Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
ROE
Operation Win Dakota Back started bright and early the next day. I knew Pops was being released, and Dakota was planning on coming to pick him up, so I made sure me and my girl were there first so we could put our plan into action.
Like I said, I wasn’t above fighting dirty.
So let the games begin.
Dakota
The elevator dinged, the doors sliding open on my father’s floor. I smiled, waving at the nurses sitting at the nursing station who had become familiar over the past weeks. “Hi, ladies. Good day so far?”
“Hey, Dakota,” one of them returned.
“Nothing to complain about so far,” another replied.
“I know he’ll be happy to see you. Even more so since he is getting to go home,” the third said, returning my smile.
It was a lot easier to smile these past few days, thanks to the fact I’d spent the past two days practically locked in Lennon’s old kitchen, cooking up a storm.
I’d already filmed a ton of content and had other recipes I was looking to perfect before filming.
I felt more like myself the past couple days than I had in a very long time.
That was why, instead of feeling panicked and anxious that my father was being released today, I was downright chipper.
At least as I made my way down the hall to his room.
“Morning, Ezra. Ready to be sprung—?” I stopped dead in the threshold as I took in the additional two people in the room I certainly hadn’t been expecting.
Roe inclined his head at me and greeted, “Honeybee.”
I barely had time to brace for that blow when another one came in the form of his little girl rushing over to me and stopping a few inches away.
Her head tipped back, her mouth stretched in a huge grin.
“Hi,” she chirped happily. I felt a little better prepared for another run-in, and she was so damn cute I couldn’t help but return her smile.
Her outlandish outfit only made her that much cuter.
Today she wore a glittery pink plastic tiara with a pair of leggings that had tiny motorcycles on them, a gold princess dress that stopped just below her knees, and those same biker boots as last time.
She was a wonderful mix of biker and princess.
She had her own style, and I couldn’t help but swoon a little that Roe obviously let her do her own thing.
“Hi right back at you, sweetie.”
“You’re really pretty,” she stated without a hint of shame, causing my smile to stretch even wider.
“So are you, little cutie.” It was the easiest truth I’d ever told.
With those giant deep-blue doe eyes and all her long, dark hair, it didn’t take any effort to see she was going to be one hell of a heartbreaker when she got older.
I snickered at the thought of the living nightmare Roe would be dealing with when she was old enough to date.
I could have sworn I saw her chest puff out under my praise. “Thanks. You know, you look like Sleeping Beauty. Do you like that movie?”
“It’s been a while since I watched it, but yeah, I liked it a lot.”
Her nose crinkled as her smile grew impossibly wider. “Me too.”
“Why don’t you move out of the doorway so she can get into the room, little star?”
Damn it ! I swooned again at Roe’s nickname for his daughter.
Ignoring the way my knees wobbled just slightly as Roe watched me move closer into the room.
He watched every step I took with rapt attention, like I was the most interesting thing he saw, and in the end, I didn’t have a choice but to meet his gaze, or things would have been beyond awkward.
“Hi,” I offered, my smile plastic and brittle as I greeted him.
The same could be said for Roe. The man practically preened at my acknowledgment.
“Hey. How have you been?”
It took a second for my tongue to unfreeze and answer, “Um, good. Thanks. You?” I wanted to smack myself in the forehead for being so damn awkward.
His expression gentled, and I told myself that it absolutely did not make my belly flip to see him look at me like that. “I’m good.”
I’d gotten that same tender look, packed full of emotion, that night in my room at Redbud Inn, and the damn expression didn’t pack any less of a punch now that he was dressed, as opposed to completely naked.
“Well, that’s just great,” Ezra broke in, forcing our attention to him.
He was sitting on the side of his bed, fully dressed, looking none-too-pleased to still be stuck in his hospital room.
“Now that we’ve discovered everyone is great, maybe you can stop making googly eyes at each other and get me the hell out of here. ”
“Christ, old man,” Roe grunted unhappily at the same time I spat out, “We aren’t making googly eyes at each other.”
A single steel-gray brow rose on Ezra’s forehead, his expression saying silently that he thought I was full of shit.
“I thought I was?.?.?.” I trailed off as my gaze bounced back to Roe. “I mean, I planned on taking you home. Did I get my wires crossed?”
