Blurred Lines 1: CHASE
Chapter 88

-Chase

"Got any idea where we're going?" I met Elise's eye through the rearview mirror, merging into the freeway. As always, I was half stunned to see her sitting in the backseat of my car. Never in my wildest dream have I imagined I'd fathered an amazing kid like her. If someone told me I'd be a father ten years ago, I'd probably knock them down on their a*ses and tell them to f*ck off.

She thought for a moment, pursing her pouty lip. Elise had my dark blond hair, which she loved to have in pigtails. Then she got her mother's doe eyes and plump lips. I remember Sofia having those chubby cheeks in her teens. It made me smile. Sofia hated being a plus size, but she just couldn't help eating the pastries her mom had made.

"Uhm, De Luca's and we gonna have gelato." We were going to De Luca's, her favorite restaurant, though gelato was not the only food on my menu.

"De Luca's it is," I said, turning the music on; the Beatles' Hey, Jude filled the car.

Elise called my classics 'Dad music,' When she learned that Sofia and I made this playlist in our teens, she grew to love them. She even hummed along to the song.

"I'm sorry i missed your recital, Princess." I needed to tell her how much I regretted missing her dance. Sofia told me i was beating myself too much.

"It's okay, Daddy," she said. "Grown-ups have work and responsibilities. I wanna be like you someday." This had Sofia written all over it. She's so good at explaining how the world worked to Elise. I don't know what I'd do if the situation had been reversed. "Like me?"

She hummed, nodding. "I will be very good at my job, like you."

I smiled, jealous of how simple the world was in her eyes. "I know you will, princess."

Twenty minutes later, we sat in our booth at De Luca's, waiting for our lunch and gelato. I was occupied listening to Elise's stories about Shooter, Julian, and what she did with Mommy while I was away. I could listen to her speak all day. Her blue eyes sparkle like New Year's Eve whenever she remembers something exciting.

After gelatos, I brought Elise to the mall for skating. It was my first time, which surprised her. We've fallen together on our a*ses but learned to skate together, too. Then we went to the arcade. Elise dominated the claw machine and got a stuffed teddy bear. "I will give this to Mommy," she squealed excitedly.

"Yeah?" We headed to the park near our neighborhood. I planned to end our date with a relaxing time in the swing.

"Yes." She squeezed my hand and hugged the stuffed bear closer to her chest. "Mommy always takes care of me. And I want to make her happy. Do Mommy like Teddys?"

We reached the swing. Since it was early Friday afternoon, the park wasn't as crowded as on weekends. Elise placed the teddy bear on the swing and hopped to the next one. I went behind her to push her. The swing chains squeaked against the metal bar. "I think so," I said. "Mommy will like anything you give her." I pushed her harder. Her grip on the chains tightened, squealing for more.

"Daddy, I was wondering," Elise shifted gears, always wondering. She never runs out of questions. "Hm?"

"Uncle Derek said he was a Seal, but I can't picture him with whiskers and swimming in tanks playing tricks on people. He has so many muscles for a seal."

I chortled. She glanced at me over her shoulder, brows furrowed. "Seals have muscles," I said, working around the laughter I was suppressing.

"But they are cute. Uncle Derek is not. He's so stoney."

That did it for me. I laughed hard. I can't wait to give Derek s*it about this.

Gathering myself together, I explained to Elise what kind of Seal Derek was talking about.

"Oh, so he didn't work in Sea World?"

"Nope."

"We thought he had whiskers. I thought they'd be pink. Julian said they are blue."

"That would be more fun than what he actually did."

"Yeah." She hopped from the swing as I held it steady. Grabbing Teddy, we walked hand in hand through the park. "Daddy, can I have another gelato?"

I opened my mouth to say we can't, but one look at her big blue eyes, wide with hope. I shut my mouth and sighed, nodding. This girl can have me on my knees just by using those doe eyes, just like her mother.

"Will ice cream do?" I asked instead, eyeing the ice cream parlor across the street, just a few meters from where we parked.

