Page 80 of Hollywood

I smiled. “She’s nearly potty trained. I told her she was a big girl who might not need pullups anymore.”

Carrie smiled down at Ruby. “Well, good job, Ruby. Are you being really good for your dad?”

“Yep! And Teck!”

“Teck?”

“My friend, Tex,” I said quickly. “He’s great with kids. Your sister met him.”

Carrie nodded. “Oh, I see. Tex helps watch Ruby?”

“Yeah, while I’m at work. I got a bigger place, and he’s my roommate, so she knows him pretty well.”

“And you trust him with her?”

“More than I trust myself,” I assured her.

“Well, that’s good enough for me,” she said. “Kelly said she stopped by and you were doing great with Ruby.”

I nodded. “I, uh…I know we’ve got our past, Carrie, but I love Ruby. I want to be her dad. I broke your trust, and it must have been really hard to let me take her after the accident, but?—”

“I wasn’t worried,” she cut in. “I knew you’d take good care of her. That was never the problem.”

“You did? But…you were so against me having visitation.”

She looked at me over Ruby’s head, a guilty expression flickering in her eyes. “I was angry. I wanted to punish you. It was wrong.”

“Yeah, it was. Not so much because you were hurting me.” I shrugged. “I deserved that, right? You had to carry Ruby alone. Had to give birth and care for a newborn without a partner. That’s on me. But Ruby deserves a father.”

Carrie nuzzled Ruby’s hair. Kissed her cheek. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I know. I’m glad you didn’t hold it against me when we needed you.”

“Of course not,” I said. “You’re allowed to be angry, Care. I earned that. I just want to be in Ruby’s life.”

“You are.” She met my gaze. “You always will be, as long as you want to be. I won’t keep you away.”

Relief washed through me. “Okay good.”

We stayed until Ruby got restless and I had to take her from Carrie’s lap. She looked wiped out, anyway.

“They barely have me doing anything. Some ankle flexing. Some deep breathing.” She rolled her eyes. “Everything is stupidhard.”

“You’re still healing. Focus on that. I’ll bring Ruby by whenever you want to see her.”

“Thank you.”

We left the room and started down the hallway. Joyride was laughing with the cute physical therapist. When he saw me, he said his goodbyes and headed over.

“Hey, how did it go?”

“Good.” I nudged him. “But maybe not as good as it went for you with the hottie, huh?”

He blushed and glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, we just?—”

He stopped cold, color draining from his face. I looked over, wondering what could make him look like he’d seen a ghost.

A woman in a wheelchair had stopped in front of Kit. She gazed up, smiling, and lifted a drink carrier—much as Joyride had just this morning. Her voice carried across the room. “I was out running errands, so I brought you a coffee.”

“Dakota, you didn’t have to go to that trouble.”