Chapter 1

From the kitchen, Evan Alexander could hear girlish laughter over the noise of the television in the living room. “Daddy, look!” his daughter cried, laughing again.

“Daddy’s in here, sweetheart,” Evan called out.

He looked up from the pot of spaghetti he was stirring on the stove as she ran into the kitchen, a large piece of the morning newspaper in her hands. Her thick blonde hair was pulled into twin ponytails on either side of her face, and her eyes sparkled like champagne when she laughed.

Evan smiled down at her—five years old and she’d already stolen his heart. He didn’t want to remember much of his life before she came along. “What do you have there, Kasey?”

“I drew you a picture.”

The newspaper was twice her size—it wrapped around her small body as Kasey tried to hold it out for him to see. “Daddy,” she whined, then sighed dramatically. “This paper.”

Evan grinned and set down the spoon he was using to stir the sauce. “Let me help you,” he said, taking the ends of the newspaper where they scraped along the ground. He held out the paper and smiled at the colored circles doodled onto it. “Oooh, pretty. A priceless work of art like this should be hanging in the Louvre. How much do you think we can get for it on eBay?”

Kasey giggled. “Daddy, stop it. That’s the wrong side. Turn it over.”

“This is just practice, eh?” he asked, winking at her. That set her giggling again. She had the prettiest little laugh he’d ever heard.

Squatting on the floor, he helped his daughter turn the newspaper over. On the other side was a full-page ad for handbags. Kasey had drawn little stick figures in the white spaces around the pictures, childish people with big balloon heads and spindly arms and legs, little triangle skirts for the women and shaky cowboy hats for the men that looked like McDonald’s golden arches on their heads. There were four people—a woman had a little girl by the hand and together they stood between two men. “Who’s this?” Evan asked, pointing at the little girl. “Is this you?”

“Yep.” Kasey pointed at the woman. “And this is Mommy, and this is you.”

She indicated the man standing on the other side of the little girl. Evan could see she had used a lavender crayon to color in the eyes, the same color she’d used on her own picture. Though she looked like her mother, she had his eyes.

“And this?” Evan asked, pointing at the other man.

Kasey laughed. “That’s Paulie.”

Paulie.Paul Martin, her mother’s new boyfriend. Not seven months after their divorce was final and Meredith already had someone else in her life. Evan wondered how serious it could be in that short a timeSerious enough if Kasey knows him by name,he thought. Nice to see her mother got over me quick.

But had there really been anything to get over? Evan and Meredith were married for five years, four of which they spent in separate houses. Kasey didn’t remember a time when her parents lived together. Evan was glad she was so young, so resilient. She thought nothing of the fact that her mommy had a boyfriend and her daddy lived alone in a small townhouse she visited every weekend. She didn’t know this wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

“Do you like Paulie?” Evan asked his daughter.

The little girl shrugged. “He’s okay. Mommy likes him, though. She says it’s nice to have someone like her back.”

I’ll bet it is.Evan had tried to make the marriage work, Lord knew he tried. But some days it felt as if he barely held his own life in check, and there was no way he could hold onto a wife, as well. When Kasey came along, it was almost too much for him. He had known it would only be a matter of time before his life fell down around him. He was still picking up the pieces that had shattered when he finally dropped the charade.

At least Meredith was strong enough to move on, he’d give her that.

“He’s coming to my party,” Kasey said. “You’re coming too, right?”

Evan forced the memories aside and laughed. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Rising to his feet, he swept her up in his arms amid a squeal of giggles and covered her cheeks and forehead with big, sloppy kisses. “My little girl’s turning six! You’ll be in school before you know it.”

“Yay!” Kasey kicked her legs and he let her slide to the floor. “Can’t wait, Daddy. I’m all grown up.”

He tousled her hair and, with a sad smile, agreed. “You’re getting there, sweet pea.” Handing her the napkins and forks he had placed on the counter earlier, he asked, “Why don’t you set the table? Dinner’s almost ready.”

She took the offered tableware solemnly. “I can do that.”

He watched her trot into the dining room and sighed. She was growing up so fast and he barely saw her enough as it was. Weekends were the only real time they spent together, except for the few rare occasions Meredith invited him over.