"Do they have Pistachios?" she asked, s*iping as we went.

"Maybe. We'll see." I scanned the street left and right before we crossed. Before entering the ice cream parlor, I double-checked the car parked on the corner of the street. A red Mustang. It was hard to miss. "Daddy?" Elise tugged at my hand. We'd been standing on the open door.

"Let's go check if they have pistachios." I herded Elise towards the counter. Elise ended up having a rocky road while I settled for classic vanilla. While we waited for our orders, we settled on the empty booth at the corner of the shop. Once seated, I did a double take at the woman sitting behind Elise.

Carlota.

"Chase." She looked as stunned as I was. Sliding out of her booth, she gave me a hug.

"Hey, Carlota." I hesitantly patted her shoulder, aware of my daughter's curious eyes on us. "My G*d, how long has it been?" she breathed, probing green eyes traipsed over my face. Carlota and I remained friends, but I kept her at arm's length when Sofia and I got together. Some sentences are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on FindNovel.net. Visit FindNovel.net to read the complete chapters for free. She moved to Italy seven years ago. She manages Eros' business expansion there. Last I heard, she was dating an Italian businessman. 'It seemed serious,' Eros told me, and I was happy for her.

"Six years," I said, smiling at Elise. "Carlota, meet my date, Elise."

Carlota gazed at my daughter. Her smile widened. "Oh my G*d, you're so pretty." She gushed.

Elise smiled at Carlota. "Thank you. I like your boots."

Carlota was dressed in a white crop top and short denim shorts. Elise loved wearing boots, so it's no wonder she noticed Carlota wearing one.

"Yours are nice, too," Carlota replied.

"Thank you. Mommy bought it for me."

"That's nice. How old are you?" The curiosity in Carlota's voice and features was palpable.

"Almost five," Elsie replied, scooping a spoonful of her ice cream.

Carlota giggled, turning back to me. "She has Sofia's eyes and your hair."

"She does," I said. "And her Mommy's sweet tooth."

"Are you here with someone?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

Thinking it odd to see Carlota in Pinehills, I can't help wondering what she was doing here. This was the last place I expected to see her. Their family has a history in this town that Eros would rather bury six feet under. Carlota glanced at her watch. "Should be. My meeting was supposed to be thirty minutes ago. Ice cream has already melted."

My brows furrowed. Carlota was not a fan of ice creams or any sweets, fueling my curiosity. I wanted to probe the nature of her business here, but not in my daughter's presence.

"That's not good for business," I commented.

"No, it's not," Carlota sighed. "Well, it was nice seeing you again. And it was nice meeting you, Elise."

Are you coming to the wedding?" Elise suddenly asked out of nowhere.

Stunned, Carlota's smile faltered. Even though we remained friends, she wasn't invited to the wedding, even at Elise's christening. "Uhm, I'll be back in Italy soon," she said. "So no, I won't attend your mom and dad's wedding." "Oh," Elise sighed, her shoulders falling. "I will wear my cowgirl boots on the wedding day."

"Maybe you can show it to me one day," Carlota replied. She excused herself before Elise could fire another out-of-the-field question.

Back at home, Elise searched for Sofia. She was in the kitchen making dinner. Elise fired up, gushing about our date without missing a single detail, until we were seated at the dining table.

"I met Daddy's friend. Her boots were so pretty," Elise said when we ate dinner.

The tater tot casserole I was eating went down the wrong pipe. I coughed, reached for my water, and halved the glass' content.

Sofia's eyes narrowed. "Which friend?"

"Carly," Elise answered.

"Carly?" Sofia parroted, raising a brow at me.

"We saw Carlota at the ice cream parlor." At that moment, I wished she would just give me an earful about the extra ice cream.

"What was she doing in Pinehills?" Sofia knew about Carlota and Eros' involvement with Letty's accident. "F*ck if I know," I grumbled, realizing too late that I had dropped the F-bomb in front of Elise.

"Words, Chase," Sofia berated me.

