Chapter 15
As much as Cody wanted to know what Katherine and her dad were discussing, he gave all his attention to Ollie.
The two of them didn’t need him hanging around while they hashed out whatever it was that needed hashed.
It was better to keep Ollie entertained, something he found more enjoyable by the second.
Ollie traced his finger along the outline of the superhero on his cast. “Do you have any stickers?”
“I don’t think so.”
“That’s too bad. The signatures are cool, but I want more fun stuff on my cast. I bet Jimmy has some.”
“Maybe we can order some.” He plucked his phone from his pocket and brought up a website that offered next day delivery. “Search for whatever you want.”
Ollie’s eyes grew wide. “Really? Anything I want?”
“Stickers only.”
Ollie grinned. “Obviously.”
The way he said the word made Cody think the kid would have had a field day if he thought he had free rein over his account. He offered the boy his phone. “Let me see what you pick before we buy anything, deal?”
“Deal!” Ollie grabbed the device, the screen quickly absorbing all his attention.
The door opened, and Katherine poked her head through. “Finished eating?”
“Yeah,” Ollie said, eyes still glued on the phone. “Now I’m picking out stickers.”
“Eyes up when speaking to me please,” Katherine said.
Ollie glanced up.
“Explain.”
“Cody said he’d buy me stickers. I get to pick them out.”
Katherine aimed her raised brow his way. “You don’t have to do that.”
He shrugged. “I broke my arm as a kid. I wanted to decorate it and wasn’t allowed. I had to draw my own designs on it, and none of them turned out cool. I understand the need to transform that hunk of plaster into something he’s okay with looking at.”
The tender look in her eyes warmed the hard pit that always formed in his stomach whenever he talked about his childhood. He wouldn’t mention his father was the reason he’d gotten that broken arm in the first place.
“That’s very nice of you, but you’ll have to do it in a little bit. Right now, you need a shower.”
“Oh, man. Can’t I do that later?”
“No, sir. We should have washed that hospital stink off you as soon as we got back, but I didn’t want your food to get cold. It might be tricky with your cast, so let’s just get it over with. No arguments.”
Ollie heaved out a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Can Bailey come?”
“Not a good idea,” Cody said. “If she jumps in that shower with you, it’ll take days to dry all that fur. She’ll be waiting for you when you’re done.”
“How about you bring her inside?” Katherine asked.
Suspicion crinkled his eyes. “Why?”
“Dad’s waiting for you in your office. He wants to go over some things about the case.”
Her wide smile told him she was as nervous about that scenario as he was, but he couldn’t refuse. Besides, if he planned to stay a part of Katherine’s life, he and her dad should get a few things settled.
“I guess I’d rather take on your dad than get this one showered.” He hiked his thumb over his shoulder at Ollie.
“Hey!” Ollie laughed.
“You’ll be fine.” Katherine squeezed his shoulder then rounded the back of Ollie’s wheelchair. “All right, little dude. Let’s go.”
He waited for them to get inside before signaling for Bailey to follow and heading for the office.
Mike stood with his feet shoulder width apart, his hands locked behind his back, and staring out the window. “You’ve got yourself a nice place here.”
“Thanks.”
He turned to face Cody. “We have some work to see to, that’s what’s most important, but before we start, I want to apologize.”
“There’s no need,” Cody said.
“There’s every need. You’ve done nothing wrong and received the brunt of not only mine, but my sons’, displeasure. We’re all very protective of Katherine. I often have to remind myself she can take care of herself.”
“Her grandfather says she’s the toughest one of the bunch.”
A puff of humor shot through Mike’s nose.
“That might be the only thing that old geezer and I agree on. She is tough, but she shouldn’t have to be.
As much as I want to make things easier for her, I don’t have that power.
But I can see how happy she is when she’s around you.
How at ease. It’s scared the hell out of me. ”
Cody frowned, not understanding why that would be off putting for Mike. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
A sad smile lifted his lips. “You’d think so, huh?
