The Hot Daddy Box Set

by Lexi Wilson

  “How did you get this number?” I asked. She’d called me on Jaxon’s home phone, which was a little bit disconcerting.

  “Oh please, you’re not that hard to find,” she said. “You should know by now that this is a family with connections. When we want something bad enough, we go out and get it.”

  I sighed. “I’m really sorry about Bill,” I said to her. I decided it was better to take the kind approach in all of this. I had never liked Bill’s parents, but they had, after all, just lost their son. I didn’t want to be nice to them, but it also seemed like the wrong time to shout at them.

  “Oh, I’m sure you are. I’m sure,” she said.

  “Wow, there’s really no need to be nasty like that. Anyway, what are you calling here for?” I no longer felt the need to be nice to them. They weren’t calling to see if I was okay, and up until now I hadn’t even heard from them.

  “I want to know what you are doing with the house and with all of Bill’s stuff. You’re a gold digger, aren’t you? You were always just after his money. We never liked you very much, Kaylee. We always knew that you weren’t good enough for our boy. From the very first day that we met you I thought to myself that my son could’ve done better than you. I didn’t like you then and I certainly don’t like you now.”

  I laughed. “Oh well, the feeling is mutual. At least we can be honest about it now. Look, do me a favor and call my lawyer. His name is Theo Goodwin. He’ll tell you everything you need to know. We don’t need to talk. And don’t you ever call me here again.”

  His mother tried to say something, but I didn’t give her the chance to finish. I slammed the phone down and then chuckled at how satisfactory it had felt. I had always wanted to slam the phone down on his mother. I used to be so polite to her, but she’d never deserved it. I had been feeling guilty about everything up until now, but it suddenly felt so good to be away from that life and that family. I was a new woman now. I had let them ridicule me for far too long. I had been scared though, and I wasn’t going to beat myself up about it anymore. I was unsafe, and I had a daughter to worry about. But I no longer had to worry about that now. A phone call like that would’ve depressed me before, but now it rejuvenated me. I felt exhilarated by the very fact that I had finally stood up for myself. “And don’t you ever call me here ever again,” I said again to myself, and giggled.

  “I have an idea,” I said to Allie as I rushed outside. “Let’s bake cookies.”

  Her eyes widened. “Really? Cookies?”

  I giggled. “Really.”

  I had never baked cookies before, so I looked up a recipe and wrote down the ingredients. Bill hadn’t been all that keen on sweets, and he’d gotten upset me the one time I had tried to bake a cake at home. He’d called it a waste of money and told me never to do it again. Oh, how I longed to bake now. We rushed over to the nearest store to get the ingredients we needed, and then hurried home to start working. We had so much fun, and Allie spent a lot of time making some heart-shaped ones for Jaxon. I made a mental note to buy a heart-shaped cookie cutter for her the next time I was out. We placed the cookies in the oven and then knelt to watch them rise. Allie was so excited. She kept pointing at them as they rose and begging me to take them out. I showed her that we had a timer that would go off when they were ready, and she watched that timer like a hawk.

  Jaxon came home as soon as I took the cookies out of the oven. He grinned the moment he saw us.

  “Wow, it smells like a bakery in here. It smells so good! What’s been going on?”

  “We made cookies!” Allie announced. “And we made some heart ones just for you. Look at this one. This is the one I did. I made this one bigger than all the others.”

  Jaxon came forward to examine the cookies and smiled. We had placed the mixtures a little too close to one another, so some of the cookies had melded into one, and the heart-shaped ones did not look like hearts anymore. The one that Allie made was huge and looked more like a realistic heart than a heart shape, but he seemed delighted regardless. He took a bite and Allie giggled with excitement.

  “Are they good?” she asked.

  “This is incredible. You do realize that I’m going to want these every week now, don’t you?”

  “Fine by me,” I said.

  “Fine by me,” Allie said, and we both laughed.

