Read The Good Father for Free Online Page A

granted was only temporary.
    Ella had no doubt it would become permanent the next week when Nora appeared before a judge.
    Lila had met her at the outside door of the Stand, ushering them inside with the warmth Ella had known Nora would find, and five minutes later, Ella was climbing back behind the wheel of her Mazda CX-5. The small, four-door sport-utility vehicle she’d purchased just before quitting her job to move to Santa Raquel still smelled new and added to the overall euphoria she felt.
    Nora was going to be fine. Baby Henry was going to be fine. And her new life was turning out far better than she’d even hoped.
    So, of course, it was time to get on with it. Right now. While she was filled with such an acute sense of energy and purpose.
    Sitting in her car in the parking lot, Ella dialed a number she knew by heart, but refused to program into her speed dial or add to her contacts. She couldn’t let it get that personal.
    If Brett didn’t pick up, she’d leave a message. As busy as she was, he was busier. Working all over the country in various time zones. And flying across them when he wasn’t working. Maybe they could talk through messages. He was good at that. Had been communicating that way with his mother for the entire time Ella had known him.
    Running over the words she’d leave on his recording as she listened to the phone ring, Ella started her car. Maybe she wouldn’t have to—
    “Can you meet me at Donovan’s in half an hour?”
    What the...?
    The first contact they’d had in years, and he didn’t even say hello?
    “Yes.” She didn’t know where the hell Donovan’s was, but it must be in town, which meant her GPS would find it. And Santa Raquel wasn’t big enough to require more than thirty minutes to get from one end to the other.
    “Tell the hostess to show you to my table.” Click.
    Ella’s first reaction, after she’d picked her jaw up off the floor, was to call him back and tell him to go to hell.
    She might have, if not for two things. First, Brett was emulating his mother. Which meant he was emotionally vulnerable. He wasn’t immune to her.
    And second, she needed him.
    Far more than he had the ability to hurt her.
    Still sitting in the running car, she did a quick internet search for the restaurant. Typed in the address to her GPS.
    Ten minutes. That was the drive time between where she was and where he’d be waiting for her.
    At his table.
    Holding court.
    Unless she got there first. And asked the hostess to bring him to her table. Car in gear, Ella pulled out, driving just past the speed limit. Not fast enough to get a ticket. Just as fast as she could safely get to where she was going.
    Would have been nice if she’d had a chance to change out of her puppy dog–plastered beige scrubs and into a pair of tight jeans and an equally tight black sweater. He’d always liked her in black. And tight would show him she hadn’t gained a pound since their college days when he’d hardly been able to keep his hands off her.
    A toss of her hair and bit of fresh makeup wouldn’t be remiss, either. But none of that was going to happen.
    His Highness had given her no time to prepare.
    And that was just as well. There was no need to impress him with her womanly wiles. The woman lurking inside Ella was off-limits to him.
    * * *
    “ W HAT DO YOU mean she’s already here?” Brett was not in a good mood when he walked into the beachfront Italian eatery before the dinner rush that Friday afternoon. He hadn’t even had time to stop home and drop off his bags, wanting to just get this last meeting done with and then go home, take a swim in his heated pool and crash on his couch with a beer and some mindless television.
    “She arrived ten minutes ago, Mr. Ackerman. She said she’d rather be seated than wait...”
    Cheryl—he knew because he read her name tag—was a familiar face at Donovan’s. And he was a nice guy. So he smiled, said something inane like “good” and indicated