REAL DEAL (Single Dad's Club #1)

Chapter 1

1

Marcus

“Daddy!” Lily screams from the top of the stairs. “I can’t find my bracelet!”

I lay the knife down next to the butter, walk into the foyer and look up to the top of the stairs where my five-year-old daughter stands, practically in tears.

“It’s on the bathroom counter, and if you’d brushed your teeth already, you would have seen it.” I eye her with a skeptical smirk.

The little devil is going to have twenty cavities her next trip to the dentist.

Her face lights up with a ‘you’re the best daddy ever smile’ and my heart melts, as it always does. And she knows it. She runs away from the banister and into the bathroom.

“Brush your teeth, Lily!” I call out after her.

I shake my head to myself as I head back to the kitchen. She’s the only kid I know that insists on brushing her teeth before she eats. After years of arguing with her every morning, I decided it wasn’t a battle worth fighting. If she wants to do it before breakfast, who am I to argue. But honestly, have you ever tasted fruit right after brushing your teeth? It’s f*****g nasty.

As I finish buttering her toast and placing it next to her eggs and fruit, she runs into the room and hops up onto the breakfast stool.

“Eggs.” She sticks out her tongue.

“We’re out of waffles,” I say, moving from the fridge to the counter to pour her a glass of milk.

“Lily?” I question, inspecting her. “What is on your face?”

She looks up from sliding her fork around the eggs, the devil’s gleam in her eyes. “Mallory’s sister gave us some.”

There’s purple eyeshadow arched well over her eyebrows mixed with lines of hot pink. I mean, I’m not RuPaul, but I’m pretty sure lipstick isn’t supposed to be on your eyelids.

“You aren’t allowed to wear make-up.” I take a sip of my coffee and set the mug back down on the counter. Moving to the sink, I wet a paper towel and round the counter toward Lily.

“No Daddy, I’m pretty,” she whines swiveling her head to the side to dodge me.

“Lily, this is your first day of camp. How about we save this for Halloween?” I try again to clean her off, but she won’t stop wiggling. “Or wait until you’re at least twenty-one before you start wearing this crap,” I add under my breath.

“Halloween!” she screeches like a thirteen-year-old teenager.

“How about we’ll do dress-up this weekend?”

I glance at the clock. Five minutes before we need to leave if I’m going to be on time.

“Daddy, Mallory is wearing hers.”

The whine that always seems to work on me seals the deal. My little girl will attend her first day of camp looking like a clown. Wonderful.

Remember—pick your battles.

I release a breath and grab the brush off the counter. “Hair time and eat your eggs.” I use the brush to point down at her plate.

She positions herself on the chair, familiar with the drill.

“Braids, pigtails or ponytail?”

Please no braids. Please no braids.

“Braids.”

Of course. On an already stressful morning where we’re running behind, she picks the one hairstyle that’s the equivalent of asking me to crochet a blanket.

I split her long blonde hair into two and run the brush through each side. “Are you excited for camp?” I ask her, pleased to see that she’s at least eating her fruit.

“I’m kinda scared.”

I secure one side of her hair in a ponytail so I can concentrate on the braid for the other side. “Why are you nervous?” I peer over her shoulder to see her chomping on a piece of cantaloupe she’s stabbed with her fork.

Lily is one of those happy children who’s usually bouncing around in some joyful manner like in the Disney movies. That princess that lived up in a tower with long hair always reminds me of her. I forget her name. I’ve been forced to sit through so many princess movies that they all sort of run together in my mind.

“What if I don’t know anyone?” Her voice is small and scared and it tugs at the heartstrings I didn’t know I had until the first time I looked upon her angelic face when she was born.

“Don’t be. You make friends easily.” I stretch my fingers a few times after finishing one braid and squeeze her shoulder before moving to the other side.

“Mallory will be there.” Her voice doesn’t hold the excitement it once did.

“That’s good,” I say absently as I struggle to secure the second braid in place. “Sometimes I wish I didn’t give you my thick hair.” With my hands on her shoulders now I lean over and kiss her cheek.

