Reckless (Blue Collar Boyfriends Book 1) by Jessi Gage Read Free Book Online

night. And then last night, I thought I heard you crying again, so I went in your room to check on you. She was sitting on your bed touching your hair like Mom does when I don’t feel good.”
    His heart stopped while he processed what she’d said . He hadn’t realized Haley had looked in on him last night. A flush crept up his neck as he remembered the erection he’d had before dawn. He hoped to God she hadn’t come in then. Thankfully, her words reminded him of the gentle caresses that had taken the edge off the car-wreck dreams, which had happened earlier.
    But that comfort had been in his dreams. How had Haley seen?
    “She had pretty red hair,” she said, oblivious to his confusion. “But not red like Rebecca’s. It was darker. And she looked worried about you. Don’t you know who she is? Was it someone who died a long time ago?” She tapped the computer screen. “It says here sometimes deceased loved ones from your past hang around and look out for you, like watch over you. I think she was watching over you. I like her. She seems nice.”
    Dark red hair, as in rich auburn waves. His legs felt weak. He gripped the back of a chair as he moved around the table. Crouching, he wiggled the griddle from amidst the pots and pans in the cupboard.
    “There’s no such thing as ghosts, honey.” He clunked the griddle onto the counter and flipped the laptop closed. “It’s pancake time.”
                 
    * * * *
     
    Derek cleaned up after dinner to the sound of crinkling plastic and excited feminine chatter. Haley sat cross-legged on the kitchen floor de-tagging half of Target’s stock of curtains, pillows and rugs. The kid seemed more excited about helping him spiff up his house than about the two bags of school clothes languishing by the front door, where he’d dropped them before grilling up kebobs. Apparently, she’d inherited the decorating gene from Deidre.
    He turned from the sink to face a kitchen that looked like a landfill for the mounds of shopping bags, crumpled packaging material and random piles of colorful fabric—holy hell, was that pink leopard print?
    “That better be for your room,” he said, indicating the fuzzy pink pillows and glittery fabric occupying one of the kitchen chairs.
    “Duh, dad.”
    Guess he ought to think about getting rid of all the stuffed animals in there. She was growing up so fast. Maybe it seemed faster since he only saw her on the weekends.
    “And these are going to look awesome in your room,” she said, holding up a wad of sheer blue fabric he guessed to be curtains. They matched the blue whorls and arcs in the silver-gray king-size comforter she’d picked out for his bed. “Just imagine waking up to this color every morning!”
    In Target, he’d found Haley’s selections for his room on the feminine side, but here in his house, he liked the colors, especially the blue. There was something familiar about it. The doorbell gonged in the living room, derailing his train of thought.
    Over the last two years, he’d learned to dread the sound of his doorbell. No one ever rang it but Deidre. Always at eight sharp on Sunday night. Always reminding him he wasn’t like other dads. He had to squish in his time with his kid between Friday’s five-o’clock news and Sunday-night’s SportsCenter . He’d lost the freedom to enjoy Haley week round when he’d failed in his marriage.
    “Is that Mom?” Haley knelt on the linoleum with a gold-and-rust striped pillow in one hand and a brass curtain rod in the other. Her eyebrows slanted with disappointment, probably because she didn’t want to stop in the middle of her project.
    “’Fraid so, kiddo. Time flies when you’re having fun.” He offered a hand to help her step out of the quagmire of crinkly plastic, but she ignored it, bounding into the living room and throwing open the door.
    “Hi, Mom!”
    “Hi, babe! ” Deidre strode in wearing a stylish denim jacket over a lacy top that looked more like