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“I don’t think so. Get out here. We had Sophia wait until you were out here to see her. Come on.”
I turn toward her with a sigh and walk out to the small waiting area. I keep my eyes on the ground as I walk over to the mirrors, too nervous to look up and see anyone’s expression. Jillian and the shop owner, Meg, walk over to see how the dress fits me. As their hands pick at the dress, making sure everything falls where it should, I look up and meet Chandler’s eyes in the mirror.
They remind me of how they looked in the dream when he looked down at me just before I woke up. They’re dark and full of heat as they trail up from my bare feet all the way to my eyes again. It’s like he was waiting for me to look at him, so I knew he was checking me out. My body erupts in goosebumps, and I can’t take my eyes off of him. He leans back in the chair that he is sitting in and brings his hand to his lips, his index finger running along the seam. I can see a smirk starting to form.
“Even if I didn’t know everything he is doing for you, the looks he is giving you tell me everything I need to know.”
I pull my eyes away from Chandler to look over at Jillian again.
“What looks?”
She looks over at Meg with a deadpan expression, making her giggle.
“I see that what I’ve already told you isn’t enough. That man over there is obsessed with you. And as soon as he heard about your daughter, he instantly went into Dad mode. He’s had me busy setting things up.”
“Setting things up? What does that mean?”
“Of course he hasn’t told you. The man needs to learn to communicate.”
She walks behind me to check the back with Meg, and I look between her and Chandler, who still has his eyes locked on me.
“What has he set up?”
Jillian says a few words to Meg about how the dress falls, then turns back to me.
“Well, first he had me make sure that all of your bank accounts were reopened. He had them frozen when you disappeared, then he had me open a new one and start a fund for Sophia’s schooling. I didn’t even know that he wanted kids, but seeing the way he’s been since finding you two is like nothing I’ve ever seen. He’s come alive and is making many plans for the three of you. It’s so romantic.”
She and Meg let out sighs, like everything he is doing is the sweetest thing they have ever heard.
He set up an education fund for Sophia?
My eyes lock with his through the mirror again, and something in my face makes him stand quickly. Before he can walk over, Sophia’s voice echoes from her dressing room.
“I’m ready!”
I want to interrogate him about all the money; I’m not comfortable with him just giving it to us. He should have talked to me before opening an account for her. He knows nothing about my plans for her future. Just because he’s her father doesn’t give him the right to come in here and just start making decisions for her; I’ve been raising her all this time without any help.
I break eye contact with him, and we all move so that we can see Sophia when she steps out. She makes a big show of ripping the curtain open and stepping out with her arms out to her sides.
“Ta-da!”
We all laugh at her dramatics as Meg and Jillian rush to her side to fawn over her. I watch her enjoy the attention from these two women. Since we didn’t have any family, I always loved to see Sophia interacting with the people from the town. They have become our family in so many ways.
I feel the heat from Chandler’s body up against my back as he steps up behind me and leans over to look at our daughter with me.
“She really loves being the center of attention, doesn’t she?”
His voice is full of humor.
“You have no idea.”
I keep my eyes on Sophia, too unnerved by Chandler to turn and look at him.
“Actually, I do, and you can blame me for it.”
Confused by what he could mean, I turn my head to look at him, his face is closer to me than I thought it would be, and I get caught up in staring at his lips for a moment.
“I was the exact same way when I was her age. Loved to be right in the middle of everything. Everyone’s eyes on me as I made a fool of myself.”
