Chapter 10
Cole
A deep voice sounded off. “Laney? Who is that and why’s he calling you that?” I heard a man’s voice talking to her, so I got up and went to the door. Delaney moved to the side and opened the door a little more.
“Cole, this is my ex-husband, Miller. Miller, this is Cole, a friend of mine.” The ex. I was unimpressed. I kicked my chin out at him but didn’t say anything to him. Instead, I turned my attention to Delaney.
“Laney, are you good? If so, I’m going back to The Secret Garden with Amaryllis.”
Miller spoke up again. “Who are you? And what are you doing with my daughter?”
Delaney adjusted her body before I could say anything. “Miller, you should’ve called. Now isn’t a good time.”
“I want to see my daughter, Delaney. I heard she got hurt.”
Delaney was trying to talk in a low voice. “Since when do you give a damn about anything having to do with Amaryllis? I want you to leave. You can call next time.” She went to close the door and he stuck his foot in the door and pushed on it.
I stood behind Delaney and held my hand against the door from the other side. “Hey, I think she asked you to leave.” I looked at him and he laughed.
“Delaney, you can’t keep me from my daughter. I’ll make your life hell if you try.”
I could feel Delaney stiffen so I spoke up again, “Ok, this was a nice visit but like she said, call next time.” I shoved the door shut, locking it, and then turned to look at Delaney.
“Cole, I’m sorry. I think you should go too.”
“Are you serious? Don’t do this? Talk to me about it.”
“It’s a mess and it’s been a long week. I shouldn’t have...it’s just best if you go.” She looked down at the floor. “I’m going to get Amaryllis to bed.”
I nodded my head and walked past her. Amaryllis was still watching the movie and was completely oblivious to what had just happened. “Hey sweetheart, I’m heading home. Don’t tell me what happens.” I winked at her.
“Coley...you already know what happens?” She laughed and pulled her blanket up to her face.
“Yeah, but it might be different this time. Goodnight, Amaryllis. Be good.” I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. I felt very protective of her.
“I will, I promise. Dance around the bonfire.” She whispered the last part, making me smile.
I grabbed my keys off the kitchen counter, looked at Delaney standing at the front door and said, “Don’t push me away. I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
She didn’t say anything, and it told me everything. She was spooked by her ex and was on the run now. I leaned in, kissed her on the lips and left.
***
Sometimes an emotional hangover is worse than an alcoholic one. I woke up the next morning feeling completely disconnected after Delaney asked me to leave. I went to my kitchen and poured myself a big Pyrex bowl full of Count Chocula and sat on my couch to watch the news.
A knock sounded on my door, making me grumble and set my cereal down to go see who the hell it was. Annoyed because my cereal was going to be soggy because of the interruption. Looking through the peephole, it was Carter.
“What are you doing here?” I turned and left him standing at the door as I went back to my soggy cereal.
“Thank you for that welcome greeting. I haven’t seen you since the whole Amaryllis accident thing. Just checking in. How’s the kid?” He came and sat next me.
I shrugged. “She’s fine. I spent most of her recovery there with them. Not spending the night but would go there after work and just make sure they were ok. Everything was going good until her ex showed up trying to toss his dick around.” I rolled my eyes and continued. “What a fuckin’ douche, man. He was all, that’s my kid, bla, bla, bla. I wanted to punch him in the face. So then Delaney asked him to leave and then asked me to leave. I haven’t talked to her since.”
“Shit man. I’m sorry. That’s rough.”
“Yeah, it fuckin’ is. Just as I’m making some headway with her, bam! This idiot shows up and ruins everything.” I shoved another spoonful of Count Chocula in my mouth. Then I heard another knock. I looked at Carter who shrugged. “Geezus. What is this?” I got up and went to the door. It was Delaney!
I yanked the door open so fast. “Hey! Is everything ok? Is Amaryllis ok?”
“Um...no... I mean, yes. Yes, Amaryllis is fine. I just was hoping we could talk.”
Carter walked over and I introduced them. “Carter, this is Delaney. Delaney this is my best friend, Carter. It was his wife who told me I screwed the pooch about the carnival.”
That made her laugh. “Nice to meet you, Carter.”
“Nice to meet you, THE famous Delaney.” She blushed at his declaration. “Alright man. I’ll leave you to it. Call me later. Take care, Delaney. I hope we see you around.”
I closed the door and turned to her. “Come with me to the living room. I’m just trying to finish my bowl of Count Chocula.”
“You weren’t lying.”
“I never lie. It’s my favorite. You want some?” I held the bowl out to her.
She held her hand up. “No, I’m good, thanks. Listen, I wanted to apologize.”
I took the last spoonful of my cereal and drank the chocolate flavored milk down. Setting the bowl on my coffee table, I turned to her with my full attention.
“I’m sorry for asking you to leave. I was overwhelmed with Miller showing up. He wasn’t supposed to know about you that way. It was all just too much.”
“What’s the deal with him? Why did you get divorced?” I asked. She looked uncomfortable. “It’s ok. If you’re not ready to tell me...”
“No, it’s not that. I... it’s hard to talk about, Cole. But I want to tell you. Um... Miller has always been kind of hands off. Not a very attentive husband or father. He just wasn’t good at either. I began noticing little things about him. It started small, he would stay at work late or he had another meeting. But then his attitude and temper became erratic. He was all over the place. I told myself he was just exhausted with work. It seemed like they were working him a ton.”
