Blindsided (Indigo Love Spectrum) (10 page)

Dahlia grunted. Sometimes her mouth got ahead of
her head.

“
The only person I told was . . .” Gail gave her a
pointed look. “You know Norris,” she said.

Dahlia nodded. “Yes, I know him.”

“Well, well. That’s a surprise.”

“No more than learning you share a past with him.”

“You two must be pretty close for him to tell you
about Reese and me.”

Dahlia reached for her water glass and drank. The last
thing she wanted was to be grilled about Norris and
forced to think about feelings she shouldn’t be feeling.
“It’s not what you think, Gail,” she said.

“Oh, no? What am I thinking?”

The waitress returned to the table with steaming
breadsticks and salad. Dahlia breathed in the scent in of
the freshly baked bread. Today food would be a welcome
distraction.

She reached for a breadstick. “These are delicious.”

“You’re avoiding my question,” Gail said.

“Not at all. Norris and I are . . .” She thought long
and hard as she searched for the right answer.
Acquaintances? No. You wouldn’t tell an acquaintance a
significant secret. Lovers? Uh-uh. Too much informa
tion. “We’re friends,” she said.

“Friends?”

“Well, friendly. He’s a friend of a friend. I’m going
through an audit, and my client Lara Andrews is married to his best friend, so she recommended Norris to me.”
That wasn’t a lie, she just didn’t mention meeting Norris
prior to the recommendation. “Now, back to Reese,” Dahlia said. “Why didn’t you tell her about Uganda?”

“I’m trying to ease into it.”

“She thinks you’re dying, Gail. Easing isn’t working.”

“I knew this would be hard, but not quite this hard.”

“You have to talk to her.”

Gail pushed the salad around with her fork. “I know.”

“You said there was something you needed to discuss
with me,” Dahlia said. “I imagine it’s about Reese and
Norris.”

“Yes.” Gail dropped the fork to the plate. “I have a huge favor to ask of you, and as much as I want you to agree to it, I don’t want you to feel pressure.”

“Sounds serious.”

“It is,” Gail said. “I might want you to take custodial
guardianship of Reese while I’m in Uganda.”

“Custodial guardianship?”

“I know this must come as a surprise, but I trust you
and Reese adores you. We’ve known each other for years,
and . . .”

“Wait,” Dahlia interrupted. “What about Norris?”

“I want him to spend time with Reese, and her living
with him would be ideal, but I can’t force a
father/daughter relationship between them. Their close
ness is going to take some time, and if Reese doesn’t want
to live with him, I wanted her to be with an adult she was
close to. Knowing you and Norris are . . .”

“Friends,” Dahlia readily said.

Gail smiled. “Friends. I think your presence will be
even better. You’ll be a bridge for them. Being friends of his friends is a plus. Reese will have more people to help
with this transition. So, will you be that second option?”

“
This is a big deal, Gail, but I understand the impor
tance of Reese and Norris getting to know each other,
and I want to help however I can.” She nodded. “Yes, I’ll
be her guardian if she doesn’t want to stay with Norris.”

Gail squeezed Dahlia’s hand. “Thank you. Worrying
about Reese is a given, but now I won’t be quite as
worried.”

“Are you going to talk to her tonight?”

“Yes, I’m going to tell her everything. Now, you tell
me everything.” Gail smirked. “What’s with you and
Norris?”

“There’s no me and Norris.”

“ ‘The lady doth protest too much.’ ”

“No protesting. It is what it is. He’s helping me.”
Gail laughed. “I’m sure.”

“The story is you and Norris. How did that happen?”

“It just sorta did.”

“He told me you were his E.R. doctor.”

“I was. And a few days later we were playing doctor.”
Gail chuckled. “Bet you didn’t expect that from your
Sunday school teacher.”

“Not at all.”

“Norris was so attractive, young and hormone-
driven. My biological clock kept me awake nights, and when I saw him that loud tick was silenced. I used him.
He was my unwitting accomplice in becoming a parent.”

“You didn’t feel bad about not telling him?”

“Not at the time. He was twenty, and nowhere near
ready to be a parent. I didn’t want nor expect him to be.”

“You just wanted a sperm donor. You tricked him.”

“I’m not going to apologize for wanting a child. And
I wanted to see the actual father, not a little vial. I should
have told him, but he wasn’t ready for the responsibility
of fatherhood, and I didn’t want to thrust him into the
role.”

“But you want to now?”

“A lot of years have passed, and I know I was wrong.
Norris has grown up, and from what I can tell, he’s set
tled down. When I talked to him yesterday, I knew some
thing in his life had changed, and now I know that
change is you.”

Dahlia sighed deeply. Was she wearing some invisible
sign that said ‘mention the feelings I don’t want to think
about?’ “Gail, why do you keep . . .”

“You can deny it all you want, but you and Norris are
more than friends, and pretty soon you’ll have to deal with it.”

Don’t I know it.
Dahlia pinched off a piece of bread and popped it into her mouth.
Don’t I know it.

Norris bounced the basketball over to Ryan, but what
he really wanted was to throw it at his face. From the
moment he confessed to falling in love, Ryan had been
wearing a goofy grin, and after two hours, Norris was a
little sick of it.

“Maybe next time I won’t share such pertinent life
information with you.” Norris frowned at Ryan. “You want to stop grinning already?”

