Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
FORD
As Peyton frowned at the door Bree had just run through like a bat out of hell, I snatched up the nearest thing I could use to hide my erection—the stew pot I hadn’t yet found a proper home for. Mortification crawled up my neck as I struggled to get blood flow back into my brain. I could still taste Bree on my lips, still feel her wrapped around me. God, it was everything I’d dreamed of for the past ten years and nothing I expected to have again. We were still combustible, as evidenced by exactly where that little interlude would’ve been headed had my kid not had the worst possible timing.
Said kid glanced back at me and arched a brow. “Are you okay? You’re all red in the face.”
Christ, this was worse than being caught by my moms. “Sure, I’m fine.” Redirect. Redirect . “How did things go with Ed?”
Peyton bounced on her toes, seemingly oblivious to the fog of sexual tension still hanging in the air. “So Ed says some of the locations on this map are new to him. Like, they might’ve just been artistic license, but some of them might’ve been pulled from the old stories instead of the accepted history.”
My pulse gradually began to slow. “Oh, yeah?” I loved that she was getting so excited about a tourist map. I could definitely appreciate a sense of adventure.
“We’re going to compare it to some of his old maps. He thinks there’s a possibility there could be actual pirate caches that nobody’s found yet because they’ve been looking in the wrong places.” Her eyes lit up. “Can we go treasure hunting?”
I doubted there was treasure to be found, but the excitement radiating off her made me smile. After everything she’d been through, seeing her act like a regular kid felt like a gift—like maybe I wasn’t completely screwing this whole dad thing up. “Sure. Sounds fun. Did you pick which pirate you’re doing your paper on?”
“Jack Rackham, I think.” She fidgeted with the edge of the map that had been her constant companion the past few days, clearly bursting to share more.
“Good ol’ Calico Jack. Why him?” I leaned forward, genuinely curious about what had caught her interest. These glimpses into her personality felt precious, like pieces of a puzzle I was slowly putting together.
Peyton grinned, and the expression transformed her whole face. “Pirate romance, duh. After he dumped Blackbeard on Ocracoke, he hooked up with Anne Bonny. Now she’s who I’m really interested in, but since she wasn’t from around here, she’s not on the list.” Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she talked about the female pirate.
I grinned back, loving this glimpse of teenage sass. “Down with the patriarchy?”
“Heck, yeah.” She sat up straighter, looking proud of herself, and for a moment I could see exactly who she’d be in a few years—fierce and unstoppable, exactly as a woman should be.
She finally seemed to register the stew pot in my hands. “What’s for dinner?”
“Uh, haven’t figured that out yet. Spaghetti maybe.” I had no idea if we had pasta or meatballs or even a jar of sauce, but it was the first thing to pop into my head. Saved from mortal embarrassment, I set the pot on the stove.
“School go okay, today?” I’d picked her up myself at the end of the day, but she hadn’t been in a talking mood as I’d ferried her to the Brewhouse to meet with Ed, and I’d been too focused on watching everyone we passed and wondering if they were somehow out to harm my daughter.
“It was fine.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Peyton hopped up on one of the barstools, and I began rummaging through cabinets to assess our spaghetti situation.
“So Madison totally likes Trevor, but Trevor’s best friend Jake likes Madison’s best friend Sarah, who actually has a crush on Trevor.” She paused for breath. “And now Madison’s mad at Sarah because she thinks Sarah’s trying to steal Trevor, even though Sarah would never do that to her best friend.”
Bowtie pasta. I had no idea where it had come from, but I could work with that. I set the box on the counter. “That’s... complicated.”
“I know . And the worst part is, Trevor doesn’t even know Madison exists like that. He’s too busy mooning over Kaylee, who’s dating some high school freshman.” She propped her chin on her hands. “But Madison and Trevor would be perfect together. They both love anime, and they both volunteer at the animal shelter.”
I found a jar of sauce that I also didn’t remember buying and some frozen meatballs. I suspected one of my moms had come by and hidden groceries when I wasn’t looking. “Sounds like you’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“Well, yeah. Madison’s my friend. I want her to be happy.”
I wanted the same for Peyton, and I was thrilled she’d made a friend, even if I had no idea who Madison actually was. I’d have to rectify that.
Peyton sighed dramatically. “Love is hard .”
