The “though” was almost funny. As if one could be “not boring” or beautiful, but not both.
She supposed this was his go-to compliment when it came to disarming women.
“Well, I must be, right? I’m sure you never boink ugly women.”
He smiled. “None that I recall, anyway. They all seem beautiful at the time.”
Dear God.
“Jasper, that’s... that’s not how you... look, maybe this is a mistake. Maybe I should get going.”
“Eden,” he said firmly and evenly, “I just want her to like me. And I wouldn’t hate it ifyouliked me. Believe it or not, I’mnervousabout this.”
She eyed him suspiciously.
“I like kids, I really do—I’m the godfather to John’s kid. Travels with us. He’s still little. His name is Milo. Want to see pics?”
He whipped out his phone and showed her his screen saver: a photo of him crouching next to a diminutive plump toddler with big dark eyes. It was pretty stinking cute. They were both making peace signs.
“John is...?” Eden said absently. Studying that picture. Adorable as that kid was, she was really glad Annelise wasn’t the kind of kid subject to the vicissitudes of life on the road with a band.
“John’s my drummer. And if I’m partly responsible for Annelise being in the world, I want to be part of her life. At least alittlepart of her life. It literally kept me awake last night thinking a kid of mine is growing up not knowing who her dad is. I mean that. I mean, I knowyourdad. Cool guy. You had that growing up.”
She was going to have to tell her parents about Jasper, and she had a hunch Glenn wouldnotbe a cool guy when he heard the news.
“Yeah. I have a great dad. Annelise has plenty of positive male influences in her life.”
She landed on “positive” a little too hard.
She forgave herself.
She was all for making Jasper work for this.
“You know, speaking for myself, when you don’t know your dad, there’s this... you’re always just kind of aware that something’s missing. No matter what. Even if you don’t reallylackanything. For me, it added this level of restlessness, I think... maybe that’s why I have a jaguar.”
She smiled a little at that. But he was serious.
“And yeah, I’ve tried a few ways of, um, thinking and being. Who doesn’t do that? It’s just that the things I’ve tried are on a slightly, um, epic scale, and make it into the news.”
This did sound like a reasonable explanation.
“She’s a little girl. Not a supermodel. You’re a rock star who possesses a certain amount of charm—”
“As much as that, huh?”
“—and you’re intelligent, and odds are good you’re not a sociopath.”
“Now you’re just trying to turn me on.”
“She’s a delightful, funny, blazingly smart, sunny-natured easy child, and I lucked out with that, I really did. I’m totally aware that it could be so different. So it’s not that hard foranyoneto make herlikethem, Jasper. She’s trusting and openhearted and...” She stopped, freshly breathless with trepidation, suddenly, at the idea of exposing Annelise’s tender, trusting, open heart to the relative wild card that was Jasper Townes.
But she was the one who’d slept with this man and created Annelise, the heretofore fatherless child. The onus was on her to manage this and make it right for Annelise. Because like it or not, this guy was her father. And it was either now, or maybe never. This moment, this opportunity, might not ever come again.
“...and...” he pressed.
“I meant to say, the idea ofyoubeing her father? She’s been wondering more about who her dad is lately. And you may not be what she has in mind. And she does have a mind of her own.”
“That’s odd, considering her mother is so easygoing and mild-mannered.”