  Jaxon made some tea and we all went to sit outside to indulge in more cookies while Jaxon told us about his time at church. He always had some funny stories, mostly about some of the people that attended. There was one lady in particular that he and his mother always tried to avoid. I was pretty sure that he was exaggerating some of it just for the story, but I loved it anyway. At one point, he looked at me nervously.

  “Do you want to know these things?” he said. “Because if you don’t want me to talk about church things I totally understand. I realized I’m going on and on about it.”

  I smiled. “Of course I want to know. I want you to keep going and I want to hear all about it. And who knows, I might come with you one day.” I had a feeling that I would actually end up going. I wanted to do things with Jaxon, and I knew how much going to church meant to him and his mother. Also, I didn’t want memories of Bill to stop me from doing things. It was almost as if I had let him win then. I wanted to make sure that he had no more hold on me. I was my own person now, which was something I had to keep reminding myself.

  “I’d like that,” he said. “But there’s no pressure at all.”

  “I know that. Thank you, Jaxon.”

  “So, what gave you the idea to make cookies?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just suddenly felt all domesticated. Although, my body is a bit sore now. Too much running around. I think I got a little overexcited at the idea of baking. Mind if I lie down a bit here?” I said.

  “I’ll lie down with you,” he said, and we both lay down on the blanket together. “Although, would you like me to get you a painkiller?”

  “Maybe later,” I said. “I’m trying to take less now.”

  “Hey, I just thought of something. I didn’t have chocolate chips in the house. Where did you get them from?”

  I grinned. “You didn’t have most of these ingredients,” I said. “But Allie and I went to the corner store quickly to get a few things.”

  “Really? You went to the store? Just the two of you?” he asked in surprise.

  I nodded. I hadn’t realized what a big deal that was until he mentioned it. Up until now I had refused to go anywhere by myself. I had been trying to lay low for the most part, and after that I was just too scared in case Bill suddenly appeared. Things had changed now. I hadn’t felt at all scared going to the shop with just Allie this time. Things really were starting to change for me.

  “I guess I’m feeling free again,” I said. “I never really believed that it was going to happen, you know. Even when I came to this town. I remember feeling so safe that day, but I was very aware that it could all be taken away from me just as quickly. I never really allowed myself to feel free just in case it didn’t last. But I do, Jaxon. I actually feel it now. It feels great.”

  “I’m so glad. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. From the moment I saw you I told myself that I was going to protect you.”

  “And you did. Anyway, let’s change the subject.” I didn’t want Allie hearing me talk this away. “So, I was thinking,” I said as I glanced over at Allie. She was so busy with her puzzle again that she wasn’t paying any attention to us. I decided to whisper just in case. “It’s her birthday soon,” I said softly.

  “Oh yeah? Do you want to do something?”

  I nodded. “I have never celebrated her birthday properly. She’s never even had a cake. Can we do something? Maybe throw a party? Just us and your mom and Mindy. Maybe a few other people, too. But nothing too big. I just want her to feel special.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” he said. “How about a cake shaped like a dog?”

  I chuckled. Only Jax
on would think of something like that. It was one of the reasons why I was falling for him more and more. He thought about Allie as if she were his own child. Nobody had ever done that before. Not even her real father. “She’ll love that.”

  Chapter 37

  Jaxon

  Things were slowly returning to normal, and Kaylee was definitely looking more like her old self. Her bruises were healing, and she wasn’t sleeping as much as she used to. I noticed that she also barely touched the painkillers anymore. She generally took one when she woke, but other than that she tried to stay away from them. She said she wanted to feel her body getting better rather than disguising it with pills. I wasn’t sure how many other people would do that, but Kaylee was by far the strongest woman I had ever met. She’d also taken to touching me again the way I used to do with her. Every now and again she would cuddle me, or stroke my arm, and I’d feel the familiar tingle of pleasure. I didn’t push her, though. I wanted to be with her again but I wanted to make sure that she was ready. At the moment, neither of us were talking about where we wanted to take our relationship, but I was going to let her speak to me about that in her own time. It wasn’t just about waiting until she was healed physically, but also mentally.

