nodded. “Yes.”

I didn’t tell her I hadn’t checked it in days. Ella was still staring at the new neighbor as if she were a member of the royal family.

“You look like you got some sun today,” Scarlett said to Ella.

Ella smiled, and I saw the moment she decided she liked the neighbor. Her dark brown eyes lit up, and she practically bloomed right before our eyes. She got her social butterfly tendencies from her mother. The hair, the eyes, and the olive skin were all her mom too.

“We went to the park,” Ella said proudly.

“Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun. I love your hair, Ella. So pretty!”

Ella smiled. “Daddy says I look just like my mommy. I don’t know. I don’t remember her. She died when I was a baby. We just have pictures.”

I felt the little gut punch I always experienced when Ella told someone her life story. It was hard to hear the words, and I hated that she had to say them at all. A little girl needed her mother.

“Sorry,” I mumbled when Scarlett looked at me.

I saw the familiar pity in her eyes and hated it.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a low voice.

“We should go. We’ve got a lot to get done before school tomorrow, Ella,” I said, taking her hand in mine.

“Bye, Ella.” Scarlett waved. “Have fun at school, and learn a lot.”

Ella shrugged. “I’ve already learned everything.”

Scarlett burst into laughter. I groaned.

“You haven’t learned everything,” I told her. It was the same conversation we’d had numerous times over the past couple weeks. “Your teacher is going to teach you new things.”

Ella shook her head. “Uh-uh. She says I need to be in a different classroom because I am too smart.”

“Too smart for your own good,” I quipped.

“I think you are a very smart girl,” Scarlett said, agreeing with my daughter and making an instant friend.

“Let’s go,” I said, tugging Ella along beside me.

I glanced back and saw Scarlett watching us leave. She and I exchanged a look. It was a look that made me feel very manly. I knew what it was. Women loved men with kids; it appealed to that basic instinct most of them had. I never talked about my daughter with any of the women I met at the bars. She was off-limits.

It almost felt like a violation to have Scarlett meet my little girl. It shouldn’t have. She was too young for me, and my next-door neighbor clearly had a lot of baggage. That was not something I wanted to get into.

“Come on, smarty pants. It’s time to get you in the tub,” I said to Ella as we walked through the front door.

It was times like these I felt the emptiness of the house. It was too big for me and Ella, but I didn’t want to move now that Becca had died. It was the only home Ella knew, and I didn’t want to take that away from her as well.