Page 91 of The Sandbar saga

Chapter 35

Race spread peanutbutter on wheat bread, cut it in half, and added the sandwich to the plate of cheese and chocolate chip cookie. After a month of having his daughter come twice a week, he'd learned she hated her half a sandwich folded. She'd eat the cookie last like her mom taught her. And, visiting with her went smoother if she was able to swim in the pool for a half hour and settle down enough to hold still for more than two seconds.

"Lunch is ready." He slid the plate across the counter and looked over at the couch. "Go ahead and climb..."

Callie slept in the corner of the sofa, one of his books opened at her side. Knowing Katie would come to pick her up at one o'clock, he let her sleep and found baggies to put her lunch in. She could eat it in the car or when she got home.

Home.

He had no idea where his daughter lived. A week ago, he'd asked Katie, but she got distracted putting Callie in the car and hadn't answered him.

Though, he found out Katie worked at Seashore Reality. He'd only discovered where when he'd spotted her car at the building a couple of days ago when he drove to the beach to take a run in the sand.

He walked over and covered Callie with a blanket, knowing the air conditioner made the interior of the house chilly after swimming. Sitting down, he marveled at the tiny girl that was part of him.

Healthy, active, and secure, Callie was everything Katie should've been at that age and wasn't. The neglect, abuse, and her father's death at a young age had taken the innocence from Katie. He swore he wouldn't let that happen to their daughter.

His protective streak was one reason why he refused to ask Callie questions about Katie. He would never put a child between him and her mom.

The doorbell rang. He got up from the couch, checked to make sure Callie still slept and walked through the house.

Opening the door, he stepped back. "She fell asleep."

"That's okay. She usually doesn't take a nap anymore, but she's been tired lately. She probably needed the extra rest." She pointed over her shoulder. "I'll come back in a half-hour or so. Unless you have patients to see, then I can wake her up."

He hadn't planned it. Hadn't even thought about it. But, he wanted her to stay.

"Let's talk while she's asleep." He held the door open, not giving her a chance to turn him down.

She looked at him and stepped inside without saying anything.

"We can go out on the patio. I'll leave the sliding door open in case Callie wakes." He led her through the house and out the back.

He turned a chair and pointed. "Sit."

Taking another chair, he sat in front of her. "How's the new job?"

"Good." She clasped her hand on her lap and met his gaze. "I'm working part-time until February when I'll be the only licensed broker at the office. Donna—do you remember her? She's retiring then."

"Congratulations." He couldn't stop looking at her. She'd matured, but she was still his Katie. "I want you back."

She flinched, shaking her head. "You sent me away."

"I never told you to leave."

"You refused to love me." Her mouth tightened, and she blinked faster. "You wanted me to love you, but weren't willing to love me back."

"That's not true." He leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. "You were nineteen years old, my patient, my child—"

"No, I wasn't. I was twenty years old. I was your life, not your patient. I had one parent growing up, and despite that, you were the one who took care of me and never let me go without love. But I never once thought of you as a father figure, Race. It was you who saw me as a child. That's what our argument was that day on the beach."

"You're no longer a child," he mumbled. "Why couldn't I see that then?"

"You were angry," she whispered. "You were so angry because I loved you. The night I left, I had no idea that I had stolen the one piece of you that will always love me... like you can't."

"Callie." A heaviness settled on him.

They sat in silence, both of them aware of the child sleeping inside, within hearing distance.