Chapter 11
Solo woke from her late-morning nap to the sound of Chloe’s blood-curdling scream coming through the monitor on her bedside table.
She checked the screen to see that Tia had scaled the side of her cot and was strutting around in the middle of the triplet’s bedroom.
Well, as much as a toddler who’d just about mastered walking could strut, but Tia somehow managed it.
Solo couldn’t see why Chloe was so upset, unless it was simple jealousy of Tia’s freedom, and Luna looked like she was still asleep.
Or just meditating on the evils of her older sister.
She turned over, and all the joy of seeing her children fell through a pit in the bottom of her stomach.
Just for those few blissful moments, she’d forgotten that Janie wasn’t sharing her bed.
She swung her legs out and put her head in her hands.
Janie wasn’t sharing anything with her anymore, and why would she after last night?
Solo blew out a sharp breath and got to her feet.
No time for self-pity. She had an escape-artist daughter to deal with.
She opened the door to the triplets’ bedroom slowly, just in case Tia was directly on the other side.
How long would it be before her little terror could reach the handle?
Solo would have to google that, because she was pretty certain that locking the girls in at night wasn’t an option.
Tia’s eyes lit up, and she grinned widely as she stuck out her arms. “Mama up.”
“Looks like you don’t need morning naps anymore, little one.” Scooping Tia into her arms seemed to amplify Chloe’s noise, so she went over to her cot and lifted Chloe onto her other hip. “How are my amazing girls?”
“Woof,” Chloe said when she’d stopped sniffling.
Griff thundered down the hallway and came to rest at Solo’s feet within seconds.
“That’s some hearing, Griff.”
He reared up on his hind legs and planted his giant front paws on Solo’s stomach, then he licked Chloe’s toes, making the little girl giggle and wriggle in Solo’s grip.
“Down, Griff.” When he’d done as he was told, Solo went over to the giant playmat in the corner of the bedroom and dropped to her knees to put the girls on it gently.
Griff got down on his belly and crawled across the floor to Chloe.
A sense of pure belonging and peace washed over Solo, and she relaxed into it, accepting the gift just like Rae had told her to.
This was how she was supposed to be feeling.
This had been her life every day from the girls being born until the day Janie had moved into the guest room.
That thought threatened to chase the momentary bliss away, but she didn’t let it.
Again, like Rae had told her to. “Fight the darkness and celebrate the light” was the last thing she’d said to Solo in their impromptu telephone session before her disastrous meeting with Janie.
No matter what was going on in their marriage, she was the one still at home with their babies, and the responsibility for their continued care was hers alone.
Though her dad’s presence had been a great comfort, as had Gabe’s last night.
Gabe. Solo needed to call her. She’d purposely avoided going home and had driven around the city until her dad texted to say Gabe and Lori had left.
Solo just couldn’t face the inevitable barrage of optimistic questions, not after she’d fucked it all up so spectacularly.
She didn’t want to see the disappointment in Gabe’s expression, didn’t want to see how she’d let her down.
“Hey, slugger.”
Solo looked up to see her dad standing in the doorway. “Hey, Pops.”
“Feeling refreshed?” he asked, concern lacing his words.
She nodded. His room was the other side of the hallway from hers, and she was sure he hadn’t heard her whispered rantings at herself or the hell she’d knocked out of her pillows for most of the night, but he clearly wasn’t blind to the dark circles under her eyes.
And she’d met his light inquiry about how the night had gone with silence when she’d finally come home.
“Do you want something to eat? Unless you’re still full from last night’s dinner, of course.” He frowned. “Or did it make you sick?”
Solo inclined her head. “I made me sick, but yeah, I could eat.” She gestured to the girls. “Help me bring them down?”
He sighed loudly. “Okay, but then you tell me more about what happened. Because it doesn’t seem like things went according to plan.”
She grunted. “Understatement, but yeah, I’ll fill you in.
” She picked up Tia and Chloe, and her dad took Luna, who was now awake and muttering quietly to herself.
She seemed to have her own language, and Solo couldn’t wait until she started talking properly.
Although, remembering the Darius Rucker song her dad had sent her when the triplets had been born, she didn’t want to rush any part of their growing up either.
