Chapter 45
Forty-Five
Tweetie
What was the speech I practiced with Conor again? I can’t remember a fucking word of it. “First, let me apologize. When we broke up, I was lost. It’s no excuse because Tedi should’ve come first, but I took her for granted. I’m sorry. I know you trusted me with her, and I failed you both.”
“I don’t give a shit about me, JD.”
I wince at the initials. It only makes me feel like my dad’s genes did trickle down to me.
“You won’t understand how I felt hearing the pain in her voice until you have a child of your own. Feeling as if you’re to blame because you welcomed the man into your life, told your daughter he’s a good one. You know what she’s been through with her mom. Now…”
I open my mouth to respond, but he holds up his hand.
“I also understand I’m not in that relationship. That I’m an outsider and biased that my daughter is perfect. She’s a grown adult. She can make her mistakes, and all I can do is be here to pick up the mess you leave. I picked it up once, and I don’t want to pick it up again.” He gives me a stern glare.
“I understand. And I know I could stand here and make promises and tell you I’m different. But those are empty words, so I’ll prove it to you. Know that she’s safe in my hands.”
He stares at me, then turns and goes to the fridge. “You want one?” He holds up a beer.
“Sure.” As if I would say no.
He gets one himself and pulls over a step stool, sitting on it. A few minutes of silence fills the cool room until he speaks again. “You seem to make her happy. Well, you do make her happy. I picked the wrong person once upon a time, and my kids got hurt from it. So, I’m always really protective of them. Hell, I’m about to break up with Rhonda if she says one more thing to Mason. Jesus Christ, woman.” He shakes his head.
I bite my lip to not laugh. He’s right. Give the kid a break. Toby’s going to lose it at some point on her, and there’ll be another host of problems.
“All that to say, I wanted to come out here and be a hardass, but I have a soft spot for my kids and what makes them happy. I heard what you did for Mason today. That Kyler is a real shithead and so are his parents. Thank you for going even though Tedi never asked you. You were always good to her, until you… well, I can understand when life keeps knocking you down. She had her own demons to conquer too.”
“I wanted to conquer them for her.”
He laughs before sipping his beer. “Do you know her at all?”
I chuckle and take a pull from the bottle.
“Something keeps bringing you two together, but you guys keep getting in the way of it. Tedi says you’re taking things slow. I think that’s a good idea, but I don’t trust that it’s going to happen. Maybe you two prove me wrong. No matter what, I’m giving you a pass here. Don’t make me regret it.” He tips his beer back again.
“I won’t. You’ll be dancing at our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.”
He chuckles. “God willing. You always did make me laugh.”
He stands from the step stool, and I hold out my hand in front of him. “I’m really sorry for ever putting you in that position.”
His hand slides in mine with a firm handshake. “I appreciate it. Now, I rarely see my daughter, so let’s go enjoy the night.” He puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes.
“Can I ask you a favor, Derin?”
“Favors already? Jeez, kid. You’re taking my precious daughter, what do you want now?” He chuckles.
“Would you mind calling me Tweetie? JD is just…” I’m not sure if Tedi’s ever shared my past with him, but I really don’t like anyone but my mom and sister calling me that, and only because it would be weird for them to call me by my hockey name.
He gives me a quick nod. “Sure.”
“Thanks.”
“Now when you go in there, I’d appreciate a few tears and cover your eye like I hit you.” I’m not sure of the look I give him, but he laughs. “I’m kidding. Jeez, Tedi must run circles around you.”
We go into the house, and Tedi’s at the table with Mason and what looks like homework. She eyes me, then her dad.
“Well, his nuts are still intact, so maybe you’ll have a cousin after all, Mason,” Theo says from the couch.
“Cousin? I want a cousin!” Mason eyes Tedi’s stomach.
She picks up a pencil and throws it at her brother. “That’s how rumors start.”
An hour later, Rowan, Conor, and Henry leave in an Uber, leaving me with the rental car. Toby and Mason leave soon after, much to Mason’s displeasure. Theo sees Rhonda out and cleans off her car. Tedi and I stay for another two hours, talking with her dad.
When he gets up to go to the bathroom, I turn to her. “I want to give you some time alone with your dad, but I don’t want you to go to the hotel by yourself.”
She shakes her head. “I’m kind of beat from the early morning flight. You must be too.”
I stretch because she’s right. I’m exhausted.
Her dad returns. “I was about to kick you two out. You’re young, you shouldn’t be hanging out with an old man.” He doesn’t sit but remains standing and opens his arms.
Tedi stands and hugs him tightly. “Come visit me once in a while.”
He kisses her cheek. “I will. It’s just so busy.” When I walk over and put my hand out, Derin shakes it. “It was nice seeing you again, Tweetie.”
Tedi looks over her shoulder at me.
“Oh, get the hell out of my house.” Derin shoos us with his hand.
We get our shoes and coats on and say one last goodbye.
The ride back to the hotel is uneventful except for the side streets the plows haven’t gotten to yet. By the time I park the rental, drop the keys off at the front desk, and walk Tedi up to her room, I wish we were past this slow pace so I could crawl into bed with her. I miss the days when she’d come to games with Saige and I’d spend the night in her room.
“Thanks for everything today,” she says with her back to the wall right by her door.
I step closer and rest my arm on the wall above her head. “You never have to thank me.”
“I appreciate it. All of it.”
“I know.”
“And my dad? How was that?”
I lift one shoulder. “We’re good.”
She smiles and doesn’t ask me any more questions because she knows I’m not going to tell her.
“Good night, Tedi.” But I still don’t move.
“Okay, one kiss won’t kill us.” She glances down either end of the hall, then grabs my jacket and tugs me to her, crashing her lips against mine.
Fuck yes.
I place my free hand on her hip, bringing her flush to me, my tongue diving in and seeking hers. She meets me with the same intensity. If she’d let me, I’d take her right here. Our mouths are hungry and unapologetic, taking what we want from the other. A voice whispers that if I don’t do what she wants and take this slow, we’ll never get to where I want us to be, so I reluctantly close the kiss. She whimpers but presses her back to the wall, touching her lips.
“Good night, Tedi.” I step back. “Get into your room and lock up.”
She looks as if she wants to second-guess her decision, as though she wants me to go into that room with her.
“I know, babe, but we’re playing this the right way this time.”
She smiles and places her keycard over the lock. “Sweet dreams, Tweetie.”
“Oh, they’ll be filthy, not sweet.”
She laughs, and I wait for her door to shut before I head to the elevator, really wishing Conor wasn’t sharing my room with me. I need to get rid of this pent-up sexual energy, and there is not a chance I’m jerking off when he’s only one thin wall away.