Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“So you decided to forget I existed?”
“As per our initial agreement, yes.”
“Well, I'm fine with that,” I lied. “We can continue to maintain the stance that we’ve never met each other. It will be easy. Our only connection will be your daughter, and as a parent, the interactions between us need only be few and far between.”
Every word I had spoken had caused me pain, and he watched me with a strange expression on his handsome face.
“Alright,” he said finally.
I sent him a dry smile then and turned around to leave. I headed over to where he had told Anya to wait, and I was impressed to see her waiting on the bench, still and watchful. She turned as we approached, and a large smile of relief came across her face when she spotted her father. Most kids did not react like that from such a tiny separation.
It made me wonder just where her mother was. I knew absolutely nothing, and it was killing me. But given the terms of our uneasy truce, I decided that it would be best for everyone if I never found out.
Chapter 23
Cole
Once we had agreed that our relationship was to be purely one of a teacher and parent, she conducted the tour without once looking at me again. Addressing all her comments to either my daughter or an invisible being about six inches to my left.
It gave me the chance to stare uninterrupted at her. The hunger was real. In the sunlight her hair glowed, in the dim bunker where their camping equipment was stored, I thought I smelled her heady scent and nearly reached out and touched the delicious curve of her cheek.
“We’ll be sleeping outdoors?” Anya asked with amazement for she had never been camping before.
“Yes, under the stars,” Montana replied and smiled.
And for the moment, I felt as if I was back in the bar in Stormy City. There, she had smiled like that at me. A real smile.
An old sheepdog came to sniff at us, and Anya got to meet the baby donkey and see the horses in the stables. She petted some farmyard animals through the wooden slats of their pens and even had a fat rabbit put into her arms. To say she was thrilled and impressed would have been an understatement. She was almost jumping on the spot like a rubber ball with excitement.
The cookery room was the last stop of the tour. I was surprised to see it full of mini cookers and ovens. They were really serious about giving children all the life skills required for a good life.
This place compared to Anya’s school in New York was like chalk and cheese. No one told us their pronouns and no one cared to ask us ours. The emphasis was completely different. There were no bored children pretending to be cats, dogs or frogs either. All we saw were children who seemed to be fully immersed in activities that engaged them totally.
In spite of my raging hard-on, I was so impressed that by the time we arrived back at the principal's office, I was sure moving Anya to this one was one of the best decisions I had ever made in my life. This experience would ensure that she was hands-on in every aspect of her life in a way that only men were usually expected to be. Not only would the theory be taught to them, but it was fully in conjunction with the practical, and their environs were so adequately equipped for it.
“Are you satisfied with what you saw?” the Principal asked.
“This is an astonishingly good idea, and you and your staff are doing a wonderful job,” I told him sincerely.
He beamed with quiet pride. “This was once a ranch. My father and I started this school just before Montana was born.”
He glanced behind me at Montana, and I didn’t know what her reaction was, but it was enough for her father to cock his head at her in amusement.
“Well, I’m impressed,” I told him. “And I look forward to seeing how my daughter adapts.”
“Thank you for your trust, Mr. Swift,” he said. “We look forward to doing our very best with your little girl.”
With that, the meeting concluded, and Montana was assigned her class.
“It’s a half day, but she can join her classmates in the field now,” Montana said as she stood to leave.
I watched Anya stand up to follow and a strange sensation of fear filled my chest. When she was out of my sight I couldn’t protect her.
“Please take care of her.” The pleading desperate words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Montana turned and looked at me with surprise for a few seconds, then she nodded. “Don’t worry, I will.”
She had no clue what I was truly asking, and how I wanted to tell her, explain the real reason I had not called her, but Anya's life was at stake. I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes whatsoever. Besides I would rather die than drag her into my mess and endanger her too.