Chapter 2
Duncan couldn’t believe his luck. He runs into the most enchanting woman he’s met in a long time and he let her slip away. The teasing banter back and forth had brought him out of his usual funk that he always managed to land himself in whenever he had to leave work early.
He enjoyed the way her eyes lit up every time he complimented her hair. Otherwise, he probably would’ve kept his mouth shut. Focusing his attention on a woman did not fit into his life.
Would there ever be a good time?
Probably not. She had been delightful from the moment she rushed into the elevator. He couldn’t help himself.
From her sweet blonde hair that shined like gold, to her tentative smiles that made his heart beat faster, to her lovely teasing that surprised him. Not much could surprise him. But that certainly did. He had loved every minute he spent with her.
Then the doors rustled open, breaking the spell holding them mere inches apart. She ran. No amount of him shouting her name had gotten her to stop. He took that as a sign. It wasn’t meant to be.
He pushed the charming Delilah from his mind and made his way to the parking garage. Within no time, he made it to his daughter’s school.
“Hey, pumpkin. How was school?” he asked his eight-year-old little girl that was his everything. He couldn’t imagine his life without her by his side.
“It was school, Dad. Not much to say.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her with tenderness. “Did something happen? What’s with the sad attitude?”
“I just hate leaving early. The kids always look at me funny when I walk out.”
“I know, pumpkin, I know. I’ve tried to get the appointments later in the day. I promise I do try. I know it hasn’t been easy, but you’re getting better. You need to get better. I can’t lose my little girl.”
“I know, Daddy.” She looked at her watch. “You were actually three minutes late.”
He laughed as he pulled back into traffic. Leave it to his little girl to notice the time. He had no idea where she got her punctuality from. Her mother, when she had been around, was never on time for anything. It wasn’t a surprise when she left that day four years ago and never came back. She had never wanted to be a mother in the first place. While it hurt his daughter to know her mother didn’t want her, he figured she was better off. She had been a terrible mother.
He certainly made mistakes. He couldn’t say he was the best father in the world, but he tried. That was the difference. She never tried. Not once. Thinking of her never conquered up any sad feelings, only regret. Regret that his daughter would never know a mother’s love.
While he tried his hardest to be punctual, he had slip-ups as well. Work was tedious and consuming. Traffic could be horrendous. Or simply, he lost track of time. And his little munchkin always let him know.
“The elevator was slow today.” He smiled, thinking about Delilah. The elevator hadn’t been slow enough, in his opinion. And he had wasted a few minutes running through the lobby trying to find her. He had wanted to ask her for her number. But Ellie, his daughter, didn’t need to know all of that.
“I think you can think of a better excuse than that, Dad. Why was it slow?”
Smart as a whip. He never could get anything by her. “I was talking to a woman. She had the longest hair I’ve ever seen. All the way down her back to her bottom.”
Ellie’s eyes lit up. “Really? What color? Was it soft?” She waved a hand at him. “Forget I asked. You wouldn’t know that.”
“I was a hero today. I saved her hair from being trapped in the elevator doors. It was very soft, silky, blonde hair.”
“Daddy, you are a hero. You’re always my hero.”
“And that’s all I ever aim for, pumpkin.” He grinned wide, glad to hear her say that. Life never went the way he planned, but if he was a hero in his daughter’s eyes, everything was perfect in the world.
Especially right now with the way their world was turning.
Cancer.
His daughter was nearing the last treatments to battle her cancer. He hoped every time he took her to these appointments to fight off the beast that it chipped away at each bad cell. Because he refused to lose his little girl. And he wouldn’t. She was a fighter. She normally came out of each appointment looking beaten and bruised, but she was a fighter to the core.
Besides these small moments of sadness, she normally was very upbeat and lighthearted about everything. It brought joy to his heart to see that. She wasn’t letting any part of her sickness bring her down. Except today. But days like this were few and far between.
“I hate wearing this hat, Daddy. I want long hair, like the woman you met today.”
He glanced at her with an encouraging smile. “You will. You’ll have the longest hair ever. It’ll start growing back as soon as we’re done with all these treatments. I promise.”
“And you never break a promise. That’s one reason you’re my hero.”
“And I never, ever will, pumpkin.” Definitely never. Her mother had broken many promises in the short time she had been in their lives. If there was one thing he vowed never to do, he’d never break a promise.
Her hair would grow back. He’d make sure of it. And if it chose not to, well, he’d find a way to get her the long hair she wanted and deserved.
The appointment went as it normally did. She received her treatment with a smile on her face. But the minute they got home, she looked tired and defeated. She retreated into her funk from earlier. She had even fooled the doctor and nurses with her upbeat attitude.
He decided to make her favorite meal. Spaghetti with his special sauce he created from scratch. Anytime she smelled it cooking in the kitchen, she was on his heel like a kitten looking for attention. Not tonight. She stayed firmly on the couch, staring at the TV, but not really seeing it.
He tried to get her to laugh as they ate, but she resisted his humor. At bedtime, instead of tucking her in with a simple kiss of goodnight and a story, he read her two stories. Both stories his own creations, of course. With a princess and a prince and a fire-breathing dragon as they battled with tales of glory. Right before he switched off the light, he finally saw a hint of a smile.
That simple smile made everything better. He hated seeing her so down and sad. But he knew things couldn’t always be sunshine and rainbows. Not when they had to deal with cancer.
As he lay down in his own bed for the evening, his mind wandered to Delilah. His golden-haired beauty from the elevator. To think she slipped away from him so easily after the wonderful time they had. Short time, of course, but wonderful, nonetheless.
He could still envision her long blonde hair, smooth to the touch. The way her eyes sparkled with laughter when she asked him to keep a secret. He had never met a woman with such carefree, loving humor. To experience such beauty again would be pure joy. The odds of seeing her were not in his favor. Unless she was just hired that day, he knew she didn’t work on the floor where she joined him in the elevator. Because he worked on that floor. He would never forget a woman like her. That meant she was a client.
His mind raced with possibilities of why she was there. Who had she spoken to? The only saving grace was she wasn’t his client. If he ran into her again, a big if, he would be free to ask her out without any repercussions coming his way. The thought excited him. Made him ache for her each time he took a breath.
He drifted off to sleep with dreams of a golden-haired beauty lying next to him, her hair fanned out lovingly as he brushed his fingers through her long locks. It ranked as one of his best dreams he ever had. And he wished for his dream to come true. For her magical hair to bring them back together.