She turns her head and smiles at me. I return her smile and round the counter to pour my coffee in a travel mug since the time to get the caffeine flowing through my veins has passed.

“Daddy?” Lily says from behind me.

I peek over my shoulder so she knows I’m listening even as I pack her bag and get my own s**t together.

“I got my thick hair from you?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say absent-mindedly, glancing at my phone on the counter to see we’re now running three minutes late.

“What did I get from my mommy?” Her voice is low and unsure and despite my best efforts over the past few years I know she’s worried about my reaction to her question.

I’ve always tried to instill a certain trust between Lily and me. We’re all we have, and she needs to be secure with me, so, our conversations have always been open and honest, except for one topic—her mother.

My hands freeze on the zipper of her backpack. She’s quiet and my assumption is her eyes are on me. Waiting for an answer.

I turn around and lean against the counter. I force my lips into a smile to let her know this is a topic we can discuss. Certain information will surely be off-limits, but if she wants to discuss her mom, I can toe the line.

“I would say you got her wild streak.” I lean forward and squeeze her waist.

She giggles and her blue eyes light up for a moment before she pushes my hand away. “Wild streak?” she asks.

I rack my brain for the kid-friendly definition to clarify.

“Tell you what…I’ll explain it in the car. We’ve gotta get going. You don’t want to be late on your first day.”

I let the make-up thing go, along with the fact she didn’t touch her eggs—anything to escape this conversation.

She quickly secures her bracelet to her wrist. A bracelet that is more like a security blanket than a fashion symbol. Eventually, we’re going to have to discuss her getting rid of it.

“Camp!” she yells, jumping from the stool and hoping over to me.

There’s my Rapunzel.

See? I knew the name would come to me.

Leaving my driveway, I turn my pickup truck down Greyfalls Hill and head into downtown c****x Cove. I use the word downtown lightly.

Once known for being a small fishing town, it’s grown into a heavily traveled destination during the summer. Our downtown shops and restaurants mixed with the harbor and marina is appealing to most city folk coming in from either Portland or San Francisco because they can make the trip here in less than a day. During the winter months, it’s mostly just the townies, but it’s a nice place for Lily to grow up and I like the feeling of safety and security a small town like this provides. Most of the people in c****x Cove know and love, Lily and I both.

“Hey, it’s Miss Betty,” Lily says excitedly from the back seat.

I glance to the side and see our town librarian walking along Main Street.

“Can I roll down the window?” Lily asks.

We’re stopped at a streetlight, so I hit the button and the glass retreats into the door with a mechanical whir.

“Hi, Miss Betty. I’m going to camp!” Lily yells.

Betty stops at the corner and looks over. When she sees it’s us, she steps a little closer and peeks into the truck.

“How fun! I do hope you’ll find time to stop by the library this summer.” She glances over at me with a reproachful expression.

So, I’m not much of a reader.

“I will,” Lily says.

I glance in the rearview mirror to see Lily with a huge smile on her face, practically bouncing out of her booster seat with excitement.

“I sure hope so.” Betty side eyes me again.

I get the point and make a mental note to get Lily in there at least once over the summer months.

“We have a summer reading incentive. Maybe you’d both like to be involved?” Betty asks.

“Oh yeah!” Lily exclaims.

Betty, who was my deceased dad’s old girlfriend, smiles at me now. She knows she’s got me.

“Bye, Betty,” I say, the light turning green and giving me an out.

“Have fun at camp, Lily,” she says and waves goodbye.

I roll up Lily’s window as we pass through downtown before someone wrangles me into hosting the fish derby this fall.

“Can we go to the library tonight?” Lily asks.

“We’ll see.” My usual answer when I’m putting off something I don’t want to commit to earns me a huff from the backseat.

Main Street is soon in my rearview mirror and I drive up into the hills. Fifteen minutes later, I turn my truck into the Camp Tall Pines entrance and we’re swallowed up by rows of trees that shoot high in the sky.