  I woke up excited that day. It was Allie’s birthday, and we had organized a big surprise for her. Allie had no idea that it was even her birthday. We thought about telling her, but decided it would be fun to surprise her. She was fast asleep in her room, which she was now finally sleeping in again, and Kaylee and I made our way downstairs quietly to make some coffee.

  Coffee in hand, we crept back up to get her presents and then opened the door to her room. Allie was spread out on the bed, just as she always was when she slept, with the blanket having been pushed to the floor. She woke up with a fright when she saw us and sat up in panic.

  “Mommy?” she asked nervously.

  “Don’t worry,” Kaylee said softly. “We just wanted to come in and tell you something very important.”

  “What?” she asked.

  The two of us sat on the bed while Kaylee scooted up for us. We called for Toby, and he came running in and jumped on the bed with her. This made us almost spill our coffee and made her burst out laughing. Trust Toby to set the mood right for us.

  “It’s your birthday today,” Kaylee said to her.

  Allie gasped. “My birthday? I have a birthday?”

  “Of course you have a birthday. And I’m so sorry we have never celebrated it before. It was…it was hard before…” Kaylee said. Then she shook her head. “But never mind about that. We are going to celebrate every year from here on out. You are 4 years old today. Can you show me with your fingers?”

  Allie held up four fingers and grinned. “I’m 4!” she said.

  “And we have some presents for you,” I said to her as I reached over and handed her the gifts.

  “Presents? I have presents?” she yelled.

  I laughed. “You sure do. Want to open them?”

  “Yes!”

  It was hard to imagine how life would’ve been if Kaylee had never run away. Allie was young enough not to realize all the things she was missing out on, but it wouldn’t have taken long for her to finally figure them out. Kaylee had done her best to shelter Allie from Bill, but it had come at a great sacrifice to Allie’s childhood. I was glad that we were finally able to give her this. I wasn’t just happy for Allie, though. I was happy for Kaylee too. This is what she had always wanted for her daughter. It had been eating her up inside that she hadn’t been able to give this to her. In fact, I would swear it was Kaylee’s birthday by the look of excitement on her face.

  The first gift we had gotten her was a new dress, and she was so excited that she wanted to put it on straight away. We told her to rather put it on a bit later, as she had more gifts to open. She agreed that this was a good idea and put the dress aside to try on afterward. The next gift was a pajama set with little dogs all over it. This one she couldn’t resist, and she quickly put it on while we watched in amusement. We asked if we could take a photo of her and she posed with Toby on her lap. Kaylee had told me that she didn’t have many photos of Allie, so I decided that we would make up for it. I was already thinking ahead, but I was planning on presenting her with a photo album at the end of the year filled with all the best Allie photos that I had. This one was definitely going to go in there.

  “I’m going to wear this every day,” she said.

  I laughed. “Well, you’re definitely going to want to open this one next, then,” I said. “It goes with it.”

  “There’s more?” she asked. I kept forgetting what a big deal this was for her. Her first celebrated birthday. Her first time getting gifts.

  I chuckled. “Just two more. Here, take this one first.”

  I handed her the next gift while Kaylee and I looked at each other knowingly. Even though this was the least expensive out of all the gifts, we knew she would probably like it the most. We had gotten her big slippers in the shape of a dog. She put them on straight away and paraded around the room for us with Toby on her heels. I had never seen a little girl so happy and so appreciative like this before, and I was glad to be there for it. Kaylee looked like she was about to burst into tears from happiness, and I kept squeezing her hand throughout. We had one more gift to give her, and I went to our room to get it. It was a big one, and I hadn’t wanted her to see it when we first walked in. The shape was obvious to Kaylee and I, and I thought she would know immediately when she saw it, but she had no idea. When she tore open the paper she couldn’t believe it.

  “A guitar!!! My own?”

