“I know I’m not as cool as Nico, but do you think you’ll be alright hanging with me for the next few days while your dad works?”
Annie eyed her up and down, seriously mulling over her decision. “Will you make me eat my vegetables?”
“Not if you don’t make me eat mine.”
She smiled. “Deal.”
Chapter 5
“And then Zach put the whole cupcake in his mouth!” Annie danced on the balls of her feet, spinning and twirling and tugging at Derek’s sleeve. “Daddy, did you hear me? He can eat a cupcake inone bite.”
“I heard you, peanut.” He set their bags down on the front step of the cottage at the edge of the Hotel Bellwether property, his head pounding, and patted his pockets. Where had he put the key card?
“And Nico said the hotel is haunted,” Annie said, eyes wide. “I’ve never met a real live ghost before.”
“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Derek said.
“That’s not what Nico says.”
Derek grunted. “Remind me to thank him for that.”
“Beckett and Jackson were talking about a restaurant thatpoisonsyou,” Annie said in a comically loud whisper. “Can we go? Can we go, Daddy?”
He turned out his pants pocket. Still no key card. “Let’s get inside and then we can figure out—”
“Do you think it’srealpoison? Lainey McKenna said she got poisoned once but it was really an allergic reaction. I don’t think it counts as being poisoned if you’re allergic to strawberries.”
“Who’s Lainey McKenna? Is she a new friend?” Derek asked, pausing in his hunt for the key card.
“She’s a girl at my school. She doesn’t like ghosts or the Phoenix Princess or anything fun.” Annie clapped her hands together as her thoughts darted on to the next thing. “I bet the Phoenix Princess wouldlovea poison restaurant.”
Derek sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s not a poison restaurant. It’s called The Poison Place because it’s near the poison plant garden.”
“A poison plant garden?” Annie screeched in excitement. “Wehaveto go there.”
“We will. I just have to find where I put the key—”
“I’ve got it.” Jo stepped around him and the little tornado of energy at his side to press a key card to the sensor beside the front door. The lock whirred and clicked, and she pushed the door open, catching Annie’s hand as she made another rotation around Derek’s legs and seamlessly twirling her through the door. “What qualifies as poison, do you think?” she asked Annie. “Chocolate is poisonous to dogs but not to people. Is that poison?”
Annie laughed. “No! We’re talking about people poison.”
Derek dropped the bags inside the door and let it slambehind him. He winced at the answering bang, his temples throbbing. A transcontinental flight was always tiring, but this one had been especially brutal. Between his lack of sleep the night before (not that he was complaining about that), Annie’s boundless energy, and the Midnight Storm band members’ antics—including far too much flirting with Jo in his opinion—Derek was in desperate need of a shower and a good night’s sleep.
“Why don’t we get settled and then we can go check out this restaurant?” he offered.
Annie squealed, bounding across the room to scoop up her backpack before darting down the hall. “I want to pick out my room first!”
“No running, please,” Derek called after her. He glanced at Jo. How did she still manage to be picture-perfect after a seven-hour flight? “She’ll settle down now that we’re here,” he said.
Jo’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at his apologetic tone. “Are you kidding? She’s great.”
Pride bloomed in his chest. “She is.” From down the hall, his daughter’s excited squeak announced that she had, in fact, chosen a bedroom. “I should probably find out if this restaurant has chicken nuggets.”
“Way ahead of you,” Jo said. “I looked up the menu while we were on the plane. Chicken nuggets and personal cheese pizzas are on the menu at almost every restaurant in the resort. And chocolate milk. Annie was very concerned about that part.”
Something warm flickered in his chest knowing she’d takenthe time to look up not only the menu for that evening but every menu in the resort, that she’d been concerned about his daughter having access to her beverage-of-choice…
“You’re so good with her.” The words passed his lips before he could think better of it.