Free Building the Perfect Daddy by Brenda Harlen Page B

ignore the clarification. “It kind of makes me think that fate had a hand in your selection.”
    â€œFate?” he echoed dubiously.
    â€œI was a skeptic, too,” she told him. “But the way the stars aligned for my other sister and her husband last year, I’m starting to believe some things might be written in the heavens.”
    â€œAnd that excuses you signing your sister’s name?”
    â€œSometimes the end does justify the means. And Lauryn deserves this. She needs this. After everything she’s been through this past year...and years before.”
    He didn’t ask. Though Ryder was undeniably curious about Lauryn’s history, it wasn’t really any of his business.
    â€œSo how did you get her to agree to it?” Tristyn asked him.
    â€œI had a little help from Mother Nature,” he admitted.
    â€œThe leaky roof?” she guessed.
    He nodded. “The rain was coming into Kylie’s bedroom.”
    â€œIf it had been her own bedroom, she would have put out buckets and lived with it as long as she had to,” Tristyn said. “If you’ve been given a tour of the house, you probably noticed that Kylie’s and Zachary’s rooms are the only ones that have been updated in forty years.”
    â€œI noticed,” he confirmed.
    â€œRob made her so many promises...” Tristyn trailed off, shaking her head. “He agreed to everything she wanted when they were first married—and did absolutely nothing.”
    â€œYou obviously weren’t a fan.”
    â€œNo,” she admitted. “I tried to like him, because Lauryn loved him, but I couldn’t get beyond reluctant tolerance.”
    â€œHe couldn’t have been that bad if your sister stayed with him for so long,” Ryder surmised.
    â€œLauryn doesn’t like to fail at anything. Once she spoke her vows, she was determined to do everything in her power to make the marriage work. But a relationship takes two people, and Rob wasn’t half as committed as she was.”
    Maybe he should have felt guilty that he was talking to Lauryn’s sister about her, but he wasn’t interrogating her—they were just having a conversation. And he suspected that Tristyn wouldn’t tell him anything she didn’t want him to know.
    Especially not with Lauryn’s footsteps coming down the stairs.
    â€œFeel better?” Tristyn asked when her sister entered the kitchen.
    â€œMuch.” Lauryn poured herself a mug of coffee, added a splash of milk and took a long sip.
    â€œYou found your clothes,” Ryder noted. “I’m disappointed.”
    She narrowed her gaze. “Aren’t you supposed to be working on the roof?”
    â€œEverything’s under control,” he assured her.
    â€œWhere’s the camera crew?” Tristyn asked. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone filming what you’re doing today.”
    â€œLucky for your sister,” he teased.
    Now that the shower had washed away the tequila-induced cobwebs, Lauryn could admit that her decision to storm outside and confront Ryder had been both impulsive and regrettable. Unfortunately, there was no way to undo what she had done, so she attempted to appeal to his sense of decency instead. “Can we please just forget about this morning?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” he said. “But I can stop talking about your underwear, if it makes you uncomfortable.”
    â€œI was wearing pajamas ,” she said through gritted teeth.
    â€œThe camera crew?” Tristyn prompted again, in an obvious attempt to redirect the conversation.
    â€œThey don’t usually work weekends and they don’t work at all without a signed contract.” He slid an envelope across the table. “The terms have been revised, per our previous discussion. Now we just need your signature.”
    â€œIf you don’t have a contract, why are you here?” Tristyn