"What did last night mean to you?" he asked once Maisey was gone.
She studied him for a moment. "Everything."
Had he been holding his breath? When she confirmed that it was something special, a whoosh left his lungs.
"To me too." He didn't know what happened to the Alex who arrived in town. The man with the long hair and rock star attitude. Somehow, he disappeared, and the man he was becoming took his place.
They finished their breakfast to the chatter of Maddie talking about Barbies and some kind of talking doll.
"We're going to stop at the bookstore first, so Maddie and I can walk home from there."
He paid the bill and left. Once outside, he kissed Maddie on the head and Mercy on the lips.
"I'll see you for dinner. How about I bring a pizza from Dalton's?"
Maddie didn't waste any time with her yes, and seeing how excited she was, Mercy seemed to acquiesce.
"I thought you were tired of pizza."
"I'm willing to sacrifice for the women in my life."
"Pizza it is, then." She turned toward the bookstore while he climbed into his SUV and headed for the studio.
Gray was the only one there when he arrived.
"How's that cute little teacher? Are you banging her yet?"
Alex's first reaction was to put a fist in Gray's face, but that would make for an awkward work environment. It was already tense between Deanna and Red. Indigo didn't need another conflict happening. That's how bands split up. Somehow it was always over egos and women.
"Hey, man, don't talk about Mercy that way."
Gray's brows lifted. "Holy shit. You are banging her."
Alex's hands fisted at his side. He walked to his drums to put distance between them.
"She's special."
"Dude, you're such a cliché. Single dad doing it with the nanny."
He took a threatening step forward. "I'm asking nicely that you don't talk about Mercy like she's some groupie. I like her. More than like her. She's good for Maddie and me. Hell, she might be the one."
Gray held up his hands like he surrendered. "You're thinking with the wrong head. When it comes to women, the head on your shoulders shouldn't be ruling your world. I'm not saying you can't appreciate her or treat her right, but you know it never works out. Think about all the shit you'll go through. The jealousy alone is a killer, and then you have to choose between your career and her. Women murder your dreams, man. I should know, I was married once, and still paying for that experience."
Alex grabbed his drum key and tuned his set while waiting for the rest of the band to arrive.
During their session, he considered all the ways Gray could be right and wrong.
Jealousy would always be an issue, but that's where trust came in. When the day ended, rather than hang out and chat with his bandmates, he rushed to Mercy's with a fresh pizza.
He found his girls in the backyard picking strawberries, and by the mess on Maddie's face, more ended up in her mouth than in the basket.
"Hey," Mercy rose from her knees and walked straight to him, offering him a kiss.
"I hope you don't mind that I walked in. You didn't come when I knocked, and the door was unlocked."
She brushed her hands off on her denim shorts before she set them on his chest. "You can come in anytime you want." She lifted on tiptoes and kissed him slowly and thoroughly. If this was what coming home was going to be like, he wanted more.
There was a tug on his belt loop. "Hello, Daddy."
"Hey, squirt." Each time she called him Daddy, it melted his heart. He was so wrong to dismiss her initially. His past behavior put him at risk for fathering many children. While he always used a condom, he didn't think about the failure rate.
Then the rage set in. Maddie wasn't even his, but he cared about her and for her. He had an opportunity to make her life better.
"There's pizza in the kitchen."
When Maddie ran off, he tugged Mercy closer to him. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." She laid her head against his chest and inhaled. "You always smell good."
"I shower."
The sound of her laughter was as sweet as music. "I know. That was the second-best part of my day."
"And the first?"
"Before the shower."
"We'll need to arrange for another sleepover soon."
She stepped back and threaded her arm through his, and they walked into the house where Maddie already had the pizza box open. She held a slice in one hand and a pen in the other.
Mercy opened the refrigerator and took out a pitcher of sweet tea.
Maddie tore off a sheet of paper from the pad and handed it to him. On the front were three stick figures that he imagined were Maddie, Mercy, and him. When he turned it over to see what was on the back, his stomach dropped into his shoes.
At the top of the sheet was the words Bucket List, and below in the number one position was groupie underlined.
"Was that all this was?" He held up the list and stared at Mercy, who took the seat across from him. "Am I just a bucket list item to be checked off?" He glanced at the bottom and took Maddie's pen. "Here, you might as well scratch earth-shattering Os from the list." He drew a line through the entry.
"Oh, come on, Alex. That's not what this is." She swiped the page and tossed it away, then handed Maddie a fresh sheet and a new pen. "Honey, can you draw your father another picture?"
"Finish eating, Maddie, because we need to go home."
Maddie scowled at him. "But I'm drawing."
"I know, sweetie, but Daddy has stuff to do."
"Alex, that sheet is BS, and the only reason groupie was at the top was because my mom told me to become one just once."
"You succeeded and didn't even have to break in; I invited you. Sorry I can't help with number three
