Chapter 18 Grady
grady
. . .
“Mommy!”
“Hi, sweet girl! How are you?” I smiled as Olivia’s voice came through the speakers.
Charlie always turned the volume up way too loud, but I never minded.
The time away from each other was hard. It always was.
No matter if I was on tour and Olivia stayed home, or if she was across the country in meetings for the label.
This was my favorite part of the day, listening to the two of them talk about nothing and everything.
Charlie insisted on calling her mom every night.
Some chats were longer than others. Last night, Olivia and I listened intently as our daughter gave us a complete account of her day at camp.
Then she asked her mom to read her not one, but two, bedtime stories before she finally passed out.
I grabbed a beer and made my way out to the front porch, taking a seat in one of the large rocking chairs. It was humid as hell. The scent of rain hung heavy in the air as thunder rolled in the distance.
Dad’s neighborhood was quiet, but lively.
There were always couples walking along the sidewalk, or kids playing in the small park just down the street.
That was what I missed most about living in a small town.
Nashville was too busy. Too loud. We’d lived in the middle of the city for so long, I’d almost forgotten what this kind of peace was like.
Olivia’s family lived in a small town a few hours from the city, so we didn’t get out there as much as we liked.
It reminded me a lot of Ashwood and had become one of my favorite places.
I could easily see myself settling there.
Liv and I briefly talked about building a place out on their land, even if it wasn’t going to be our full-time home.
With our careers, though, it never made much sense.
Now that I was out? That I was free? Yeah, I wanted to live that quiet life again. I wanted to sit out on the porch and watch the storms roll in over my own stretch of land. I wanted Charlie to be able to run wild and free, just like I had when I was growing up.
And I wanted Cleo at my side for all of it.
It was strange to think about what our lives would’ve been like had we not broken apart.
Would we have kids? Cleo had grown up with a large family, and I’d always wanted one.
We used to talk about them as if a big family was a done deal.
What they looked like. If they’d be quiet and stubborn like her, or loud and a little wild like me. Or maybe they’d be a mishmash of both.
Besides a weak moment here or there when curiosity got the best of me, I hadn’t kept up with Cleo’s life after she got married.
It hurt too damn much. I was better off pretending she was happy and thriving.
It was a mantra I’d repeated over and over again to try to get it through my head. She’s happier without me.
I’d admit to being surprised she never had kids, though. Not that there was anything wrong with that. I expected to see a whole gaggle of them when I finally caved last summer and looked her up. Maybe her dreams had changed over the years. Maybe I didn’t know her as well as I thought.
Her social media gave nothing away. A picture here or there with her family or of the ranch, some with her ex-husband.
I hated those the most. Not that I had a right to.
I couldn’t fault her for moving on with her life when I’d done the same.
Especially when my relationship with Liv was all over the place.
Even though what we had was different, even if Liv hadn’t signed me to her company’s label, I would’ve married her anyway if she’d asked.
I was pissed off at the world and on a road to nowhere good.
Mom had just been diagnosed with cancer, I was in debt up to my fucking eyeballs, and Cleo had moved on with another man.
“Daddy!” I turned around as Charlie burst into the summer evening with my phone in her hand. “Mommy wants to talk to you before you tuck me in.”
I gave her a smile. “Alright, sunshine. Go brush your teeth for me? I’ll be there in just a second.”
“Okay!” she said, running full speed back into the house. The screen door slammed, sending the nearby birds scattering from their perch.
“You know that girl is gonna spend the next five minutes making funny faces in the mirror, right?” Olivia laughed. “I doubt she’ll even remember to wet the brush.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make her do it again when we go inside.” I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to check in with you. How’s everything going?”
I chuckled and took a sip of beer. “That’s a loaded question.”
“Is it?”
“Yup.”
Olivia propped her elbows on the table at her hotel.
She was in L.A. for the entire month, attending meetings during the day and galas in the evening.
Out of all the things I would miss about our relationship, the constant publicity was not one of them.
I had to deal with it on my own, but dealing with it together was something entirely different.
Liv was a media darling, and having to be “on” all the time was exhausting.
There was never a moment in time when we weren’t under public scrutiny. “Why’s that?”
