Sunny's Love

chapter Six



Settling into her comfortable bed after returning from the beach, Sunny thought about the dinner and walk on the beach that she’d shared with her employer. He thinks I’m special, was her last thought before sleep overtook her.

After she’d dressed the next morning, she went in search of the children. She woke both of them and had picked out their clothes for the day. Ali insisted on dressing herself, so Sunny went to help Brice. When she went back to check on Allison, Chase was in his daughter’s room.

“Need some help here?” She laughed as she watched him attempt to put a ponytail in the little girl’s hair.

“Please, Sunny, help me. Daddy isn’t doing a very good job,” Ali begged as Chase feigned a hurt look. The little girl tried to spare his feelings by adding, “Daddy, don’t be silly. Ponytails are a mommy job, not a daddy job.”

“Or maybe a nanny’s job, Ali,” Sunny gently reminded her. She took the hairbrush Chase offered her and swiftly achieved the perfect ponytail.

“I don’t know how you did that, but thank you.” He grinned at her as he glanced at his son, who’d been watching the entire scene with interest.

“Ready for breakfast, Bricey?” he asked the little boy.

“Yes, what’s Alice making for us?”

“We’ll have to go downstairs and see, but whatever it is, we’ll be polite, won’t we?”

“Alice cooks good, Daddy.”

“Yes, she does, but just in case she or Alma would ever cook something you didn’t like, you know you have to be polite, right?”

“Yes, Daddy, we know that,” Ali answered him with a sigh.

Sunny giggled as she watched the three of them interacting together. Once again, Chase had demonstrated what a good father he was.

The four of them entered the dining room together. They weren’t disappointed when Alice carried steaming plates of French toast to the table.

“I love French toast, Alice,” Ali told her with a smile that would win anyone’s heart.

“Me, too,” Brice told the woman who beamed at the praise from her little buddy.

“What about you, Sunny? French toast okay?”

“Of course, Alice, I haven’t eaten this good since I lived at home.”

“Are you the grab a cup of coffee on the way out the door type, Sunny?” Chase teased.

“Pretty much, yes, I usually had a piece of toast and orange juice in the car on the way to work and coffee after I arrive at the office.”

“I figured as much. You’ll have to get used to real food here. Alma and Alice are both excellent cooks.”

“Thank you, Mr. D.” Alice seemed pleased at his words.

“Everything I’ve had so far has been wonderful. I’ll probably gain so much weight with all this wonderful food. My bikini won’t fit by the end of the summer.”

“Bikini, huh?” Chase asked. “I was planning a family outing to the beach tomorrow. Are you going to wear your bikini, Sunny?”

“If you’d rather I didn’t I also packed a one-piece.”

“Bikini is fine by me.” Having voiced his opinion, Chase quickly busied himself with his food.

When breakfast was over, Chase asked Sunny what was on her agenda for the day.

“I thought I’d take the children out to the patio and read to them for a while. Then I thought we might take a dip in the pool before lunch and naps afterward.”

“Sounds good, I have business to attend to if I want to clear tomorrow for the beach, so I’ll leave you to it and I’ll get busy. I’ll see you at lunch.”

He walked into the home office and closed the door leaving Sunny and the children to move forward with their day.

****

When Alice announced lunch would be ready soon, Sunny told the children to get out of the pool. She dried them off as best she could and took them to their rooms to get dressed.

Chase came into the dining room, with the same strained look on his face she’d noticed the night before they left Des Moines.

“Everything all right, Chase?” she asked as he sat.

“Business problems, nothing for you to be worried about, but thank you for asking.”

As soon as he’d finished his lunch, he went back to his office and stayed there until dinnertime. The strained look hadn’t left him causing Sunny to wonder what kind of business problems he was facing.

Sunny noticed whenever he was with Ali and Brice, he was very good at focusing all of his attention on them, no matter what was going on in his world.

“So tell me all about your day. I know you swam this morning. What did you do this afternoon?” he asked the kids.

“Sunny made us take a nap after lunch.”

“And that is a good thing.” He laughed at his son who apparently didn’t agree.

“Then we took a walk, and then we baked cookies,” Ali chimed in, obviously pleased with her day.

He looked at Sunny. “That sounds like fun. Do you think Sunny would help me bake cookies sometime?”

“Maybe if you ask me nicely.” She giggled at the thought of Chase Dupont in the kitchen. But then again, he did own a chain of restaurants.

After dinner when the children were asleep, he invited Sunny to join him for a drink again.

Once they were seated, he said, “I’m having some problems with the restaurant chain, Sunny. There’s a large chain trying to take over my company. I’ll never let that happen and will take whatever steps necessary to stop it. I’ve worked hard and no one is going to take it away from me. I didn’t say anything earlier. I don’t want the children to know.”

“Of course, they don’t need to be worried about you. Is there anything I can do to help?” Sunny reached over and touched his hand soothingly.

“My attorney and I had a long phone conversation today about this. There may be something you can do, Sunny, but it’s a huge thing for me to ask of you. I’d rather wait until I go back to Des Moines next week and discuss it with him further before I bring you in on this. I just wanted to let you know the situation.”

“I appreciate your trust in me, Chase. I won’t say anything to anyone.”

“I’d trust you with my life, Sunny. You’ve more than proven, in the short time I’ve known you, what a genuinely good person you are.”

“Why…thank you, Chase. I’m just being me.”

“And that’s what makes you so special.” He stood up then and walked over to where she sat. Bending down, he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and continued, “I’m going to bed now. If you’re coming up, I’ll walk you.”

Stunned by the conversation and the kiss, she allowed him to help her up. Once again, he walked her to her door, only tonight was different. When they reached her room, he hesitantly pulled her into his arms, as if he were afraid she would reject him. He looked into her eyes, before he leaned down and kissed her soundly on the lips. When he released her, he said, “I’m sorry, Sunny, I don’t mean to offend you. It’s just been a hard day and having you to talk to about it helped me more than you know. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“I’m not offended, Chase, maybe a bit confused.”

“We’ll have a long talk after I return from Des Moines next week. You’ll know all there is to know then. For the rest of this week, I’m officially on vacation. Everything is under control for now.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, Chase. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Sunny. Sleep well.”

She ran to the bed and collapsed on it as soon as she shut her door, puzzled about what he’d said.