Ryan chuckled as he dribbled around the concrete
half-court in the backyard of his spacious two-year-old
house. He circled around Norris and tossed him the ball.
“Say it again. Say ‘I’ve fallen in love.’ ” Ryan’s smile grew
wider. “Mmm, mmm, mmm. There’s something about
hearing those words coming from you.”

“When did Lara say she’d be back?”

“Just before Sue gets back with Angelica. And since
Justin’s with her, we’ll have all this bonding time to talk
about your love. Umph.” Ryan shook his head. “Your
love? I never thought I’d be using those words about you.”

“Me, either.” Norris shot a midrange jumper that
found the bottom of the net with a soft swoosh. “Norris
Converse does not fall in love. At least he didn’t before
Dahlia Sinclair.”

Ryan rebounded the ball and laid it back up. “How
did that happen?” He passed the ball back to Norris.

“I don’t know. The last couple of weeks, I’ve just been
thinking about her more. When I’m awake, when I’m
asleep. I want to make up excuses to call her, and I don’t need excuses.”

“Because of this arrangement you have?”

Norris’s shoulders slumped. “Yes.”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“Because it’s not about sex for me.”

Ryan raised a curious brow. Norris tossed the ball
back at him and walked over to the picnic table a few feet
away. “It’s about more than sex,” he said, sitting on the edge of the table.

“How do you know?” Ryan rolled the ball under the table and sat on the other end. “How do you know you’re
in love?”

“I told her about Reese before I told you.”

“You were stressed and seeking comfort sex.”

“I didn’t sleep with her.”

Ryan’s brow lifted. “Come again?”

“Being with Dahlia last night wasn’t about sex. I wanted to talk to her. I needed to tell her about my
daughter. Last night was the most incredible experience
I’ve ever had in my life, and I was fully clothed the whole
time. We talked, and laughed, and listened to each other. I’ve never felt so close to a woman. I need Dahlia, and
that—that’s scary.”

“Oh, my—” Ryan’s eyes widened. “You are in love.”
Norris nodded. “Yes, I am.”

“When are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know if I can, or should.”

“You love her. Why not tell her?”

“Because our arrangement is what it is. It’s not about
feelings. It’s not supposed to be. I’m in love with her, but I don’t know that she’s in love with me.”

“You think she could be though, right?”

“I want to believe it, but like Lara said, Dahlia’s had a
lot of hurt in her life. That’s why she’s turned off on rela
tionships. She’s confident, but a little bit afraid. She’s lost
a lot of weight, and I think a part of her doesn’t think
she’s worthy of love because her husband cheated on her.
Talking with her last night told me the pain is still there.
I’m not exactly Mr. Commitment. How can I want her
to love me, to ask that she love me, when I know it will
hurt her?”

“I . . . I can’t believe what I’m hearing from you. I
never doubted you were capable of love, but I never
believed you would realize it. Norris, you love Dahlia, and you need to tell her.”

“It’s not that simple, Ryan. It’s not just me anymore.
For Dahlia to be with me the way I want her to be means
she has to embrace my daughter. A teenager I’ve never
met.”

“But the fact you want Dahlia in your life as more
than a pit stop is huge. You know what you want, Norris,
and you’re not a man used to not getting what he wants. You want to connect with your daughter and you want a
real relationship with Dahlia.” Ryan grabbed Norris by
the shoulder. “For God’s sake, man. You go and get it!”

“Go and get it?” Norris sighed. Ryan’s impromptu
pep rally sounded good, but winning this prize wouldn’t be easy. “How am I supposed to do that? I’ve never had
to fight for a woman’s affection.”

“That’s because affection implies feelings, and for you it was never about emotions, just physical gratification.
Dahlia is different. You need to change your game plan.
It’s time for Norris the playboy to meet Norris the
romancer.”

“Woo her?”

“At the very least. What do you want from this rela
tionship? I’m talking end game.”

Norris smiled. “I want . . . I want what you have. A
wife I’m madly in love with, wonderful children, and a
happy home. Not a bachelor’s condo, not a revolving
door of women, but a home. Something I’ve never had.
That’s what I want. I want it with Dahlia and Reese.”

“There you have it. It’s yours for the taking, Norris.
You just gotta go out and get it.”

* * *

After a helpful meeting with friend and Attorney Dan
Monroe about paternal rights, Norris drove home pre
pared to talk to Gail about their daughter. He definitely
wanted to see Reese, and considering he’d been robbed of
years of her life, Gail was in no position to argue with
him. The anger he felt when he thought of the time he’d
missed with his daughter set him on edge, but he vowed
not to be short when he phoned Gail.

T
he clean scent of carpet powder and wildflower air
freshener greeted Norris when he walked into his place.
His housekeeper, Mrs. Castanza, had been there. The
sixty-year-old grandmother had been in his employ for
twelve years, taking care of all the necessities a busy bach
elor on the move could not. A note on the desk said she’d
gone out for groceries and would be back soon. Maybe
he’d have enough time to give Gail a call before Mrs.
Castanza returned and got on him about being too
thin—any man without a pouch hanging over his belt
was too thin to her—and not having a steady girlfriend.
Norris realized he would forever be too thin for her
liking, but perhaps that steady girlfriend problem could
be rectified soon.