“No, this one’s on me,” Roe explained quickly.
“Look, I don’t care who’s doin’ it, but if one of you doesn’t get me out of here, I’m gonna start walking.”
“Poppy.” At Cassi’s scolding tone, I whipped my head in her direction and had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop from laughing.
I didn’t think a girl her age could scowl so perfectly, but she was currently glaring up at the old man with her hands planted on her tiny hips like she was about to give him a detention or something.
“You’re bein’ rude. And what have you always told me about bein’ rude to people who don’t deserve it. ”
My jaw practically hit the floor at the repentant look on his face. “You’re right, sparkle.”
I tried my hardest to hold it back, but my snort broke through, and when Ezra shot me a scowl, I lost control and threw my head back on a laugh. “She told you, Dad. Something tells me you better not mess with her.”
I didn’t realize what I said until my hilarity died down and I noticed the annoyance on my father’s face had melted away and left behind a softness that tugged sharply at something behind my ribs.
The way he was watching me, he looked at least ten years younger, and I was reminded, in that moment, of the man who I once thought had hung the moon and every single star in the sky.
It was like falling back in time when I was a girl, not much younger than Cassi, and was so sure my father could do no wrong; he would always protect me from anything bad.
Time had proved me wrong, repeatedly, but it was hard not to feel like that little girl when I kept getting flashes of the man who’d once been my hero.
My smile fell and I cleared my throat awkwardly as the air in the room thickened. “So, um?.?.?. you ready to go?” I looked around the room. “Don’t you need a wheelchair or something?”
Ezra’s scowl returned in full force. “Over my cold, dead body am I leavin’ here in a wheelchair. I’m more than capable of walking.”
Something in me snapped as he tried pushing to his feet, and all traces of my good humor fled.
“It almost was over your dead body,” I shot back, using a tone I imagined Lennon might use on her middle schoolers.
The timbre of it said without a doubt I was not to be fucked with.
“Or did you forget that the way you’ve been living nearly killed you?
” It was my turn to slam my hands on my hips.
I hadn’t expected the panic that came with my scolding, but ever since I got back, I hadn’t been able to shake the realization that I’d almost lost my father.
I used to tell myself I wouldn’t care if anything happened to him, but this whole situation had made a liar out of my past self.
A part of me didn’t want to care, terrified that doing so would only give him the ammunition to hurt me all over again. I couldn’t help it.
I did a shitty job of hiding that panic, because Ezra moved faster than any man who was weeks out from open heart surgery had the right to do.
“Okay, baby girl,” he said quickly, moving to me and taking my face in his hands, and to my utter horror, I felt the burn behind my eyes return with a vengeance.
I got the light blue of my eyes from my father, and as I stared up at him, clasping his wrists in my hands, I was reminded how close I came to never seeing those eyes on him ever again.
“It’s okay,” he said so gently that tug in my chest yanked harder.
“I’ll use the wheelchair. I promise. No more arguing. ”
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and clamped down against the onslaught of tears that wanted to break free. When I finally got a hold of myself, I sniffled and took a small step back, breaking his hold. “Good. Glad we got that settled.”
I turned around, prepared to go in search of a wheelchair, when the nurse from my very first visit appeared out of thin air, wheeling one into his room.
“Perfect timing.” Roe gave the woman a kind smile, but I didn’t miss the way her cheeks flushed bright pink at the sight of it.
It took serious effort to suppress my eyeroll.
It wasn’t unusual for Roe to get all kinds of female attention everywhere we went when we were younger, and it appeared that time hadn’t dulled his shine one damn bit.
He took the handles from her and wheeled it closer to Ezra.
“Cass and I just finished getting the spare room set up for you.”
“Yeah, Poppy!” Cassi bounced on the balls of her motorcycle boots. “And I drew you a bunch of pictures and hung them on the wall so you can see them and be happy.”
I blinked, giving my head a shake as confusion set in. “Wait. Your house?” I asked Roe. “Why can’t he just go home?”
The two men shared a look that I didn’t understand, but, from the way their faces had tightened, had serious meaning. “What’s that look about? What’s going on?”
Ezra wetted his lips before explaining, “Well, sweetheart, I sold the house a long time ago.”