Girl's Best Friend (Book 1)

My daughter, The Matchmaker?

It was like, 4.30am and we'd only just got in from our night out, not a crazy one Hailie had told me the night before...still, we were creeping into her house hoping not to disturb anything. I slipped off my heels as she opened the door and we sneaked in and closed it softly behind us. The cool marble floor felt like heaven on my throbbing party feet. "Oh my god that feels sooo good" I sighed as I spread my toes out to feel as much of the floor as I could. Hailie giggled at me and headed into the kitchen. "You wanna grab some food?" she asked. "Sure" I whispered back, then placing my heels softly by the front door and then I followed her into the kitchen. Everything was in darkness so Hailie flicked on the breakfast bar lights and we both jumped. "Shit dad!" she called out as we saw Marshall stood by the breakfast bar with a glass of water in his hand. He laughed at us and Hailie swung her hand at his arm. "Why the hell are you stood there in the dark!?" she cried, hands on her hips looking at him, awaiting an answer. He was still grinning. "I ain't been home long, and I was gettin a drink from my kitchen, that ok?!" he responded. Hailie sighed, "Cedric was still with us, you know there ain't any boys with us!" she told him, knowing the real reason he was still up. I couldn't help but grin. "That's nothin' to do with it Hailie Jade!" he said, trying to be serious, but even I could see through it. She just scowled at him and opened the fridge.

She threw me a pack of bacon, four eggs, milk and some sausages and I placed each on the counter beside the cooker. "What y'all doin?" he asked, slipping onto a bar stool opposite me. The cooker was placed on the counter top of the breakfast bar. "Cooking our usual post party night snack" I answered him as Hailie got a couple of pans out for me. He looked at me and frowned, "you want some?" I asked, holding a wooden spatula in my hand. He raised an eyebrow and I grinned a little. "sure." He replied and then I returned my attention to cracking an egg on the side of a saucepan.

It was pretty cool sittin there with Hailie and her friend watching them do their usual routine. I could see how close they were and how happy my baby was. I was seeing her in a whole new way, Victoria was such a good friend to her and maybe it was time I let her spread her wings a little bit more.

As I was cooking and chatting with Hailie and her dad I was trying my best not to stare at him. I mean, he was sitting across from me in a pair of navy blue joggers and that was it! for his age he was looking pretty good, he was a little bit more bulked up then I expected, maybe because of his baggy clothes, and his tattoos weren't as crap as I thought they were gonna be either. He still had his shaved hair, but it was now his natural shade of brown which I quite liked. I noticed him fiddling around with some paper he had in his hand and his nails were really bitten down. I remembered Hailie telling me about it because she hated him biting his nails, but he did it ever since he came off his prescription drugs. He did have a hell of a lot of baggage for a guy of 40, most of which was common knowledge, but knowing Hailie like I did, it didn't really bother me, nor did I judge him like I would have someone else.

"So this is what you do after every time you go out?" he asked as I plated up the food. "Yeah, we always do this at Vick's house" Hailie told him, as I passed him his plate. I always toasted slices of bread then fried it up slipped in a couple of sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs and made a sandwich. Perfection. "Thank you" he nodded as he picked it up to sample a bite. We took up some stools opposite him and picked ours up as we heard him moan. We looked up and he was frowning. "Fuck that's good" as I started to laugh. Hailie high fived me and we sat in silence eating our food.

....................

It was now 5.30am and Hailie had fallen asleep with her head on the counter top as we sat talking. "So, the bad break up, you still not over the guy?" he asked me, flooring me a little, "oh well, I..."