Treat Me (One Night with Sole Regret #8)(38)

"We'll dump the pellets into our hands, and Aunt Mander can take the empty bag over there." He pointed to the far end of the corral. "And make Brown-goat think she has all the food."

Julie scrunched up her face and giggled into her tiny hands. "That's a good trick, Daddy."

Surprisingly, his trick worked. Brown-goat was so accustomed to being fed out of a paper bag that he was distracted by the bait long enough for Julie to make sure all the nice goats had several pellets each.

"Thank you, Daddy!" Julie said, hugging him as tightly as she could. "You saved the day."



       
         
       
        

Smiling, he squeezed her back. He wished she would stay this size forever. She'd eventually become a teenager and his ability to outsmart goats wouldn't seem quite as heroic to her.

A loud train whistle sounded, its playful tone carrying across the clearing. "Can we ride the train now?" Julie asked.

"Do you want to look at the snakes first?" he asked, pointing at the small building across the way that was labeled as the reptile house.

Julie's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "No, thank you," she said in a squeaky voice.

He didn't care much for snakes either. "Let's go find that train."

He beckoned Amanda with a wave and found her staring at them while Brown-goat nibbled on the empty bag she was still clutching in one hand. She relinquished the bag to the goat and hurried to catch up.

"Ready for a train ride?" he asked, and Amanda nodded, tripping over her feet as she slowed to walk beside him. He took her hand-an automatic reflex on his part-and was surprised when she didn't yank it away.

At the ticket booth, Jacob peered into his empty wallet. Well, shit, Julie had completely cleaned out his cash supply with her donations.

"Do you take credit cards?" he asked the clerk in the tiny booth.

"I've got this," Amanda said, shifting in front of him and handing bills to the cashier. "It's my treat."

"Amanda . . ." he tried to protest.

"How many hundreds of dollars did you donate to this place today?"

"Julie donated it," he reminded her.

"You donated it." She peeked at Julie around Jacob's shoulder. Julie was engrossed in talking to the green parrot in a nearby cage-pretty bird, pretty bird they echoed each other. Her eyes shifting to Jacob's, Amanda slid a hand up his neck and rose up on tiptoes to kiss him. "Julie didn't get her compassion from me. She got it from you," she whispered against his lips before turning to the cashier to get her change.

From him? From Jacob "Shade" Silverton? He was a badass metal singer with only sex, partying, and rock 'n' roll on his mind. Didn't she get that? The rest of the world understood him perfectly.

Honestly, the train ride was entirely underwhelming.

Wooden cutouts of dinosaurs and forest elves stood scattered in the mesquite forest that the train wound through. Or maybe the colorful mystical creatures were gnomes. They definitely weren't the wild animals he'd expected. Julie got overly excited when she spotted a small shaggy pony housed behind a chain-link fence. What excited Jacob was the ability to casually place an arm on the back of the bench and run the silky strands of Amanda's hair between his fingertips. And with Julie squashed between them, with one of her hands on Amanda's knee and the other on Jacob's thigh, they felt-the three of them-like a family. He had to admit it was exactly what his heart desired-a good woman to love him and his daughter. Someone special to him who could also serve as Julie's role model as well as her mother. 

It was a wonderful dream, but just that: a dream.

A dream he wanted to keep close to him. He pulled out his cell phone and held it at arms-length in front of them. When he had all three of their faces lined up in the shot, he said, "Say cheese!"

"Pickles!" Julie said and laughed at her naughtiness.

As he smiled down at the perfect picture he'd captured he decided they looked good together. And happy. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and gave Amanda's shoulder a squeeze. She peeked at him over Julie's head and offered him a flirty wink.

After the short train ride, they checked out a famous goose and some ordinary deer before winding their way to the interior of the zoo where a bunch of small monkeys were housed.

"There you are," said a middle-aged woman in khaki shorts and an Austin Zoo polo shirt. Her dark hair was streaked with gray, her lean body sinewy and tanned, likely from spending her days working outside. She had a friendly face and gentle brown eyes. Jacob was pretty sure he'd never seen her before, but a lot of people he didn't know recognized him.