23. Flynn
Chapter Twenty-Three
FLYNN
I knocked on Cat’s bedroom door and waited. Total silence greeted me.
“Cat,” I called through the door. “The principal left me a message this afternoon while I was flying. I know you skipped your afternoon classes and missed the bus home. Please just come talk to me and tell me what’s going on.”
I leaned a hand on the doorframe above my head. Parenting wasn’t easy. Plus, I wasn’t technically Cat’s parent. It had been hard enough with Nora. Grant had been eighteen when our mother died. He was far too mature for his years, having been the de facto parent to both Nora and Cat while their father was hardly around before he passed away, and then while our mom was sick.
It certainly wasn’t fair to Grant, but he’d made my job easier. He’d actually been able to relax for once when I came home. Nora had been an epically cranky teen and furious with grief. I’d been so relieved when she settled down.
Now, Cat was giving me a run for my money. To my knowledge, she’d never skipped classes before. She’d sure as hell never missed the bus. The bus didn’t come all the way out to where we were, but it dropped her off at a rendezvous point where a rotation of parents picked up the various kids who lived out here. Nora usually picked up Cat for me.
I wasn’t panicking right now because I knew she was home. Daphne texted me to let me know she’d picked her up when Cat requested.
“Come on, Cat. You’re gonna have to come out of your room at some point.”
I heard footsteps stop on the other side of the door and waited. “I’m fine, and I’m sorry.”
Oh fuck, she sounded like she’d been crying. Cat had been the toughest kid when she was little. These days, she was all kinds of emotional, and I never knew how to handle it.
“Just talk to Daphne. She’ll tell you what happened.”
“Cat, come on. I’d rather hear it from you.”
“I’m tired, and I’m embarrassed. Can we talk tomorrow?”
I had no idea. Was I supposed to follow through with some kind of consequence because she skipped classes today? Or was I supposed to give her a break until tomorrow because my heart was already breaking for whatever she was upset about?
I was a total softie. “Okay. Promise we’ll talk tomorrow morning before you go to school?”
“Promise.”
Even her voice was hoarse, and the crack in my heart widened. When I heard her footsteps moving away, muffled by the carpet, I let my hand fall from the door and turned, leaning against the wall. I needed to talk to Daphne. I wanted to see her anyway.
Because I couldn’t stay away from her. I was in over my head with a petite princess who was everything I never thought. She should’ve been lost in Alaska. Maybe she was fresh and green to dealing with the way life was here, but she never hesitated. She lifted that chin and twitched her princess nose and tried. Every time I saw her, she was like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds.
Daphne had fucking ruined me for any other woman. When I found myself seeking her out, night after night after dark fell and Cat was asleep, I knew it was stupid. I even worried about what I would do if Daphne decided to go back to Atlanta. We even talked. Talked .
Her unvarnished honesty about what happened in her marriage somehow made it easier. She didn’t try to hide anything, and she didn’t seem to have any expectations of me. All the while, I found myself wanting her to have everything because she deserved that. Life had already been so unfair to her. It felt like it should be as smooth as glass now, or so I thought. I wanted her to want this life here. With me.
No one could laugh harder at that than me. I’d lost my fucking mind over her.
I glanced down at my watch. Dinner would just be finishing. I couldn’t exactly storm the kitchen now and expect Daphne to chat. I could eat, though. My stomach growled as if in agreement. I hadn’t actually had a bite since this morning when I left with a warm orange zest scone tucked in my pocket as I was running late. Of course, it was one of Daphne’s scones and pure heaven.
I found Daphne at the sink a few minutes later, elbow deep in hot water as she scrubbed at something. An auburn curl was falling over her cheek. Conveniently, no one else was around. I crossed to her and brushed that curl away, giving in to the urge to drop a kiss right behind her ear.
“Flynn!” she whispered. Rather loudly, I might add.
“Yeah, Flynn,” Elias drawled.
Turning, I found him standing in the doorway that led to the main area. Oh, fuck . When I looked back toward Daphne, her cheeks were bright pink, but she was seriously focused on whatever she was scrubbing.
I crossed over to Elias as he walked into the kitchen. “Please don’t make this a public announcement,” I said. Considering Daphne knew he was here and knew what he’d just witnessed, I didn’t try to keep my voice low.
Elias chuckled. “No worries, man.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Everyone suspects it anyway.”