But when you love someone so damn much and you’ve seen them endure unimaginable pain, you can’t help but be fearful the good will go away again.
That the bad times are waiting in the wings to steal her joy.
That’s not a way to live, but it’s impossible to get out of your head. ”
Cody let his fingers drift through the fur at the top of Bailey’s head and searched for the right answer.
“I wish I could tell you I’ll never hurt her, never cause her pain.
But you and I know that’d be a false promise because life happens and we can’t control so much of the shit that comes our way.
What I can tell you is I’ll do everything I can to keep making her happy—keep making all three of us happy. ”
Mike cleared his throat and swiveled back toward the window. “That’s all I can ask for.”
Bailey pranced over to Mike. She edged her nose into his hand.
Chuckling, Mile crouched and hooked an arm around the dog then scratched behind her ears. “She’s a good girl.”
Cody wasn’t sure if he meant Bailey or Katherine. “The best.”
“Well, that’s enough of that,” Mike said, standing. “I talked to Owen, and they had no luck tracking down that truck.”
The news crushed down on Cody. He’d been so close to catching this asshole just for him to slip through the cracks once more. “Did he get a chance to go through the files I sent him last night?”
Mile frowned. “He didn’t mention anything. What did you send?”
“I pulled up names of inmates recently released from the county jail. I started to cross check the names with their arrest records. Looking for anything that might pop out or point toward Katherine being involved in any way—even on the periphery. I didn’t make much headway, so I sent the list along to Owen. ”
“He’s had his hands full,” Mike said. “Why don’t you pull up the list and we can pour over it together. I mean, if that’s okay with you.”
Tedious research wasn’t something he enjoyed. Something told him doing it with Katherine’s dad would make the task even more laborious. But Mike needed to act, and he needed to further cement his relationship with the man who was so important to Katherine.
“It might take a while. You up for it?”
“There’s nothing more important than finding the man harassing my daughter. I’ll stay here all night if I have to.”
Cody nodded and left the room to retrieve the computer he’d left in the living room the night before. He hoped he had one hell of a poker face. Last night had been heaven with Katherine sleeping in his arms. Tonight would be hell if her father chose to join them.
With the dinner dishes put away and her father finally gone, Katherine sat on the deck and watched Ollie figure out the best way to play with his new best friend.
He couldn’t run around the yard like he had the night before, but Bailey gently placed the ball in Ollie’s lap after fetching.
As though she understood the boy couldn’t chase her right now.
Cody stepped outside with a full wine glass in each hand. “You said you like white, right?”
She smiled up at him. How was it possible to feel so damn lucky when her world was in such shambles? “I did. Thank you.” She accepted the glass and scooted over in the glider to make room.
He sat, then took a sip before setting down his glass and circling an arm over her shoulders. “I needed something to take the edge off. My head is spinning after looking at all that data with your dad.”
“You guys were at it for hours. Did you find anything?”
“I wish. I swear we looked at every person released from the county jail in the last year. We even started looking at recent arrests, thinking that the criminal potentially involved could still be incarcerated. We made some calls, did some digging, but came up empty every time. We can’t find one thing that makes sense in connection with you. ”
Sighing, she leaned against him. “Can we put it away for the rest of the night? I just want to sit here and enjoy being with you—enjoy listening to Ollie giggling down there with Bailey.”
He brushed his fingertips against the side of her bicep. “It’s nice to hear him happy. He’s not sullen or grumpy even after breaking his leg.”
“You weren’t the one who gave him a shower,” she said, thinking back to the horror show cleaning her son had been.
“Fair point.”
Questions brewed inside her like an impending storm. As much as she wanted to take her time with Cody and just enjoy what was happening between them, her life made that nearly impossible. She didn’t have just herself to think about. There was a child involved, and his needs came first.
Always.
She couldn’t dive in—or hell, even dip in her toes—to something new and exciting if there was no room for Ollie.
