Chapter 2
TWO
“Daddy?” His six-year-old, Lena, came to crawl on his lap, peering into his face. “You mad?”
Shit. He was being obvious. But then again, his kids always knew. “A little frustrated with your papa, baby girl.” Dalton was a lot frustrated with the infuriating man, but he wouldn’t tell her that.
She tilted her head. She was so much like his grandmother, who she was named after. Practical. Sharp. Curious. “Why?”
“Because he was supposed to be with you yesterday, and he wasn’t.”
“Oh.” She grinned then, her gap-toothed smile huge. “But, Daddy, he got us candy and flowers and teddy bears, and we got to have pizza. Then his cousin Gabe came. Do you know Gabe? He’s Daddy’s Aunt Dina’s son.”
His heart dropped to his stomach. “The one in North Carolina?”
“Uh-huh. He brought me and Effie both a necklace. See?” She showed him a new little chain around her neck, which held a tiny rainbow heart charm made out of what looked to be colored sapphires. He checked the back, finding it marked 10K.
Shit.
“And then he ate a piece of pizza, and Papa called Miss Cherry to come watch us after we went to bed so they could go have a beer since you don’t like Papa to have it in the house when we’re there.”
Double shit.
Goddamn it. He’d made an utter ass out of himself. So much for trusting Carl at the Brass Rail, even if the stupid asshole was married to his cousin.
“Did you and Effie have fun over the weekend?” He kissed the top of her head, closing his eyes, trying not to give in to the damn huge gulf of lonely in him.
“Uh-huh. We tried to save you some pizza, but Miss Cherry and Punkin ate it after we went to bed.”
Punkin was, apparently, his replacement. A tubby dachshund with a shit attitude. He’d heard that Jack had gotten the weird little mutt at the shelter in Grand Junction.
“Well, I missed you both, but I’m so glad you had fun.” And now he was going to have to get a hold of his sister and have her drop the girls off in two weeks.
He was never going to be able to look Jack in the eyes again. Ever.
“Did Effie have a good weekend?”
Lena nodded and grinned. “No accidents, Daddy! She did so good and didn’t pee her panties even once!”
“Good for her.” Potty training was tough at the best of times, and, honestly, daycare wasn’t helping. “I’m so proud.”
“Me and Papa are too!”
He nodded and smiled, hoping it didn’t look as painful as it felt.
“Why are you so mad, Daddy?” She patted his chest. “And sad. I can see it.”
“Am I? I think I have a little bit of a headache.”
“Did you have to paint today?”
“I did. A little girl’s room. She wanted it to be bright green.” It was a little bilious, honestly, but she seemed happy, and that was what was important.
“Papa says we can paint our rooms at his house! I want mine to be stripes!”
“Stripes? What two colors?”
“Rainbows!”
Oh, he’d pay to see that. Jack would cringe every time he had to go in there. “That’s cool, baby.”
“Uh-huh. You should come back and live at Papa’s, Daddy.” She patted him again, giving comfort, he thought. Such a little mom.
“And lose our apartment? It’s cute and little and ours.” And Jack could suck his left ball.
“Well, but…” She sighed. “It is awful cute.”
“See?” He hugged her. “I know it’s hard, baby girl.”
She shrugged. “I just liked how it was before. When we were a fambly.”
“I did too. But your papa and I, we just couldn’t make it work.”
“You could try.”
What the fuck was he supposed to say to that?
“What did you want for supper tonight?”
“Spasketti?” She loved noodles of all kinds.
“I can do that.” She didn’t care if the sauce came from a jar, and her sister would eat the noodles with butter.
“Okay, Daddy. I’m going to go play with sister. You should watch a happy movie and smile a lot a lot.”
“Sure, baby.” Except he had to make dinner and then pay bills and—he looked at his hands. Wash up first.
Lord have mercy on the working man.
He headed for the kitchen and switched over the laundry before digging through the cabinet for noodles, sauce, and a can of green beans. Always something green. That was Jack’s influence. Dalton had grown up on beige food.
Still, the girls were happy to eat a handful of green beans, and he liked them too. Hell, he’d been known to survive on a can of green beans and a protein drink when he was riding.
And when the girls were away at Jack’s. Without him. “A fucking cousin. Jesus.”
He was an idiot.
He was never going to show his face in public again.
At least when he was painting, he wore a respirator…