He walked over toward Daphne, resting his hip against the counter. “Don’t have a heart attack or worry about this. We all think you’re the best thing that ever happened to Flynn.”
Daphne looked up at him, uncertainty flickering in her gaze. Then she shrugged and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Not much to do now.”
Elias looked back toward me. Daphne kept on scrubbing. “Just checking in. I heard from Nora that you might need to do damage control with Cat. Want me to take that overnight trip tomorrow?”
I ran a hand through my hair with a sigh. “That would be great.”
“You got it. Catch you later.” He pushed away from the counter and started to walk out of the kitchen. He paused and glanced back toward Daphne. “Daphne?” She looked up again and finally drew her hands out of the sink. “Really, don’t worry about it. You’re awesome.”
“Damn, that’s high praise from you, dude,” I teased.
He arched a brow. “Well, she is awesome, and her food is definitely the best.”
With that, he departed with a wave over his shoulder. I guessed Nora had shared with a few of the others what happened to Daphne. The guys were all protective of her, and that was cool with me. Daphne could use it.
I returned to where she was drying her hands on a towel. “Sorry about that.”
She lowered a hand and dipped it back in the sink to pull the drain out. Shrugging lightly, she looked at me. “It’s okay. You seemed to want to keep things private, so I assumed…” Her words trailed off.
I got the sense she had an idea about me that I didn’t like all that much. Her cheeks went pink, and I could see her chewing the inside of her cheek, something she did when she was nervous.
“You assumed what?” I pressed.
Daphne cleared her throat and lifted her chin before waving a hand vaguely in the air. “It’s not like I thought we were, I don’t know, a thing.” She wound her arms around her waist. “But I figured you’d be embarrassed if anyone knew about us.”
“Embarrassed?” I asked, legitimately confused.
“Yeah. I know I’m not your type. I don’t mind that you call me princess, but I kind of get that the nickname was originally not complimentary.”
I gave my head a shake. “You thought I’d be embarrassed about you?”
Daphne tightened her arms around her waist. “I mean, I understood that with Cat you didn’t want it to be weird, but yeah, I guess I did. Why are you staring at me like I’m crazy?”
“Because that’s crazy. I’m crazy about you. Yes, I have to think about Cat, but I guess I just figured you wanted to keep things private. Apparently, now I need to make it abundantly clear to everyone that I have it fucking bad for you.”
Daphne was still chewing the inside of her cheek, so I stepped closer. I reached for one of her hands and unwound it from her waist, and then the other before pulling her into my arms. “Let me clarify. I am seriously crazy about you. I’m not embarrassed about you. I’d rather not have Cat subject to what goes on between us because the walls are thin, but that’s really all I care about.”
“Oh,” Daphne said softly after a long pause.
“That’s all I get?” I teased with my heart kicking against my ribs. Because yeah, against all reason, I had it way bad for her.
She laughed and tucked her forehead against my chest. “Maybe I have it bad for you too. But it doesn’t seem like either one of us is in a place to take any of this seriously.”
She lifted her head then. I had to swallow my words because I wanted to tell her we totally could. I needed to save that for later when I could think.
Just then, another voice reached us. “Yes!”
Turning, I saw Nora standing in the door to the back hallway with a fist lifted in the air.
“Do you mind?” I asked, giving her a pointed look.
“Sorry,” she said quickly with an apologetic smile. “I thought this might be happening, and now I know.”
“Later, Nora.”
“Just letting you know I’m taking Cat with me. She’ll spend the night at my place, okay?”
“Perfect. I don’t think she wants to talk to me tonight,” I called in return. “Mind keeping this to yourself for now until I have a chance to talk to her?”
“Of course not,” Nora said with a way too satisfied smile.
Daphne waved at her from the shelter of my arms, and Nora blessedly left, firmly closing the door behind her. “It’s not very late, in case you didn’t notice, so we’re gonna get interrupted again,” Daphne commented.
“I’ll check on things out front and help you clean up, and then we can have some privacy in my place.”
I was about to kiss her when Diego came walking in from the other side of the kitchen. He flashed us an amused grin, but he didn’t say anything. Daphne stepped out of my arms and got to work.
While Daphne continued cleaning the kitchen, I made my usual evening loop through the resort. Diego snagged a beer and found me out front where I was putting away some rental gear that we kept on-site for guests.