With the girls safely in their individual baby walkers, she followed her dad into the kitchen and relayed the sad story of her night as they prepared lunch for the girls, sandwiches for themselves, and a bowl of kibble for Griff.
When she put Griff’s food down, Tia immediately began bumping his bowl around with the edge of her walker.
He patiently tracked its trajectory all around the kitchen, grabbing mouthfuls when he got the chance.
“It’s okay that you’re angry, kiddo.” He gestured to Luna, flipping through the giant number book hanging on her walker. “This isn’t a one-person job.”
“Plenty of people are single parents. That isn’t the problem.
” Solo shook her head. “I was the one desperate to meet up, but I ended up pushing her away. We didn’t even make it to appetizers, Pops.
I don’t know what happened.” That was a lie, and from the way her dad tilted his head and raised his eyebrows, he knew it.
“You don’t?”
Solo turned to the refrigerator to get juice and to escape his questioning glare.
She’d never been able to keep the truth from him, even when it meant she’d catch hell for it.
“Her friend from work came up.” This was the only part of the whole situation that she hadn’t told him about.
She hadn’t been able to think about it, let alone put words to it and say it out loud.
“And?”
“I accused her of cheating on me.” It wasn’t exactly what she’d said, but the implication had been clear. And sometimes, talking could be far more intimate than sex. That’s what had really gotten to her.
“You did what?”
Solo closed the fridge door and faced him again. “She told me she was talking to some guy at work, and—”
“Talking?” he asked, clearly unimpressed. “Since when is talking synonymous with cheating?”
“It isn’t…exactly. It’s what people do before they start dating.”
His frown deepened. “Says who?”
She waved his question away. “It doesn’t matter. She said they were just friends, but I’d already messed up. Janie always walks away when I get angry.”
“Can’t she handle the conflict?” He chuckled lightly. “She must be a helluva lawyer.”
“Don’t.” Solo gripped the counter and tried the box breathing Rae had shown her. “You know how hard it is to talk to me when I’m angry.”
He grunted and nodded. “You’re right there. Maybe she did the right thing by walking away before you said something even more stupid.”
“Exactly.” She poured juice for them and put the bottle away.
“I guess I just had some stupid idea that we were gonna talk all night, and she was going to remember that she loved me, that she loved our life. And then she’d come home, back to me, and back to our babies.
” She smacked her palm against her forehead a couple of times.
“Hey, stop that.” Her dad grabbed her wrist. “Knocking your brainbox around isn’t going to solve a thing, slugger.”
“I want things to go back to the way they were,” Solo said then shrugged. “I need her to give me another chance to be the partner she deserves.”
Her dad smiled and released her hand. “It isn’t me who needs to hear that,” he said gently.
Solo sagged against the sink. “I know. But what if she won’t see me again? What if I’ve blown my one chance?”
“Don’t think of last night like that,” he said. “But don’t waste time either.” Sadness darkened his eyes, and he shook his head slowly. “I thought your momma and I had all the time in the world.” He swallowed and turned back to making their sandwiches. “But we didn’t.”
Her dad’s words struck like a gut punch, and she sucked in a long breath, determined to move past the grief. “Did you and Mom ever have any problems?”
“Of course we did.” Her dad chuckled. “She didn’t just raise you and your brother; she raised me too.
It took her a few years to whip me into shape.
” He sliced the sandwiches in half, then leaned against the counter.
“Did you know she wouldn’t have children with me until she decided I was ready to be a good dad? ”
Solo frowned. “She wouldn’t?”
He shook his head and smiled widely. “God knows why she decided I’d be worth it in the end, but I’m sure glad she picked me.”
Her dad’s smile touched her own mood, and she joined him. “I always thought you were just enjoying a few years together before you got tied down with kids.”
“I guess there was a little of that too.” He inclined his head. “But primarily, she was training me to be a dad and not just a father.”
Tia bumped into the cabinet beside Solo and looked up at her expectantly. “Mama food.”
Solo laughed. “Mama, food or Mama food?”
Tia’s brow furrowed deep, making her look comically angry. “Food,” she said, sounding more than a little disgruntled that she’d been forced to repeat herself.