Rachel #2
Rex: Don’t worry. We’re not exactly dressed up.
Wynter: !!!
Wynter: Do you think she’ll like me?
A soft sob escaped me.
My kids were killing me with this making me cry shit.
Rex raised my hand and kissed my knuckles.
Rex: I know she will. She’ll love you.
Wynter: I hope so. OMG when will the bell rinGgggGGGGgggg?!!!! AGH.
“She’s excited,” I whispered, unable to believe it.
He knotted our fingers together, as just holding mine was apparently no longer enough. “She is. I knew she would be.”
I swallowed. “I-I was still half-certain she hated me.”
“No. I don’t think she ever hated us. She was angry, but the truth helped ease that.”
He sat up straight in his seat as the bell rang, and he peered out of the windshield, staring at the front doors for her.
When she appeared, wearing baggy jeans, an ill-fitting tee, and neon pink sneakers, my lips curved with joy.
He released his hold on my hand, opened the door, and stood beside the car, arms folded across his chest as he waited for her to spot him.
I saw the moment she did.
A smile lit up her face, bright and filled with joy, and she ran across the way, down the path toward the parking lot before finally crashing into him—hard enough that he jerked back a few steps until he braced himself and hugged her with a fierceness that made my ovaries melt.
Seeing as they’d already gotten me into plenty of trouble because of him, I figured it was too late for them to melt, but they did it anyway.
I was too happy at the sight of their happiness to be nervous, and I stepped out of the car. I felt a tad awkward, waiting for them to notice me, but when Rex shot me a wide grin over her shoulder, I knew, from that grin alone, coming here was the right move.
West Orange was loaded with memories he wanted to escape.
Here, it was a blank canvas, and Wynter gave him something only a daughter could give a man as loving as mine.
He pulled back from her, stared into her face, and said, “You look tired.”
“King!” Wynter whined. “That’s the first thing you have to say to me? Why is that always your first greeting?”
She had a point, I thought with a smile.
“Would you prefer me to ask if you’re hungry?”
She snickered at that. “I’m always hungry.”
“Don’t I know it,” he teased before he angled his chin toward me. “Rachel’s there, Wynter.”
Her head didn’t whip around, but slowly, she took a deep breath. Whatever was in her expression made Rex nod encouragingly at her.
With another deep breath, she turned around, and that was when I first set eyes on my daughter.
God, she was beautiful.
The best parts of Rex and me.
The very best.
She was…
I didn’t know what to do.
Did I shake her hand?
I wanted to hold her. I wanted that so badly—
But she was shy. Naturally.
I had to be the adult.
Jesus, adulting sucked.
Shooting her a smile that was probably just as shy, I stepped forward and gently placed my hand on her shoulder. She bit her lip as she peeped a smile back at me, at long last, and I released a shaky breath.
“I’m so nervous,” I admitted with a self-deprecating laugh.
She blinked then, incredulously, questioned, “You? You’re nervous?”
I shrugged. “I can’t help it. I want you to like me, and that makes me feel as if I’m back at my high school and not at yours.” My nose crinkled. “I wasn’t very popular.”
“Rachel’s always been difficult.”
Shooting Rex a glare, I had to laugh at yet another of his grins—this time, it was utterly unrepentant.
It did my heart good to see him like that.
Rather than focus on Wynter and me, I turned it around on the one man who’d brought us together.
“See that grin, Wynter?” I queried, pointing to her father. “That’s been in short supply the past couple weeks.”
Our daughter’s eyes rounded. “Oh, King. Your dad. Of course. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there.” She bit her lip. “Rachel offered to get me a flight but I just…” She hunched her shoulders. “It’s hard right now.”
“You don’t have to apologize for not attending,” he tutted, hauling his arm around her and tucking her into his side. “But I want to know what’s going on with you.”
She squirmed in his hold. “Nothing’s—”
“Wynter, don’t lie to me. We’ve already been through too much together, haven’t we?”
Ducking her head, she heaved a dramatic sigh, but, when neither of us filled the silence that fell between us, she mumbled, “Mom’s started drinking again.”
Ally was an alcoholic?
Rex’s eyes narrowed and, to me, he mouthed, “I picked great parents for her, didn’t I?”
Though I winced, I shook my head at him in silent reprimand. Just in time, too, because Wynter peered at him.
“You’re really here. I can’t believe it,” she whispered, the wonder in her voice making me choke up.
He shrugged. “I knew something was wrong, and I wasn’t about to wait for you to confess because you’re as stubborn as Rachel. I’d have been old and gray by the time you told me anything—”
“Shut up, you,” I quipped. “Like you’re not stubborn?! Ha! Don’t let him BS you, Wynter. He’s as obstinate as we are. And, anyway, what’s wrong with being obstinate? It’s great when you’re ambitious.”
“You’re really here and you’re really bickering in front of me,” Wynter breathed, her eyes wide with delight.
Her joy surprised me into blushing.
Rex chuckled. “Look at those cheeks. Brighter than a stop light.” He squeezed Wynter’s arm. “What do you say we go and grab something to eat, huh?”
Wynter bit her lip again. “I’m supposed to go straight home.”
“You’re not working at the coffee shop anymore?”
“Dad had a…” She swallowed. “He shouted at me and said my grades were really bad because I was working too many hours.”
Rex’s grin faded and his fury blossomed on his face. “He shouted at you?”
He made it sound like he’d aimed a gun at her.
“He didn’t mean to. He’s in a lot of pain,” she excused.
Untangling them, Rex cupped both her shoulders and stared straight into her eyes. “We both know that when you say he shouted, he’ll have done something else because you always make excuses for him. No one, no one, sweetheart, has the right to talk down to you.
“You are my daughter, and I don’t care if I’ve only just turned up and he’s been there for you all your life, you are mine and no fucking one talks down to you, do you hear me?”
Her eyes were big in her suddenly pale face but at his words, she crumpled. Her arms slid around his waist and she burrowed into his hug.
I knew what a hug from Rex could do.
It made you feel like he could fix every problem you had. It made you think he could move mountains. Then, when he hugged you back, you knew he would fix every problem you had, and that he would move mountains. For you.
I didn’t have the same power as Rex, but it didn’t stop me from stepping closer to her and embracing her from the back.
Maybe she was too old for this but—
She dislodged one arm from around his waist and twisted it back to hold me too.
It was awkward, but it was beautiful. So beautiful.
I started crying—again, goddammit—but I buried my face into Rex’s shirt to hide my tears.
My family.
I was with my family.
All of us.
Here.
When I’d never anticipated anything like this.
When I’d prepared myself for a lifetime of solitude. Of hookups with Rex, of work, of—
Nothingness.
Was it any wonder I cried quietly?
I’d expected nothing and had gotten everything.
I didn’t know what I’d done to be so lucky, but I wasn’t dumb enough to question it. I just embraced it and considered myself blessed.