Falling asleep on the couch meant forgetting to set my alarm clock and little hands shaking me awake yet again. Maya’s disapproving pout had me rushing to get up, guilty that I had made her wake me again.

“Sorry, baby girl. I didn’t mean to sleep in.” I was groveling as I made Maya breakfast, bribing her with her favorite microwavable chocolate chip pancakes- partially because they were so easy to eat in the car.

“Grounded,” she huffed back, surprising a laugh out of me.

“You’re right. No TV for me tonight.”

“And pizza for dinner!”

“Again?” I frowned at her when she shrugged. What was it with kids and pizza? “How about sandwiches, and I’ll let you have dessert.”

“Ice cream!” Maya’s anger was forgotten immediately, and I was glad she was so easy to win over.

The smile fell off my face when my phone rang on the counter. I grabbed it before Maya could try to hide it and keep my attention. “Please tell me it’s not an emergency,” I answered with an exasperated sigh.

“Well, not exactly.” The woman speaking was my assistant, the one who kept track of all the appointments I had set to show clients new buying prospects or run open houses. “But you’re not going to like it.”

I held my breath for a moment, trying not to look irritated in front of Maya. “We’ll make it work. What is it?”

“We’ve had some interest in the house on Sheridan. People who would make offers you would die for. If we do an open house tonight, I can almost guarantee we’ll sell in the next week.”

“That’s great, Abigail! Why wouldn’t I like that?”

“It’s going to be late. There are families, and couples who work in that area. I know your kid’s in school, but we’d only get maybe one client if we run this during working hours. We’re already completely booked this weekend.”

“For fu-” I came to a hard stop, biting my tongue. Maya was watching me too closely for me to even think about swearing. “Fine. I’ll find a way.”

“Sorry, Mister Hayes.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you later. Thanks, Abigail,” I added before I hung up, not wanting to sound too harsh. The last thing I needed when I was rebuilding my business was to lose the woman who kept my schedule from going to hell.

“Dad?” Maya’s hesitant voice brought my attention back to her. “Okay?”

“I’m fine! Let’s get you to school, alright? We have to return that sticker book- don’t forget it!”

That got Maya moving again, and I hurried her out the door with her mini pancakes wrapped in a napkin for her to eat while I drove her to school. The threatening clouds from the day before had turned into rain, and I had to keep rolling up Maya’s window every time she complained it was too warm. We were both happy when I parked the car, and she jumped out with Jared’s sticker book held securely against her chest. I was worrying about what to do about picking her up while I followed behind her, so preoccupied with it that I paid no attention to what she was saying as I walked her to her classroom.

Maya tried to run ahead of me several times, and I would have been more surprised if I wasn’t desperately trying to come up with a way to deal with my unexpected late night. She stumbled to a halt at the open classroom door, peeking inside; we were late, and class had already started. I held her back from running in, hand catching the top handle of her backpack.

The noise she made was enough to draw attention, though. The kids who looked up dismissed it easily enough, preoccupied with the project Jared had given them. I forced up a smile to cover how frazzled I felt when Jared’s gaze stayed on us.

I felt more awkward than ever after I’d been unable to get my mind off him the night before; I couldn’t look at him, my eyes constantly dropping down to where my daughter was bouncing on her toes.

A nervous, guilty part of me just wanted to leave Maya and escape before Jared could come over. I reminded myself I was an adult and stayed put as he stood up to come and meet us at the door.

“Mista Nowan!” Maya’s excitement surprised me. Though she did inch closer to me, it was the first time I’d seen her happy to greet a teacher. “Stickers!” She held the book out to him, a grin on her face.

“What do you say?” I prompted, a hand on her shoulder to help her feel comfortable.

She looked up at me, confused for a moment before she figured it out. “Thank you!”

“You’re very welcome, Miss Maya! Thank you for returning it!” Jared said, his gentle hands taking the book from her. His face beamed. “Why don’t you go wait at your desk for me, okay? I’m just going to talk to your dad for a sec.”

Seeing the kind smile he gave my daughter settled some of my anxiety, and it gave me an idea for the problem I’d been worried about all morning…