Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
He studied me for a few long seconds before nodding.
He caught my hand and started leading me around, and I had to practically run to keep up with him.
Farther and farther we went, and at some point, the crowd started thinning until there was no one around but a stray worker or two in a black polo denoting them Singh Circus Employees.
It was only when we were near a food truck of sorts that he pulled my headphones off again and stared at me.
“Hey,” I said. “Not that it’s not cool to finally see you or anything, but I have to go back. I don’t think Ellenie can handle three kids.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You said that you don’t like kids.” He eyed me with accusation.
I looked at the tent where I’d left Buddy, then back to Mr. Tinder.
“I said that my best friend didn’t like kids, and sometimes I didn’t blame her,” I corrected him.
His mouth dropped open. “You what?”
“I what, what?” I asked.
“You like kids?” he said, his voice higher than it had been a few seconds ago.
I shrugged. “I mean, I guess if they’re good, I like them. I’m sure if they were mine, I’d really like them. As long as they were listening to me, that is. And not scaring me. Because that’s a huge no-no for me. But mostly, I like kids.”
That was convoluted and somewhat impossible to understand, but the man made me flustered.
So sue me.
Before he could reply, he looked at something over my shoulder.
I turned and saw a woman walking up with a little girl.
She had to be around eighteen to twenty-four months at most.
And she was cute.
She had bright blue eyes, bleach blonde hair, and the cutest little Gerber baby face I’d ever seen.
And she was saying ‘dada’ to the person behind me.
Woodenly, I turned and stared at the man who reached for the baby in the woman’s arms.
“Thank you, Amber.”
CHAPTER 2
I think my clutch is gone. I can’t get my butt in gear.
-Kristoff to Marlow
KRISTOFF
I saw her from across the entire circus.
She was hard to miss, actually.
She was wearing neon.
Bright green short shorts that looked freakin’ delectable against her lightly tanned skin.
But what surprised me was her hand.
Her hand that was wrapped around a little one that she clearly was enjoying being around.
In that moment, everything had changed.
“Thank you, Amber,” I said quietly. “Hope you have a great Christmas.”
Amber, the circus’s childcare giver, waved and skipped off with a sweet, “You, too, Kristoff. Love ya!”
Amber was a sweet girl.
But that was exactly what she was. A girl.
Ulitza pressed her hand to my throat and said, “Cookies!”
I patted her thigh and tucked her closer into my arms.
It was cold out today, and the weatherman said that there was only a matter of time before it snowed.
“You have a baby,” she said, sounding tongue-tied.
I looked at my daughter, then back at her.
Ulitza looked at Marlow, too.
Damn, she was pretty.
“The day I stood you up was the day I found out that I had a kid,” I said softly. “I went to the airport to meet you, and instead flew out on the first flight available to go pick her up. Her mom had left her in the hospital with a note with my name on it.”
Her mouth fell open.
“You could’ve told me that,” she pointed out.
I winced. “You said you didn’t want kids.”
“You heard what you wanted,” she corrected me.
I opened my mouth, then closed it.
“I might have,” I admitted. “But that wasn’t something that I could control at the time. When I finally got everything under control…let’s just say I didn’t think anyone would want to deal with that when we were literally just meeting for the first time.”
She ground her teeth together, causing the molars in her jaw to work.
“I told you that I had my own issues,” she said. “You said that we could handle them together. Why wouldn’t you give me the same courtesy?”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
Because honestly, that had been something I’d said to her.
And when she put it that way, it did make me sound bad.
“I…”
She sighed when her phone dinged with a message.
With one last longing look at me, she placed the headphones over her ears and turned around, dismissing me without a word.
I watched her go, and I had a sudden, terrible feeling that if I didn’t follow her right now, I’d never get the same chance again.
I started moving, unable to stop myself, following her through the circus.
When she got to a spot near the middle, she met up with her friend who’d stepped in front of her earlier, obviously stopping a freakout before it happened.
I remembered her telling me about her issues.
I had said that I would be willing to help her in any way I could, if only she gave me a chance.