"Put a dollar on the swear jar, Daddy," Elise reminded me.

The f*cking swear jar. "Remind me later, princess," I told Elise. It was hard to filter my words when Sofia was looking at me like that, like I did something wrong when I basically bumped into Carlota. I knew how much Carlota affected her, because this was all my fault. I pushed her into thinking that I cheated with Carlota back in Rio.

"She won't be at the wedding, Mommy," Elise kept adding fuel to the fire. Sofia had been in the mood since we came home. I haven't got the chance to ask how her date with Georgia went. Judging from her response when I complimented her new hair color, it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

"She will be in Italy, Elise," I supplied, hoping to calm the growing tension in the air.

"I wanted to show her my cowgirl boots," Elise pouted. Any grown-up who wore boots was Elise's friend. "I'm sure you'll see her again, hun," Sofia said. Knowing about Carlota clearly upset her more than she already had.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I went out of the shower, hoping to have a nice little chat with Sofia. But the room was empty. I searched the house and found her drinking wine on the deck. Sitting on the outdoor couch, she had one leg tucked under her bum, her crea*y legs were on display through the slit of her silk kimono. Her ash gray hair was pulled into a messy bun, her face bare of makeup, and a frown etched her forehead.

My first instinct was to pick her up and set her on my lap, but given her mood from dinner, I settled

on sitting inches away from her.

"Thinking," Sofia said, offering me her glass of wine.

She hasn't touched alcohol for years unless it's a special occasion. It got me worried.

"Are you mad about Carlota?" It's better to deal with the elephant in the room instead of beating around the bush. I did nothing wrong, but my job was to ease her worries.

"No," she answered hastily, shifting in her seat.

"You know you don't have to be jealous of her, right?" I've told her before, and I will tell her again. "Carlota and I are friends, nothing more. We haven't talked in years. I don't even know why she's here."

Sofia blew out a breath. "I know, Chase." She pulled her knees close to her chest. "I just... I'm sorry. I just had a bad day."

Sensing it was safe to touch her without the danger of losing a limb, I scooted closer and cradled over my lap. "Wanna tell me about it?"

She signed, stretching her legs forward on the couch, looping her arms around my neck. "Everything was fine until I was driving home." She toyed with the ends of my hair. "I thought someone was following me. Then I stopped by the gasoline station to calm my nerves." She giggled nervously. "Miles sneaked up on me, and I smacked him in the head with a grocery bag."

I chuckled, imagining how that scene transpired. Miles grew up sneaking up on Sofia. That boy loved pushing his sister's buttons at every chance he got.

"Miles is here to visit Leo and Derek?" I started segmenting her story with the lightest topic.

"They'll talk about turning our house into a garage." She had mentioned that over one of our video calls.

"I think Derek and Leo will be good mechanics. I don't know about Miles, though." "People change," she said, hopeful that his little brother would start putting up roots in one place.

I reached for her bun, freeing them from the scrunchies. Running my fingers through her hair, Sofial sighed and leaned her head on my shoulder. "So, why did you think someone was following you?".

"I was just being paranoid. I thought I saw a sedan at McIntyre's place. Then there was a sedan at the mall parking lot and another at the gasoline station." She shook her head. "I think you're right. Now that Elise will be in kindergarten, I need to start working again or something."

I took a metal note to check if McIntyre's place had already been sold. They placed it on the listing last month.

"Whatever you decide, baby, I'll support you. Or you could put up your own shop. What about a bakery? You love baking.

She looked up at me, her eyes sparkling. Those da*n eyes looked exactly like Elise's. "That's....

that's a good idea, Chase."

I smiled, burying my face in the crook of her neck. "Now that we got Carlota and your false scare out

of the way, are you ready for your surprise?" I pulled the ribbon holding her kimono at the waist, slipping my hand under her silk top.

"Surprise?" Sofia's voice deepened, tipping her head back as I trailed kisses on the columns of her neck. "Of course, baby. We have a lot of catching up to do." She shivered under my touch.