We follow a line of pickup trucks down the dirt road, but I spot my friend’s Mustang up ahead when we round a curve. Dane’s the only moron that would buy a sports car to drive around the hills of Oregon. I’ve had to pull him out of a ditch more than twenty times since I moved here six years ago.

“Daddy!” Lily screeches and rolls down her window. “Look at all the kids.” I glance in my mirror to see her gaze focused on the clusters of children and parents trying to find their way as I park the truck.

Camp Tall Pines is a camp for single parents. Lily will only attend during the day, but there is an overnight camp for kids coming from farther away. It was an option for Lily this year, but I’m not ready for that. Even if it’s only fifteen minutes away.

I open my door to get Lily out and take in the scene.

Shit, there are a lot of kids, and I have no idea where the hell Lily is supposed to go.

My hand is on the handle of Lily’s door when a fancy sports car grabs my attention. It’s red and shiny and sticks out in this small town just like the blonde currently bent over digging through the trunk.

Damn, that ass. I shift my stance and wonder how one glimpse has made my d**k jolt for the first time in a month. Well, without the help of Pornhub.

Climax Cove isn’t exactly known for its beautiful single women. Not to say there aren’t any—there are—but they’re all looking for something I can’t give them. Marriage. My last serious relationship didn’t work out so well after Lily’s mother decided she’d rather party than be a mother and I’m not willing to jeopardize my little girl’s heart again.

I can’t pull my gaze from this woman’s long legs. Or maybe it’s the short shorts she’s wearing. She shouldn’t be able to wear those scraps of material around all the single dads. There’s going to be a pissing match at our next meeting over who gets to ask out the new girl in town.

A bang on the truck window pulls me from my trance of imagining those long legs wrapped around my head and I look over to find Lily’s shoulders slumped and her mouth hung open.

“Sorry,” I say and open her door.

She jumps out of the truck and turns her attention to where I was looking. I take the opportunity to adjust myself.

The woman is now standing up, thank God, and she’s propped a box on her hip as she shuts the trunk.

My gaze roams from her sneaker covered feet, up her long and tanned legs, past the too-short shorts, noticing the way her Camp Tall Pines blue t-shirt hugs her breasts and lastly, lands on her face.

“s**t,” I murmur.

“Daddy!” Lily holds her hand out in the air. “That’s a dollar.”

My eyes focus in on the woman across the parking lot and I’d bet my house it’s her.

Caterina Santora.

My client, Bill Santora’s daughter. I haven’t seen her in six years. Not since the time she hit on me. I wince remembering how harsh I was to her, but she was young, barely legal and ‘no’ wasn’t in her vocabulary at the time. Still, I’ve remembered my cruel words more than once since then and regretted them. Especially after I had a daughter of my own.

“Daddy,” Lily’s voice pulls my focus back to her.

I dig my wallet out of my back pocket, finding a dollar and shoving it into her hand.

“Nice doing business with ya,” she says and slides by me to the curb. “Let’s go! I don’t want to be the last one.”

My eyes refuse to look away from the woman. If it is Caterina, she’s definitely all woman now. A smile teases her lips as she passes a camper and his dad. Concentrating ahead, she rounds a car and she scans her surroundings. There. That dimple in her left cheek. It’s her. It has to be her.

Her eyes find me and I smile, moving my hand up in a small wave, but she only returns the gesture with a polite smile. One that says, I have no idea who the hell you are, but just in case I’m wrong, I’ll smile. Then she turns on her heel and heads in the other direction. Great, I probably freaked her out. I’m sure she thinks I’m some pervy stalker-type guy.

“Daddy!” Lily screams and my head snaps back to her.

“Sorry,” I murmur, still processing what I think I saw.

“I don’t want to be late,” she says, walking ahead of me.

I look at the signs, trying to figure out which direction I’m supposed to go in, but I haven’t a clue. There are parents wandering around everywhere with similar looks of bewildered frustration.

“Toby, get out of the car!” I hear to my right. My buddy, Dane is standing next to his Mustang trying to coax his son out into the sunshine. I turn Lily in that direction. If I’m going to be lost, might as well be with Dane. At least he’ll keep things interesting.