Don’t Leave Me (Maple Springs #3)

1. Pecker

Chapter 1

Pecker

“Peck!” Bree squeals as she leaps into my arms. She wraps her tiny hands around my neck and buries her face in the hood of my sweatshirt.

“What’s going on, Bree?” I squeeze her a little tighter as Danny moseys into the room.

“I missed you!”

“You saw him three hours ago, Bree. He’s not that cool.” Danny rolls his eyes as he grabs his video game controller off of the coffee table.

At ten years old, Danny thinks he’s too cool for everyone. He’s been having a rough time since Rob left and I can’t blame him. I’d probably be pissed at the world if my dad up and left me too.

“He’s the coolest uncle ever!” Bree glares at her brother.

She’s a whopping six years old and the cutest little girl. She’s always happy to see me and begs me to do things with her. She makes me feel loved and wanted. The complete opposite of how Danny makes me feel.

“Are you playing or not, Bree?”

“Yes!”

Bree wiggles out of my arms and runs to Danny’s side. They turn on a racing game and forget about me within seconds.

“Danny, stop being rude. Peck’s here to help us. He didn’t need to walk away from his life in Tuft Swallow to move here.” Sydney steps inside the room and pats a hand on my back. “Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” she murmurs.

“You mean other than having his entire world turned upside down?” I raise a brow. I'm not going to yell at Danny for taking his anger out on me. Out of everyone in this house, I’d rather have his emotions focused on me than Bree or Sydney having to deal with it.

“Yeah,” she sighs. “I hate Rob for doing this to them.”

“I hate him for doing this to all three of you. He hurt you too, Syd. You can’t pretend you weren’t affected.”

“You’re right, but I'm old enough to realize it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with him liking to stick his dick in women he isn’t married to.” She rolls her eyes.

“What’s going on this week?” I steer the conversation towards safer topics. Though the kids aren’t paying attention to us, I don’t want them to overhear what Sydney is saying.

Sydney wants to pretend everything is great, but I can see the hurt in her eyes. She thinks she does a good job at hiding it and maybe it works for the kids, but not me. I see right through her.

“Why don’t you go out for the night? Do something just for you and let me take care of the kids.”

“What would I even do, Peck? I haven’t had a night to myself in over ten years. I don’t even have any friends to go out with,” she sighs again.

“Go to the bar and have a drink or two. Just get out of the house and start living again.” When she doesn’t seem like she’s going to take my advice, I add, “Rob would hate it.”

Sydney’s gaze snaps to mine and a slow smile spreads across her lips. She glances at the kids and I see the moment her hesitation sweeps over her again.

“They’ll be fine. I'm their uncle and a police officer. There’s no one better to care for them.”

“I know… it’s just hard. I don’t want them to think I'm going to walk away too.”

“They don’t think that. While you’re gone, I’ll try to have a talk with Danny. Someone needs to make him realize we’re not the enemy.”

“It’s fine. He’s working through things in his own way.”

“That doesn’t mean he can disrespect you or Bree.” I spin her around and give her a gentle shove. “Go. We’ll order some pizza and watch a movie.”

“Fine. I'm going!” She disappears into her room and comes out a few minutes later in a pair of jeans and a black sweater.

She says goodbye to the kids and a few minutes later, it’s just Danny, Bree, and me.

We spend the night stuffing our faces with pizza and watching one animated movie after another. When Bree falls asleep on the couch, I carefully scoop her into my arms and lay her in her bed. I tug the covers up to cover her tiny body and press a gentle kiss to her forehead.

She’s such a sweetheart. I truly hope Rob’s disappearance doesn’t affect her in the long run. I’d hate to see her hold any sort of bitterness in her heart because of him.

“Danny, I want to talk to you,” I say softly as I reenter the living room and press pause on the movie.

“Do we have to do this?” He rolls his eyes.

“Yes.” I take a seat on the coffee table so I'm right in front of him and watch him carefully.

The walls around his heart are constructed so high and so thick. He doesn’t want to let anyone in, especially me.

“I know you’re pissed. You don’t want me here. You’d rather have your dad back and you don’t understand why he left… but you can’t keep being pissed at the world because of one person.”

“And who’s going to stop me?”

“No one. No one will stop you from being miserable, but your life will suck. Your friends will get sick of your attitude and walk away. Your mom and sister will get hurt and you’ll end up putting so much distance between yourself and them, you’ll never be able to repair your relationship with them.”

“What do you care?”

“I care because you’re my nephew and I love you. I want you to be happy.”

“Why would you love me? My own dad doesn’t give a shit about me.”

I take a deep breath and try to control my frustration. He knows he shouldn’t be cursing, but if I try to correct that right now, it’s not going to help the situation. We can deal with that another day.

“I'm not your dad. I didn’t throw away my family. I don’t know why he left or why he decided he doesn’t want to be a dad anymore, but none if it is your mom’s fault. None of it is Bree’s fault. If you need to take it out on someone, you can take it out on me, but you need to love your mom and Bree.”

I watch him carefully. He’s close to breaking down. There are tears already gathered in his eyes, but he’s fighting it.

“He walked away from them too,” I remind him.

“I hate him so much,” Danny whispers as the first tear slips down his cheek.

“I do too.”

“Why would he do this? Why weren’t we good enough?” A sob shakes his small body.

I move from the coffee table and take a seat next to him. I tug him into my arms and hold him tightly. He tries to act tough and older than his ten years, but at the end of the day, he’s still a kid and he doesn’t understand why this is happening to him.

“This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with him. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were more than enough.”

“Who am I going to play ball with? Who’s going to coach my baseball team? Who will take me camping?” His body shakes with each question as he lets his defenses down and lets it all out.

“Me. I’ll do all of it with you and more.”

“But why? Why are you even here? Why would you move here just for us?”

“Because I love you. I’ll always drop everything for you, Bree, and your mom. It doesn’t matter what I'm doing, I’ll always be there.”

“I love you too,” he chokes out. “You’re a cool uncle.”

“Thanks.” I chuckle. “You’re a cool nephew.”

We’re quiet for a few minutes. I press play on the movie and keep my arms around Danny. He’s going to be ok if he can get past this. He needs to trust Sydney and me to be there for him. He needs to set a good example for Bree too.

Our talk is giving me hope of a better future for them. I know it’s been hard on Syd since Rob left. She was struggling with everything and that’s why I moved to Maple Springs even though I was building a life I loved in Tuft Swallow. Now, I'm determined to build a better life here.