Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
PRESLEY
Tapping the screen on my phone, I check the time again. Ten minutes late. Kade was supposed to be here right at five, but they’re late.
When it comes to Poppy, I’m not the most patient of people. It takes a lot for me to trust her with other people, and there aren’t many who qualify. I want Kade to be one of them since he’s her father, but it’s hard.
God, is it ever hard to trust your kid with others.
Before I can send out a search party, the chime above the door tinkles and she bursts inside, Kade strutting behind her.
“Mom!” Poppy spots me, dashing into the diner. “We had so much fun today. Kade took me hiking.”
“What?” I gasp. “That sounds like so much fun.”
She pushes the wisps of hair out of her face. “He showed me the state tree and they smell like vanilla!”
“Wow. That is so cool.”
“They were so big.”
“Are you excited that you get to spend time at the ranch?”
She nods. “I love it. Kade is super fun.”
The man in question smiles behind her.
“I’m glad you had a good time. Why don’t you go tell Betty about your day so I can talk to Kade?”
“Okay.”
“Make sure to check that no one is coming out of the kitchen.”
She darts off, leaving Kade and me alone.
“How did things go?” I ask as I motion him over to sit in an empty booth.
“Good. Sorry we’re late. Poppy wanted to feed Lollipop before we left.”
I smile at him. “I’m glad you had a good day with her.”
“It was a good day.” Kade leans back in the booth, draping an arm across the leather seat. “Poppy mentioned some things when we were fishing, and brought them up again today.”
“Some things?”
He nods. “That you’ve been sad ever since you left Paul and your dad died.”
I wince. “That’s a very abbreviated version.”
“Presley.” Kade’s voice is stern. “What happened?”
I’m nervous. I shouldn’t be nervous around Kade, but I am. Because I don’t want him to hate me anymore. Because we’ve had a few conversations together without it feeling like the world is going to end. I don’t want what I tell him now to change things.
“My dad died about six months ago.”
Kade reaches around, clasping a warm hand over mine. “I’m sorry, Pres. I can’t imagine how hard that was.”
I give him a sad smile. “I tried to have a relationship with him, but no matter what I did, it wasn’t good enough for him.
I wasn’t a good enough wife to Paul. I was failing Poppy because I wasn’t putting her in all the extracurricular activities to improve her social standing.
I was letting her have playdates with other kids from families he didn’t approve of.
” I scoff, tears welling in my eyes. “I hated it. I didn’t want her to have the same childhood as me.
But when Dad got sicker, and Paul started taking over, everything changed. ”
“What changed?” he asks, prodding me along.
“Paul wasn’t around. He spent more time at work than at home. It was only me and Poppy. My mom would come around, but it would be to judge how dirty the house was or how I wasn’t feeding her right.”
“Jesus.”
I remember how they treated Kade when we were dating. They looked down their noses at him. Like he was the dirt on the bottom of their shoe. I hated it. Kade dealt with it for me, but eventually, he stopped coming around.
I snuck out to see him, but my dad? He’d had enough. So he arranged for me to marry Paul.
Causing Kade to flee.
It was the last time I had anything resembling a relationship with my dad.
“I tried to be the person they wanted me to be, but nothing worked. Not even arranging the marriage to Paul worked. Everything fell apart. I never had a great relationship with any of them. I didn’t want to be a person that hated my life, so I took Poppy and left.
Paul and I are legally separated, but then my dad died. ”
Kade’s nostrils flare ever so slightly. “They arranged the engagement with Paul?”
“Of course they did.” I nod. “You really think I wanted that?”
“I was blindsided, Presley. Who wouldn’t be?”
“I tried to go after you, but you were gone. I never wanted any of it. I wanted you.”
Kade shakes his head. “I should be surprised, but your parents hated me.”
“They didn’t know you like I did.”
Because if they had, they would have seen the person that I saw. The kind, generous caring man. The one that is here now. The one that loved me more than life itself. Who I loved more than life itself.
“What happened with his company?” Kade asks, steering the conversation back to the original topic.
“That’s the sticky situation. He never updated his will, so it still comes to me.”
“Still?”
I nod. “Everything is still up in the air because his lawyers are working out all the details of his estate. Because the company is in my name, I’m getting payouts from it. It’s why I can afford to live and work right now. Paul hates it. He is trying to sue me for sole control.”
“And if you don’t give it to him?”
I wince. “He’ll fight for joint custody of Poppy.”
“So give it to him.”
“I can’t. I’ll have nothing. Living on my own and trying to raise Poppy? It’s not easy, and working at the diner wouldn’t make ends meet.”
Kade shakes his head, squeezing my hand. “I’m sorry, Presley. I really am.”
I pull my hands back, not wanting his pity, and rest them in my lap. “And that’s my sad story.”
“Go out with me.”
“What?” My gaze snaps to Kade’s.
There’s no pity there. What emotion is there, I can’t quite pinpoint, but it’s something that has my insides swirling.
“You heard me, Pres. Go out with me.”
“You really want to go out with me?”
Every single reason I shouldn’t go out with him flashes through my mind.
I’m not divorced yet.
My life is in flux.
I have Poppy to think about.
But no never crosses my lips.
“Yes. But Kade?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re really good at leaving, Kade. Think you could try staying for a while?”
Leaning across the table, he gives me the smile that won me over at fourteen. “For you? Yeah, I can try, Pres.”
Pres.
I love how my name rolls off his tongue. Sweet, like he’s savoring it. Like he didn’t get to say it for so long, so he wants to enjoy it while he can.
“You really want to go out with me?” I ask again.
“Are you trying to talk me out of this, Pres?” He grins at me.
I shake my head. “No. I just…haven’t been on a first date in a long time.”
“I promise, I’ll make it worth your while.”
I want to swoon. This is the Kade that I fell in love with. The one that could look at me and make me feel loved, safe, and happy with a single glance.
I couldn’t resist him then and I don’t want to resist him now. Not after everything we’ve been through. I want to capture that feeling of joy again.
“Well, with that kind of promise, who can say no?”