I bit back a smile, remembering how everything had felt like life or death at that age. “That it is, kiddo.”
“I mean, look at you and Bree. You obviously still like each other, but you’re both being stupid about it.”
I nearly dropped the pot I was filling with water. “We’re not—that’s different.”
“Uh-huh.” She gave me a look that was pure teenager. “Sure it is.”
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of parenthood…
Deliberately, I turned my back and finished filling the pot with water, setting it on the stove to boil. “Did anything else happen today?”
“Well, not at school, but at the Brewhouse everybody was talking about how that Galef's guy’s apartment was broken into.”
“Really? I hadn’t heard that yet.” Of course. I hadn’t actually stopped anywhere in town today.
“Bonita said she heard it from her cousin Danica, who’s dating Chris Shelton, who’s apparently a police officer in town.”
My lips twitched at her recitation of sources. “We’ll turn you into a small-town girl yet.”
Peyton grinned again. “The gossip is kinda fun, when you’re not the topic of it.”
“Fair enough.” Deciding this was as good an opening as I was going to get, I sobered. “Speaking of Galef, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
For once, she didn’t stiffen up at my tone, and I called that progress. Taking the time to dump the meatballs and sauce into another pan, I set them to warm on low heat and went to join her at the counter. “How are you feeling about all this stuff? Are you worried?”
“I mean, maybe a little, because everybody’s wigged about it. But whatever’s going on, it’s got nothing to do with me, so not really?” She didn’t sound entirely sure.
“Would you like to try some self-defense training? There’s a class down at the community center.”
“Self-defense training?”
“It’s a handy thing for anybody to have. But I won’t push you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I just want to do whatever you need to feel safe. And maybe a little more than that, to make me feel like you’re safe.”
Peyton’s lips tipped into a frown. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing bad. Just that I don’t want you going anywhere alone while all this is going on. As you say, it’s got nothing to do with you, but I wouldn’t want you to accidentally stumble into something by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. So we’re gonna stick with pick up and drop off from school and from anywhere else you need to go. If I or Grandma Flo or Mimi can’t do it, one of my other friends will. Okay?”
“Okay. I can live with that.”
“Did you want to try the class?”
“Can I think about it?”
“Sure.” With all the sexism and misogyny women and girls faced, I wanted her to be able to defend herself. But that was a longer term goal. A few self-defense classes were no substitute for consistent training. Maybe I could get her into some form of martial art. I’d have to check to see what was available.
“You wanna go dump your bag and do whatever you need to do while I finish putting dinner together?”
“Can we have garlic bread?”
“I don’t think we have any bread but hamburger buns.”
“So? We’ve got butter and garlic powder, don’t we?”
“Equal opportunity bread lover. I respect that. I’ll make some garlic toast.”
Scooping up her backpack, she flounced out of the room. Surely that flounce meant she’d actually had a good day?
Once I heard the door to her room open, I finally let out a long, slow breath and scrubbed both hands down my face.
Much as I hated that Peyton had interrupted us, it was probably for the best. Falling back into bed with Bree would do nothing to prove to her that I’d changed. That she was actually a priority for me. That I could find a way to be there for her and Peyton in a way that could work for us all.
But the kiss gave me a hope I hadn’t dared reach for after I’d walked out of her kitchen yesterday. She might not want to want me, might not want whatever she felt for me, but that kiss had made it abundantly clear I wasn’t in this alone. Even with all her walls, all her defenses, I’d felt her melt against me, felt the way her fingers had curled into my shirt. All the years of regret and longing had poured into that moment, and I knew damn well she’d felt it too. The question was whether she’d let herself acknowledge it, or if she’d keep pushing me away like she had been since the day I came back.
Probably not, considering that the moment we’d been interrupted, the moment she’d had a chance to think, she’d fled. I knew Bree Cartwright. She was on the retreat now, scrambling to talk herself out of what she wanted because it came along with feelings. Nothing on earth scared her more than those. And I got it—after what her parents had done, after what I’d done, she had every reason to be gun-shy. But I wasn’t going anywhere this time, and sooner or later, she’d have to face that.
Sawyer had said I needed to show her with actions what she needed to see. So I’d do exactly that. I was here now. And I was determined to prove to her I could be what she needed. What she deserved.
I just wished figuring out the details was as easy as figuring out what to feed a thirteen-year-old girl.