  “Your own,” I said. “I want to keep on teaching you. You’re very talented.”

  “I love playing guitar. One day I want to be a guitar teacher like you, Jaxon.”

  I smiled. “You’ll be a good teacher. In fact, I think you might end up being the best teacher ever.”

  “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love my gifts. I love my birthday,” she said.

  I smiled. “Birthdays are fun. Now, we have even more good news for you. We’re having a party for you today.”

  “A party? With hats and cake?” she asked in excitement.

  “Of course,” I said. “What’s a party without hats and cake?”

  My mother arrived later that day. I hadn’t seen her since our talk, and I was so pleased when she arrived holding hands with Mindy. She seemed shy at first, which was a look I had never seen on her, but the two of them soon got used to being open about it around us. Kaylee was so delighted at seeing them together. I had told her about our talk too, so we were both wondering what would happen when we saw them that day. I didn’t make a big deal out of it, as I didn’t want to embarrass them, but Mindy came up to me and gave me a big hug.

  “Your mother told me about the talk you had with her. I just wanted to say thank you and tell you how much it meant to me. I’ve been telling her for a long time that you would be fine with the whole thing.”

  “Of course I’m fine with it. You’re my second mother. You make my mom so happy, and that’s all that I could ask for.”

  She grinned. “She makes me happy too. Sort of the same way that Kaylee makes you happy, right?”

  I smiled as I looked over at Kaylee. She looked so beautiful today. My mother had taken her shopping the day before, and she’d come back with a few new outfits. Today she was wearing blue jeans and a yellow shirt, and she looked so lovely. She was still walking around with her crutches, but she no longer needed someone to help her everywhere. I was so in love with this girl that it sometimes took me by surprise. I thought I knew love before, but I knew now that I had never known true love until Kaylee. She was absolutely everything to me. I thought about her from the moment I woke up to the time I went to bed, and I never got sick of her. Every night I put her to bed and I told her that I loved her. She still hadn’t said it back to me, but I didn’t mind. I knew that it was going to take her a lot longer to say it back, and I was willing to
wait for that moment. She was in love with me too, I was sure of it, and I had a feeling she knew it too. My mother told me that she had taken a long time to admit her own feelings to Mindy, and she said that she had a feeling that Kaylee was the same way.

  “She’s scared, Jaxon,” my mother had said to me a few days ago. “She knows you’re nothing like Bill, but she’s been so hurt in the past that it’s going to take her a while to realize that life is different now. But don’t worry, she’ll get there. She’s so crazy for you.”

  Other than my mother and Mindy, we had also invited Susan to the party. Kaylee and Susan had become friends in the past few days. Susan had been the first person that Kaylee had met when arriving in this town, and she’d taken a liking to her from the start. She’d never allowed herself to become close with her though, just in case she had to one day leave. But now that she had no more reason to go, the two of them had become friends. Kaylee went over to the deli once a day to get bread and to chat with Susan. She admitted to me that Susan was the first real friend she had made in a long time, so I was happy for her. I liked Susan anyway, and so did Allie. Especially since she’d brought with her a cake in the shape of a dog just as we had requested. She’d even tried to make the cake look a bit like Toby. Except someone had already stolen a piece of his nose, so he now looked a bit funny.

  It was a fun party, with lots of snacks and games. My mother had come fully prepared with all sorts of games for Allie to play. We played pin the tail on the donkey, which had Allie crying with laughter as she pinned the wall instead of the donkey, and we even had a piñata to hit. We sang to Allie as she blew candles from her cake, and then we all settled down to watch a Disney movie on TV. Styles arrived near the end of the night, mostly because he’d been busy on another case and couldn’t come earlier. It was nice of him to join us though, and Allie was happy to see him. She had never forgotten how good he was to her at the police station that day. He bought her a big stuffed animal, which she promised she would take to bed with her each night. The toy was, of course, in the shape of a big dog. She decided to call it Moby.