Full-Time Father

She laughed. “My thoughts exactly.”

Her shoulder-length hair brushed against her cream sweater as she tilted her head and glanced around the terrace. Parker felt as if he’d gotten sucked into one of his video games. In the space of a few hours, his whole world had been turned upside down.

Erin was Stacey’s twin sister. The longer he was with Erin, the more he remembered about her sister. Yet he had no sense of déjà vu. Despite the physical similarities, he knew Erin was a different personality. They might look alike, but they projected two completely different people. Stacey had been—He frowned trying to remember what she’d been. Intense, driven; she’d been one of the hardest workers on the project. She’d also been underfoot. He remembered the feeling of not being able to escape her.

He didn’t know Erin at all, yet even after spending such a short period of time with her he sensed that she was more relaxed and accepting of things. She handled her child easily, without being overbearing.

Her child…his child. He swore silently and wondered what on earth he was going to do with a kid. Not that he didn’t like Christie, but he wasn’t the paternal type. He hadn’t been around children since he was one.

Kiki came out onto the terrace and walked to their table. “Does anyone need more cookies or lemonade?” she asked as she placed a sandwich in front of him.

“Christie and I are fine,” Erin said.

Parker took a big bite of his sandwich. “Great,” he mumbled.

Kiki gave him her “don’t talk with your mouth full” look, but fortunately, she didn’t say it out loud. Kiki had been with him seven years and was worse than his mother had ever been. He didn’t know how he would survive without her, though.

Kiki squatted down next to Christie and touched the girl’s shoulder. “I bet you have your own room back home,” she said.

Christie nodded. “Uh-huh. I’ve got a big girl bed and bookshelves.”

“You like to read?”

“Yup.” She scrunched her nose. “I can read lots of words by myself, but for the extra-long stories, Mommy reads those to me. I want to read big girl books. When I go to school in the fall, I’m going to really learn how to read. And numbers, too.”

“Good for you. Do you go to school now?”

“Yes, but it’s not real school. Not with the big kids.”

Erin leaned forward. “She’s in a preschool. Christie can’t wait to start elementary school. She wants to learn everything, don’t you honey?”

Parker listened to the exchange, all the while eating his sandwich. Kiki didn’t have any trouble talking with the girl. She just asked the same sort of questions she would ask anyone visiting. Maybe there wasn’t a trick. Maybe he should just talk to Christie as if she were a regular person.

Kiki stood up. “Parker, I’m sure Erin and Christie would like to see the gardens and maybe go down to the beach.”

“Good idea,” he said, then popped the last bit of sandwich into his mouth. He wiped his hands on a napkin, then glanced at his daughter.

She looked at him. “I love the beach,” she said seriously, as if her goal in life was to see his.

Erin laughed. “You’ve only been to the beach once. How do you know if you like it?”

“It was very nice,” Christie said, still serious.

“You’re going to love this one,” he told her and stood up.

Erin rose gracefully, then helped Christie out of the chair. Parker motioned for them to go through the living room and out the front. They turned left and circled around the house.

“There’s no way to get from the terrace to the beach,” Parker said as he led them to a wrought-iron gate and pulled it open. “The stone fence is built into the house itself. This is the only way down to our private beach. It’s not very big, but it’s nice when the tide is out.”

Erin glanced back at him as she walked by. “What happens when the tide is in?”

“Depending on how high it is, the beach can go underwater. Not often, though. It’s pretty safe.”

“Is there a lock on that gate?”

Parker followed her gaze to Christie. “Yes. We haven’t been using it, but we can.” Of course the child was too small to be trusted down on the beach by herself. He made a mental note to mention locking the gate to Kiki as soon as they returned.

Erin reached down and took her daughter’s hand. “It’s very lush here,” she said. “I’d expected windswept cliffs and a couple of redwood trees.”

Parker glanced around at the trees and creeping vines lining the path. On either side, blooming flowers nestled against juniper ground cover. “I have a gardener who wages a battle against the salt air and bad soil. So far he seems to be winning.”

She paused to finger a flowering crepe myrtle. “Very beautiful.”

Christie stood on her toes and sniffed. “Smells pretty, too.”

As Parker followed them to the wooden stairs that hugged the side of the cliff, he tried to remember the last time he’d noticed the garden. The house had nearly a quarter acre of cultivated grounds. He owned everything to the main road, but left most of it in its natural state. For the past couple of years he hadn’t seen anything past his office.

Up ahead, the path made one last sharp turn before widening into a half circle that ended at the top of the stairs. Both Erin and Christie stopped to stare. He came up behind them and knew he’d been lucky to find this property when it was for sale.

To the left was the tall three-story house. The path sloped down, so they were below the first floor. To their right was the wild rugged coastline of Northern California. Sea gulls circled overhead. In front of the path, the Pacific Ocean stretched out for miles before disappearing into the horizon.

“Where does it go?” Christie asked.

“Clear around the world,” he told her.

She quivered with excitement. “Mommy, Mommy, we could get a boat and sail forever.”

Erin gave him a wry glance. “I don’t think my stomach’s up to it. I was never a very good sailor.”

“Me, either,” he said. “But cruise ships are fine.”

“I’ve never been on one.”

He had the strangest urge to offer to take her on a cruise. Just the three of them. He shook his head to clear it and ignored the impulse. “The stairs are a little steep,” he said, then looked at four-year-old Christie. It would take her forever to get down.

“I can carry her,” Erin told him.

“You’re not any more familiar with the stairs. Besides, Christie looks as if she weighs enough to knock you off balance.” He squatted down as he’d seen Kiki do. “How do you feel about a piggyback ride?” he asked Christie.

She beamed at him and clapped her hands. “Yes!”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. He reached behind him for her chubby legs, then stood up. She wasn’t that big, at least not to him, but he assumed she was the size of an average four-year-old. Erin watched for a moment to make sure Christie was balanced.

“Look at me, Mommy,” the little girl crowed.

“I see.” She turned her attention to him. “Do you want me to go first?”

“Sure. Then we can follow slowly.”