Tapping the tip of her finger against the edge of her wine glass, she debated the best way to broach a potentially difficult conversation.
Cody placed his free hand on top of hers, stopping her manic action against the glass. "What’s going on in that head of yours?”
She glanced up, caught off guard by how the setting sun behind him made him look even more handsome. She should handle this delicately, slowly, but she couldn’t find a tactful way to say what needed to be said.
“Do you want kids?” She blurted out the question then wrinkled her nose. “Sorry. I mean, when you’ve thought about what you want in your life, have kids been a part of that picture?”
Cody was silent for a moment, his attention fixed on the scene playing out on the yard. “Not really.”
Her entire body recoiled. “Oh.”
“No, I mean, I’ve never really thought about it before.”
Pulling away, she glanced up at him and frowned. “How is that possible?”
He shrugged. “When I think about my own childhood, it puts a sour taste in my mouth. All the bad shit I went through makes me feel small, even now. It’s pushed me to be the man I am today, to choose the career I have.
But it’s made me wary of what kind of father I’d be.
I’d never want to put a child through the hell I went through. ”
The softness of his words hit her like an arrow straight through the chest. “I don’t know your dad, but I know you’re nothing like him.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I’ve seen you with Ollie the past two days. You’re kind and sweet. Firm yet gentle. You play and have fun with him but let him have his space when he needs it. He adores you.”
“He makes it easy.” Cody let out a sigh.
“But what if I snap or lose control? What if something triggers something inside me and I scare him—scare myself. I mean, hell, I should have known better than to let him be so far in front of us today. I’m sure he wouldn’t have taken that fall if he’d been with your dad or brothers. ”
Needing him to really hear her, she sat all the way up and caught his face in her hands.
“Being responsible for a child doesn’t mean doing everything right or ensuring they never get hurt.
It means doing your best every damn day to show them love.
To give them guidance and provide the tools they’ll need one day to make it on their own.
I’m sorry you didn’t have that with your own father, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be that person for someone else. ”
A hard pit formed in her stomach, and she turned away. Unexpected tears swarmed her eyes.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Cody unwrapped his arm from behind her back and shifted to face her.
“I…I don’t know. It’s just, talking about this reminded me of what an amazing father Ollie had.
I don’t want you to think I’m sitting here asking you to replace Theo.
No one could do that.” She shoved a hand through her long strands, struggling to pinpoint the myriad of emotions ping ponging through her body.
“I need to make sure Ollie is as wanted as I am in any relationship I have. Oh God, I’m not saying we’re in a relationship I only meant—”
It was his turn to cradle a palm against her jaw and force her attention his way.
She wanted to squirm under his gaze, to hide away and forget the word vomit she’d spewed all over him.
“I’d be lucky to have a kid like Ollie to hang out with, no matter what that looks like.
I’d never try to be his dad or pretend like I’m more than what he needs me to be.
As for me and you, we don’t need a label as we figure this thing out.
But as far as I’m concerned, this is a relationship.
I mean, we’re two people who care about each other, right? ”
She grinned. “Right.”
“And isn’t that really what a relationship is?”
“You make it sound so easy,” she said, throwing back the words he’d said to her earlier that day.
His grin matched hers. “It’s only as easy as we make it. All you need to know is I’m here for you and Ollie. Kids might not have always been a part of my plan, but neither were you.”
She laughed. “You mean you didn’t dream about sitting on your deck with me while my kid and your dog play in the backyard?”
“Honey, never in a million years did I dream I could be this lucky. For once, my reality is so much better than anything I could have imagined.”
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Always know how to say exactly the right thing to make me feel better? To settle my nerves and remind me to just take a breath and relax?”
The side of his mouth lifted along with one shoulder. “One of those tricks I mentioned.”
Settling back against him, she couldn’t help but wonder what other tricks he had up his sleeve and when she’d be lucky enough to discover them.