He was struggling. She was right, she was just doing her job. He was an asshole for snapping at poor Charleigh. He should be blaming Dax and not her because she had nothing to do with losing his shop.

He'd known it since the mayor bought the building years ago.

Bryce knew he should start packing his things and counting the days his shop left because, apparently his brother-in-law didn’t give a damn about him, and all he did was to put his life in hell. He tried searching for a place, but he couldn't find that would meet his budget. He may find one, but it was too far from the town.

Dax was still blaming Bryce for the death of his sister, for impregnating her, for taking her bright future away, and for marrying a poor like him while their future was uncertain. And he shouldn’t be blaming him because he took care of Clary alone.

Bryce knew that Dax would do everything to take Clary away from him. Now that his daughter was in grade school, Dax would take what he had one by one. Right now, he couldn’t do anything because Bryce did his best to raise his child with every best he could, and if he lost the bakeshop his late wife loved, he’d lost his income. If Dax went and appealed to the court, he would probably win, and that was what scared Bryce the most.

“Daddy, who’s she?”

Bryce side-glanced his daughter, sitting at the patio of their two-story home. “She works at your Uncle Dax’s project.”

“But you know her, don’t you?”

“What I told you about eavesdropping over grown-ups’ conversation, Clarissa?”

“I wasn’t listening. I mean I couldn’t help it because she’s pretty, but she looks sad though.”

Bryce felt his cheeks were flushing. His child shouldn’t have been listening because they were talking about sex earlier, but Clary was like nothing her age—she never asked something about grownups. Still, he felt he was a terrible parent.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but think of how Charleigh left the shop, and he did nothing but watched her behind the glass wall as she crossed the road. If he was honest to himself, he shouldn’t be blaming her because he heard how passionate she was about what she did, and designing a project was just a part of her job. Yet, he still blamed her.

“She is.” He might have to see the local therapist in town. He thought he'd gone insane. His attraction toward Charleigh had already clouded his judgment.

“You can apologize, you know.” She shrugged beside him.

“How old are you, young lady?” His heart swelled. He was so proud of the only girl in his life. He loved Clary so much and thinking of Dax taking her away from him, almost stopped his heart from beating.

His girl version grinned at her. “I’m seven, and I’m still wishing to have a mom, Daddy.”

And that made his smile disappear. The only thing he hadn’t been able to give her was a step-mom. He was scared that if he liked someone, she wouldn’t accept his daughter, and he would rather stay single for the rest of his life if his future wife wouldn’t accept Clary as her own. That was his only bargain. They were a package deal.

Clary knew about her mom, and she’d seen her pictures. Bryce never hid about her mother's family from her, and they often borrowed her to spend some time with them, but never a second he didn’t think of his child even though he knew they wouldn’t harm her, but perhaps, it was a part of being a father—to constantly worry about his child’s welfare.

“You will have when the right time comes, Clary.” Bryce wrapped his arm around his little treasure’s body and kissed the top of her head. She always smelled amazing, and it always gave him comfort.

“I know, Daddy. When though?”

"I don't know, Clary." Bryce groaned. “And it’s late, sweetheart. You need to go to sleep.”

“Night, Daddy.” She stood up and kissed him on his cheek, then snaked her tiny arms around his neck as if to squeeze him into a hug. “I love you.”

Bryce’s heart just melted. He closed his eyes and returned the hug. “You’re my everything, little treasure.”

***

As soon as Clary fell asleep, he called his grandpa who was living next door.

“Going somewhere?” His grandpa Matthew walked upstairs.

“I won’t stay long. I just wanna meet someone.”

The graying old man chuckled. “You don’t have to explain, son. My great-granddaughter filled me up through a phone call.”

Bryce’s eyes narrowed and stopped in the middle of the stairway. “About?”

“A woman.”

“You shouldn’t be listening about it, grandpa.” He ignored the scrutinizing looked Matthew had thrown at him because he could feel it even he walked past through the old man.

“You didn’t raise my little treasure into a liar, did you?”

“But she’s still a kid to understand, grandpa.”

“She wants a mom, Bryson.”

He sighed deeply to ease the constriction in his chest. The topic always put him on edge. As much as possible, he didn’t want to talk about it because he knew it was impossible right now. He had already a lot on his plate, and finding a woman to be her mom was not in the list of his priorities.

It wasn’t that he had no plan on remarrying, but he hadn’t met a woman he wanted to marry. He certainly moved on, and they did their best to save Clarity’s life, but things were not under their control. His wife still died in the end.

“And she knows that I can’t just kidnap a woman and marry her, can I?” It was useless to argue because he was lonely, and he wanted a woman to warm his bed, and to treat his kid like hers, but he hadn’t even had time to date, and that was Matthew was trying to say.

“Call me when—”

“Just go and get a life, son.”