I interrupted. “What does he do?”
“He’s an investment banker. He helps people or organizations with financial consultations toward the end goal of raising capital. He’s the middleman essentially.” I nodded at her, so she continued.
“It’s good money what he does. We never had financial concerns until the day I was in Target and my credit card was declined. Miller pays everything. He takes care of the bills. I never asked questions. We each made our own money, but he always took care of that stuff.
“When I asked him what happened he said he forgot to pay a bill. No biggie. Seemed legit. It happens, right? But then I was noticing money missing from our savings. All of this just happened last year. It was getting bad, and I knew he was lying but I couldn’t figure it out. He was losing weight and looked exhausted. For a while I thought, maybe he’s sick and doesn’t want to tell me. You know, my thoughts went wild. What if my husband has cancer? I went into handle it mode. We got this.” Delaney looked at me and shook her head. “It wasn’t cancer. One night, I waited outside his job because he had another late meeting. I waited and watched him leave. Following him, I was getting nervous, but I watched him pull up to a house in a not-so-great part of town. The whole neighborhood is known for drugs and gangs. I didn’t want to believe that he was buying drugs. Women, workers, ya know, walked up to his car. One finally got in and he drove away. I watched a hooker get in my husbands’ car.
“He drove them to a park not far away. I stayed back and watched. I watched as they got out and stood at the front of the car. She handed him something and then I saw his hand go to his nose. He instantly looked disoriented, high. The woman, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and I watched as he kissed her and then fucked her right there, out in the open, on the hood of his car, our car. My husband picked up a hooker, did drugs with said hooker and then fucked her. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was so angry, betrayed.”
“And that’s why you divorced him.”
“That was one of the reasons but believe it or not, not the main reason.” She was chewing her bottom lip.
“What else happened?” I asked. She was fidgeting in her corner space on my couch.
“I was following him for months, even after witnessing him that night. Knowing I was going to want a divorce, I hired a private investigator to gather as much evidence as possible. When I took him to court, I wanted it to be a no brainer that I should have Amaryllis and that our marriage was over. I had a babysitter come stay with Amaryllis while I was out meeting the P.I.” Delaney cleared her throat, and I could see the tears welling in her eyes as she was trying to hold back the emotion of what she was about to tell me. I went and grabbed her a water before she continued.
“Thank you. So, I was pulling up to our place when I saw siren lights everywhere. There were cop cars, an ambulance, and a firetruck. I pulled over where I could, locked my car and ran for the house. I had to fight through a small crowd that gathered and verify to the cops that it was my house. Cole, he was so strung out. Miller sent the babysitter home and then left Amaryllis unattended to go do drugs in the bathroom. He was passed out on the bathroom floor. Apparently when Amaryllis found him, she ran to the stairs, scared, and fell down them. She was in the hospital for a week, had a broken arm, and a concussion. Her fall with the horse on her birthday gave me serious PTSD about her accident with Miller.”
“Christ…Delaney, I’m so sorry.”
“We had to go to court. Child Protective Services were called. Cole, they grilled me about the safety of my daughter. I know they were just doing their job, but Miller risked not only our daughter’s life, but her getting taken away from us. I can never forgive him for that.”
“I don’t blame you. Come here.” She slid down the couch next to me and into my arms. “She’s safe. He’s not going to get near her without your consent. I take it you went to court and won?”
She nodded into my chest. Lifting her head, she said, “I did. I have sole custody of her. I’m pretty shocked that Miller showed up yesterday. He hasn’t said anything to us during this entire move here and I don’t even know how he found out where we live.”
“I’m truly sorry you went through that with him, and that Amaryllis had to experience that. She’s an incredible little girl.”
She wriggled out of my arms. “Cole, I care about you. I do. But Amaryllis is my number one concern, always. And now, with her dad showing up, I just don’t need any extra complications.”
“Is that what you see me as? A complication?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” She said.
Standing, I walked over to the window to look outside. “Nothing about what we have seems like a complication. Ok, maybe a little because of the whole colleague’s thing but even that is bullshit and I’m not worried about it.”
She stood and came just short of where I was standing. “Cole, I need this job. I need my little girl. I need peace. Most importantly, I need Miller to go away, and I don’t think he will if he thinks you’re in the picture.”
“Fuck Miller.” I turned to her and closed the space between us. “Fuck that guy. I care about you. I care about Amaryllis. You were just supposed to be one night. You weren’t supposed to be someone I worked with. You weren’t supposed to have a kid.” I was cradling her face with my hands, and she leaned into my palm. “You weren’t supposed to be someone I couldn’t see myself without. One night…no, I want all the nights.”
She let out a breath, “It’s not that easy, Cole.”
“It is that easy! Come on, Laney girl. Don’t push me away. You know we are good together.”
“We are. I know.” She nodded. Then she grabbed my hand and took it away from her face. I was losing the battle. “We are amazing together. Amaryllis loves you. And I think I could love you too. But my life is a mess, and you weren’t supposed to happen. I have to figure my shit out. I’m sorry, Cole.” A tear fell down her cheek. “I’m so sorry. I should go. Take care of yourself.”
Before I could protest, fall at her feet and beg, hold her hostage and convince her we are perfect for each other and we would figure everything out together, she was out the door.