He leaned his shoulder against the wall in the entryway. “So…Daphne?”
I closed the door to the massive closet and looked over. “Yes, Daphne. Go ahead and share your opinion,” I offered with a sigh as I gestured toward him.
Diego chuckled and took a swallow from his beer. Lowering it, he eyed me speculatively. “I think it’s a good thing. Just don’t break her heart.”
That comment was a quick slice right to my heart. I started to shake my head, but he continued, “I know you don’t think it’s serious, and I doubt she does. I’m just saying you’ve both been through a lot. Be smart.”
At that, Diego turned and left. I returned to the kitchen to find Daphne sliding a rack of dishes into the dishwasher. She closed it and tapped the button to start it just as I reached her.
“Are you already finished? I was going to help.”
“I know. But it’s all done.”
“Come on,” I said, catching one of her hands in mine.
A few minutes later, Daphne was curled up on the couch with her feet tucked under her knees as she looked at me. “Cat told you to ask me?”
I gave a quick nod. “Yeah. I appreciate you letting me know right away that you went to pick her up. I got your text before I played the message from the principal who said Cat had skipped afternoon classes and missed the bus, so I didn’t freak out since I knew you picked her up.”
Daphne wrinkled her nose, her hand curling around the edge of a soft throw blanket. She rubbed it between her fingers. “I really didn’t know what to do. I knew you were in the air, along with Grant, and Nora was out on the hike. I hope you know I wouldn’t have gone to pick her up without talking to you first if there’d been any way for me to get ahold of you.”
“I know. You don’t need to worry about that. I’m glad you were here. Just tell me what the hell happened.”
Daphne took a breath. “Well, she called, and I could tell she was crying—” She paused when I winced. “What?”
“I could tell she’d been crying when I talked to her through her bedroom door earlier. I’m guessing she cried all afternoon.”
Daphne angled her head to the side, her eyes softening when she looked at me. “She stopped crying on the drive home, I promise. She’s sixteen. Sometimes there’s plenty of crying. Anyway, when I went to get her, she was at Jonathon’s dad’s house.”
“What?” I asked, my tone coming out harsher than I intended.
Daphne narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “I bet you snuck girls into your house when you were sixteen.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not really, but I would’ve if I could’ve. What else happened?”
“I’d really rather Cat tell you the rest.”
“I know, but she told me to ask you.”
A part of me was frustrated, but I appreciated Daphne trying to let Cat tell her story. Cat was safe, so that was enough.
Daphne wrinkled her nose again. “Here’s all I’m gonna say. She’s fine. He tried to push the boundaries, and she said no. It didn’t go well.”
“I’m gonna fucking kill him.”
“You’re not gonna kill anybody. I’m pretty sure she’s moving on from this guy, so just leave it alone.”
“That fucking jerk.”
“Flynn, let it rest for now. Get the details from Cat when you talk to her tomorrow. She’s safe, and she’s fine.”
I groaned. Taking a deep breath, I rested my elbows on my knees, dropping my face into my hands. “I don’t know what to do with her. I suck at this parenting gig.”
Daphne shifted closer, and then her hand slid down my back. “Grant and Nora are doing great, and so is Cat.”
I lifted my head to look at Daphne. “Yeah, but Grant was eighteen when I came home to take care of them, and Nora was sixteen. I’ve been trying to be Cat’s brother and father since she was nine. She’s so stubborn and strong-willed. Like tonight, was I supposed to force her to talk to me? And I feel like she needs a consequence for skipping class.”
“Sure, but I don’t think you had to do it tonight. She’s safe, and that’s the most important part.”
“Just so you know, you have my permission to pick Cat up at any time and any place whenever she calls. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing. Even if she asks you not to tell me, just go get her. I want her safe.”
Daphne held my gaze quietly as an intimacy flourished in the air around us. I trusted her implicitly. I knew if anyone needed her, she’d do whatever was necessary. She might be small, and she might look like a princess, but she had nerves of steel.
And she was fierce—so, so fierce.
I felt her hand slide in a circle on my back. “Good to know,” she finally said, her voice soft.
Before I thought about it any further, I angled toward Daphne. Lifting a hand, I reached for the elastic holding her hair up. Her hair tumbled loose around her shoulders. I cupped her cheek, sliding my thumb across her plump bottom lip.