parent for dear life. I don’t know if you noticed, but she still has the stain of lipstick under her nose.”
“Lipstick?” Emma asked, confused.
“When I got home today, she’d gotten into Lydia’s old stuff that I’d dumped into a shoebox and stored in my closet. She had a thick coat of lipstick all around her mouth, eye shadow on her eyes, blush on her cheeks, and she looked like a clown.”
“You didn’t laugh, did you?” Little girls usually looked to their dad for affirmation as well as attention.
“No. I was too disconcerted to do that. But I didn’t tell her she looked beautiful, either.”
“What did you tell her?” She knew whatever Daniel had told his daughter would stick.
“I told her she was much prettier with nothing at all on her face.”
Emma couldn’t help but smile. “You’re a very smart dad.”
“Penny doesn’t think so. We both forgot about her soccer game.”
Emma tried hard not to widen her smile at his adorably sheepish tone. He was a dad on his own, doing the best he could. “I think you’re too hard on yourself.”
“You don’t know me,” he reminded her with a frown.
“I can see you want the best for your daughters.”
Again Daniel eyed her as if he was debating with himself. However, he changed the course of their conversation. “I hear the director of the shelter is Rebekah Taylor.”
“Yes, Rebekah’s the director.”
“Do you think I could meet with her?”
“She has a board meeting this morning over at the Whitakers’.” The Whitaker sisters, Bunny and Birdie, had invested their money in this shelter to set it up. Although she’d seen them around the shelter, she’d never met them officially. But she’d heard a lot about them.
“I can leave a message for Rebekah with your number. I’m sure she’ll call you back.”
“I’d like that. Thank you for offering.”
Emma could get lost in Daniel’s green eyes, but she knew she wouldn’t. She absolutely wouldn’t.
During the next half hour, Daniel and his daughters gave Fiesta some of the attention she deserved.
Penny marveled at her colors. “She’s so pretty—white, and black, and brown. I’d never seen a cat like her.”
“I wonder what color her babies will be,” Paris commented.
“They could be a variety of colors,” Emma explained. “It will be exciting to see them, won’t it?”
Pippa came over to Emma and leaned against her leg. “Will we be able to play with the kittens?”
“I don’t know, honey,” Emma said. “It depends if someone adopts her before she has her babies.”
Pippa leaned her head against Emma’s waist. “Daddy doesn’t want a cat and babies.”
Emma couldn’t help but put an arm around Pippa and pat her shoulder. Then her gaze met Daniel’s and she was hard-pressed to look away.
After Daniel and his daughters left, Emma couldn’t forget how his touch had made her feel. She also couldn’t forget how his daughters had warmed her heart. She wondered again why Daniel wanted to talk to Rebekah. She’d left his message on the director’s desk. But since Rebekah had come back from the board meeting, she’d been busy around the shelter.
Emma almost ran into her as she came out of her office, cell phone in hand. She’d apparently just ended a call.
“Something important?” Emma asked.
“It was Grant Whitaker,” Rebekah told her. “He just...” Rebekah shook her head. “I’ll take care of it. Nothing to worry about. I saw the message you put on my desk from Daniel Sutton. He’s the lawyer around here, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is. He and his daughters brought Fiesta in yesterday.”
“Does he want to adopt the cat?”
“No. I don’t know what he wants.”
“I’ll get back to him as soon as I can, but the way this day’s going, that might not be until this evening.”
“He said whenever you have time would be fine.”
“Good. No pressure. That’s what I like from a man.” She sighed. “I’m going to check the work on the expansion porch for the cats. That’s where I’ll be if anybody needs me.”
After Rebekah turned in that direction, Emma returned to Fiesta. She hadn’t told Daniel and his daughters but Fiesta wasn’t eating as she should. Emma hoped she just needed to become acclimated, but she’d ask the vet, Doc J, to check her again when he made his rounds tomorrow morning.
She would keep her focus on the cat, not on Daniel Sutton.
* * *
Daniel didn’t like the atmosphere when he and his daughters exited Furever Paws. They were quiet—much too quiet. Maybe he should consider adopting Fiesta. Paris had seemed more outgoing around the cat. Penny and Pippa were obviously affectionate with her. One thing he had to be with his kids was flexible.
He could check YouTube for cats, pregnancy and delivery.
That evening he did just that. He’d never looked into the care of animals that much, and now he realized the extent of the volunteers’ work at Furever Paws. They had to love what they were doing. In many ways it was similar to running a day care for kids.
There was a light rap on his den door. When he turned, he saw Paris. That was a surprise. She usually didn’t seek him out. “What’s up?” he asked nonchalantly.
“I want to keep practicing with the swim team this summer. Are you going to let me? I need the exercise and swimming is one of the best ways to get it.”
He knew Paris was correct in her assessment that swimming was great exercise, but he wished she wanted to be part of the team for the sportsmanship and camaraderie. Lydia had used exercise for weight control and had become almost obsessive about it. He didn’t want Paris to emulate that behavior.
“I’ll consider it, but I want you to consider attending one of these educational camps this summer.”
Wrinkling her nose, Paris frowned. “Are you serious? Is this a negotiation?”
He didn’t know if becoming a lawyer was in the genes, but Paris sure had some of his. “I guess you could say that, or you could call it a compromise. What do you think?”
“If that’s the only way I get to be on the summer swim team, okay.” With that she turned and left his office.
He