“Well, Charlie is doing great, obviously. She’s settling in nicely here and is loving camp. The other evening, she told me she preferred their cooking over mine, so that was fun.”
The past two days, I’d picked Charlie up, and she had a bag of cookies clutched in her hand. Most of them were crumbled by the time we got home, but she was right. They’d tasted way better than anything Liv or I had ever made.
Today, I noticed a few more cookies than I had yesterday, which made me smile like a goddamn idiot.
It was foolish to think she’d done that for me.
We still hadn’t spoken, but I swore I noticed her gaze lingering longer than before.
Noticed the way she didn’t run and hide when I came up to sign Charlie out for the day.
Liv tried to hide her smile behind her hand. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard all about it. Sounds like you’ve got some real competition.”
“Apparently so.”
“And what about the other thing?”
I took another swig of my beer and shrugged before meeting my soon-to-be ex-wife’s gaze. “As to be expected. I think I’d have better luck fist-fighting a bear than getting her to look my way, let alone have a conversation.”
“Should I send you the address for the nearest zoo? Maybe that’d win her over?”
“Ha, ha. Very funny,” I deadpanned. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
She leaned back in her chair. “Honestly? I don’t know either. Probably be off fighting bears or some shit.”
“Weren’t you the one ready to push me into the exhibit thirty seconds ago? Did you want to try and settle the whole man versus bear debate once and for all?”
Liv waved me off. “Sounds like a threat from your other ex-wife.”
I grinned. “You’re the one and only.”
“And don’t you forget it.”
“Daddy, I’m done!” Charlie skipped out, smiling widely and pointing at her mouth. “See? All clean!”
Liv and I shared a knowing look. “Breath check?” I asked, quirking a brow. When Charlie clamped her lips shut instead of answering, I had my answer. “Nice try. Get your butt back in there. Let’s go.”
I stood up, tossing the empty beer bottle in the trash as we made our way back into the house.
This time, we both watched Charlie begrudgingly brush her teeth before hopping into bed and demanding a story.
I set Liv up on the charging stand next to her bed, and we took turns reading her favorites.
It wasn’t long before Charlie was fighting sleep.
“Alright, sleepyhead,” Liv said softly, closing the book in front of her. “It’s time to get some shut-eye.”
Charlie sighed as she burrowed deeper into the pillows. “I don’t want to.”
“Why’s that? Aren’t you excited for camp tomorrow?” I leaned forward and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “And for those cookies you apparently love more than my cheesy mac?”
She gave me a sleepy smile. “Yeah, but tomorrow means it’s almost over.”
“You still have two full days, sunshine,” Liv said. “That’s so much!”
“I still don’t know how to ride a pony, though. And if I don’t know how to ride a pony, then I can’t get a pony.” Charlie’s bottom lip wobbled, and a tear slipped free, a clear sign we were dangerously close to an exhaustion crash out.
My stomach dropped as Liv tossed a nervous glance my way. I knew what she was going to suggest before the words ever left her mouth. “What if we asked for private lessons? Surely, they have someone at the ranch who could do it, right?”
Charlie’s impending tantrum cleared almost immediately. “Really?” She looked my way. “You think we can ask Miss Cleo tomorrow? You think she’ll say yes?”
Goddammit, Liv. How the hell was I supposed to get out of this now? Sure, I could tell Charlie no and stand my ground, but I didn’t want to. Not when she’d been so happy the past three days. Liv knew that. She knew I’d do anything to see my daughter smile.
Fucking hell.
“I don’t know, sunshine. They may not be able to. I don’t know what their schedule is—”
“Surely it can’t hurt to ask,” Liv interrupted. “Worst thing they can say is no.”
That wasn’t true. Not at all. The worst thing that could happen was Cleo thinking I was using my daughter to spend more time with her and telling me to fuck off.
The temporary truce was just that—temporary.
Despite my overwhelming desire to go all in, I was worried doing so would scare her off faster than I could blink.
“Yeah, Daddy! You tell me that all the time,” Charlie reminded me. “That’s why I ask so many questions.”
Well, shit. I did say that, but I never expected her to throw my words back in my face. It was inspirational at the time. Were all the women in my life determined to test my patience? How was this fair?