***
Brayden and Bella beat me to the polar statue in the middle of town. When I arrived, Brayden was sitting on a bench with his legs sprawled out in front of him as Bella played in the snow. She saw me coming first and ran over, her little legs plowing through the snow that was up to her shins.
“Rein!” she cried as she threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around my legs. She grinned up at me with her chin resting on my right thigh. “Hi!”
“Hi.” I giggled, patting her back. “Having fun in the snow?”
“Yes! I wish it snowed in Florida.”
“You probably don’t believe me, but it gets boring pretty fast. You can do much more in the sunshine.”
Bella shrugged and turned to her father, who was getting to his feet and brushing snow from his back. He greeted me with a polite, one-armed hug. It caught me a little off guard, and I stood stiff in his half embrace as he gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze.
“How are you?” he asked.
“I’m good,” I said, burying my hands in the pockets of my parka. “Did you have any idea what you wanted to do this afternoon?”
“No clue,” Brayden said.
I glanced down at Bella, who was looking back and forth between us. “What about a girls’ day?” I asked.
“Girls’ day?” Brayden cocked his head to the side.
“Yeah. I bet the salon could squeeze Bella and me in for manicures. Maybe pedicures too?”
Brayden’s shoulders visibly slumped, but Bella clapped her hands together and looked eagerly up at her father. “Can we do a girls’ day, Daddy? Pretty please?”
I bit my bottom lip and gave him a sheepish look. “Sorry.”
He sighed and nodded. “Yeah. Sure. Why not? I’ll just, you know, sit around and watch you girls get pretty.”
I reached out and offered Bella my hand. She curled her tiny gloved fingers around mine, and I led her and Brayden across town square to Valdez Beauty, one of the only salons in town that wasn’t offered out of someone’s house. This was the only place a girl could go to get her nails done, and it was surprisingly charming inside.
Oil diffusers chased away the abrasive chemical smell of acrylic and gel nail polish and filled the place with the calming scent of lavender and lemongrass. There were only two other ladies in there, so Bella and I were brought to massage chairs immediately. The foot soaks were filled with warm bubbling water, and as I rolled up my pant legs, Brayden helped Bella with hers. When she was ready, he went to the register and paid for our mani pedis, despite me trying to talk him out of paying for mine. It was a battle I knew I couldn’t win.
The ladies working in the salon fussed over how cute Brayden’s daughter was. I couldn’t blame them. She was precious and charming as she sat back in the massage chair. Somehow, she managed to look like royalty despite only being four years old.
Brayden had taken the empty seat beside me and turned on the back massager, and I leaned over to whisper in his ear. “She looks like a princess, and somehow, it seems so natural.”
He chuckled and shifted in his seat. “I know. It confuses and unsettles me.”
One of the women in the salon stopped in front of Brayden and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “Would you like a foot massage and pedicure too?”
Brayden looked like she had just asked him if he wanted a happy ending. “Uh, no, I’m good.”
I giggled at his shell-shocked expression and covered my mouth. “It’s perfectly acceptable for men to enjoy a pedicure too, you know.”
He shot me a warning glance. “I don’t like people in my personal space.”
I cocked my head to the side and arched an eyebrow at him. “Really?”
He smiled smugly and played with the settings of his chair. “I don’t like strangers in my personal space.”
The ladies set to work massaging mine and Bella’s feet, and I sank deeper into the seat. It had been a long time since I indulged in something so frivolous. Being a starving artist didn’t afford me the luxury of such things. If I wanted cute toes, I had to paint them myself, or I would ask Gracie to do it. But it wasn’t the same. This kind of pampering was relaxing, and the tight knots in my back from standing and painting all day were being soothed by the rolling ball in the back of my chair.
I glanced over at Brayden. His eyes were closed, and his shoulders rolled gently as his back was massaged. I found myself wondering how he was holding up. He must be exhausted, taking care of a four-year-old and his dying mother.
His eyes snapped open when his phone rang, and he fished it out of his pocket. He let out an audible groan. “I’ll be right back,” he said, twisting out of the chair and making for the front door of the salon. He stepped outside, and I looked at Bella on my other side. She was slowly flipping through nail polish colors to choose what she wanted on her toes and fingers.
“Does your dad talk on his phone a lot?”
Bella glanced up from the wheel of sample colors. “Sometimes. Less than when we’re in Florida. I don’t think Grandma likes it.”
“Do you like it?”
“Daddy says it’s important.”
“It probably is,” I said.
Bella nodded and looked back down at the colors in her lap. She seemed to understand what Brayden’s work meant to him somehow. For a four-year-old, she was quite wise.
After fifteen minutes or so, Brayden came back in. He looked weary and frustrated, and he dropped back down into the chair beside me heavily.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. Just work stuff. I can’t leave that place without it imploding.”
“That sucks,” I sympathized.
He looked at me like I had said something revolutionary. “It does,” he said. “It really does. Especially right now.”
I reached over and offered him my hand. He looked down at it, then smiled at me as he wrapped his fingers around mine. I rested my head back in my chair and closed my eyes, and I enjoyed the pressure of his grip on my hand while the esthetician started applying a basecoat to my toes.
When his phone rang again, Brayden released my hand. “I’m sorry. I have to take this.”
I didn’t have time to say anything. He was up, out of the chair, and back outside before I could blink, leaving me in Bella’s company once more. His business certainly took up a lot of his time, which he presently couldn’t afford to give up.
At least, I wouldn’t have if I were in his shoes.
Bella ended up getting the same bright shade of red as me on her fingers and toes, and she wiggled all her digits when the esthetician put away the gel lamps and told us our polish had set.
“Pretty!” Bella cried as she admired her tiny toes.
“I like it too,” I agreed as I slid off my chair and put my socks and shoes back on. I tucked my jeans into my boots and went over to Bella to help her do the same.
“Why do you tuck your jeans into your boots?” Bella asked as I started doing the same to her pants.
“It keeps the cold out. There’s no way for it to get under your pants and into your socks. I don’t like having cold or wet feet. Do you?”
“No.” Bella shook her head.
I finished lacing her boots and lifted her out of the chair. She followed me out of the shop, and we both waved goodbye to the ladies before we stepped out into the cold.
Brayden was on the sidewalk. His shoulders were drawn inward against the cold, and he was speaking loudly into his phone. He sounded pissed.
I cleared my throat to let him know Bella and I were there, and he straightened up. His scowl vanished, and he waited for whoever was on the other end of the call to finish speaking.
“Drew, I can’t talk anymore. Just figure it out, all right?” Brayden hung up the phone and dropped it in his jacket pocket. “Let’s see those nails of yours, kiddo.” He walked over to Bella and dropped to a crouch beside her.
Bella held out her hands and Brayden complimented her color choice. She reveled in his praise and then burst into a fit of giggles as Brayden started teasing her by trying to put her hand in his mouth. “I bet it tastes good.”
“No, Daddy! It’s bad for you!”
Brayden chuckled and nudged her chin. “You’re right.”
“Hey,” I said, and he looked up at me. I hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “I actually have to get going. Thanks for the pampering.”
“Already?” he asked, getting to his feet and frowning at me.
“Yeah. Sorry. I hope everything with work is okay.” I bent down and gave Bella a quick hug before hopping off the sidewalk and walking toward the polar bear statue. “I’ll see you around.”
Today wasn’t the day to spend with Brayden. I was in no mood to deal with him on his phone all day, and I couldn’t ask him not to answer it. I knew his work was important. He owned the company, after all, and I knew what his priorities were.
His daughter, his mother, and his career.
I couldn’t fault him for it, but I could walk away, despite how much I wanted to bask in his company and his touch.