Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
REED
H ailey covers her exposed chest with her arms, meeting me where our clothes lie in a heap on the floor.
“I thought you said he wouldn’t come back here!” I hop in the most awkward angle to get my pants over my hips without fully straightening.
With wide eyes, she hisses, “He doesn’t come here!” She drags her shirt over her head, stashing her bra beneath the bed.
“I can sneak out the window,” I suggest, sizing up the small frame. I’d have to turn to the side to make it through the narrow opening, but I think it could work. I’d do just about anything right now to avoid the repercussions of my boss finding me alone in this bedroom with his daughter. But I remember the small problem with that plan.
My truck is in the driveway.
“I can have anyone I want here,” she argues. “Just… give me a minute with him before you come out, okay?”
I search her face as she brushes the strands of hair out of her eyes and straightens her shirt. Then, she disappears through the doorway.
The front door creaks open and I perch on the edge of her bed, unsure of what to do. Afraid I royally screwed up on all accounts.
“What are you doing here?” I hear her ask him in the entryway.
I stand from the bed so I can pace back and forth while I wait for his answer. Whatever he comes up with, it will say a lot.
His heavy boots clunk against the floor, the sound getting louder, which means he hasn’t suddenly decided to retreat into the night and leave us to it. Perfect.
I know she’s strong enough to handle him herself, but I can’t help peeking around the corner to take in the situation and make sure she’s okay.
I can barely make out the slope of Jack’s nose past the wall between us. He’d have to crane his neck to the side to see me from where he stands.
“I came because I thought we could talk,” he says.
She’s fidgeting. I hate seeing her this way, like she’s a cat stuck in a storm, cowering before his thunderous gaze.
“Oh. Okay,” she says.
When his eyes stray toward the hallway I duck for cover.
“Why don’t we sit down.” She guides him to the living room.
“You’re home.” He says it like it’s taken seeing her in her childhood space for him to believe it.
“The place looks the same,” she says, making awkward small talk.
“Yeah, I guess it does, doesn’t it? I haven’t been around here much since you left.”
A low laugh bubbles from her chest. Not a happy sound but irritated. “You weren’t around here much even before I left.”
He sighs. I can see more of his face now from the recliner he’s sitting in. His eyebrows pinch together. Just talking to her looks painful for him .
“If there was one good thing I could ever do for you it was protect you. What I said this morning… that you don’t belong here… I meant in a place you aren’t safe.” He drags a hand over his mouth. “Incident command posts are functioning homeless communes, Hayes. The camps are dirty and hot. They’re an epicenter for viruses and illness. Things I don’t love the idea of you being exposed to. I didn’t mean to imply I don’t want you around, that you aren’t great at what you do, or that I’m not incredibly proud of what you’ve accomplished.”
Wow. That was… unexpected. But did she even hear him?
Hailey’s staring out the kitchen window, as if a home video is playing across the glass.
“Did you know I went on that swing out there today for the first time since we built it nine years ago?”
I expect her to look at him for his reaction. But her question was obviously rhetorical.
“You told me you had some jute rope lying around that you weren’t sure what to do with,” she continues. “You even let me drill the holes in the seat.”
A soft smile graces her lips.
“I was so happy that day. Hopeful that this material object would be the very thing that would bring us together.”
She blows out a breath.
“But then your phone rang. You stepped away to take the call, and I sat on that swing staring out at the lake for hours . I knew with one pump of my legs I could start it on my own. But I wanted you to do it with me. I waited for you and…” Her voice cracks before she ever finishes the sentence, and my heart pitches in my chest.
Come on, Jack. Say something .
But he’s sitting there, stalk still, not touching her.
“I waited to feel that same joy I felt when you brought home that wooden plank from your camping trip. ”
Camping trip? Wait… how many years ago did she say it had been since she had ridden on it? Eight? Nine? That would make me…
No .
My heart sinks like it’s made of lead.
That would make me twelve. And that wooden plank I can clearly remember him tucking under his arm… that was for Hailey.
Dread coils in the pit of my stomach with the secret I’ve been unknowingly keeping from her. The one where I went on a camping trip with her father that she wasn’t invited on.
“It was the first gesture you ever made that showed you thought of me,” she whispers. “I was ready to feel like I was floating on that swing. But you never came back.” She shakes her head. “You never come back.”
Jack stands and clears his throat. But he pinches the bridge of his nose and says, “I thought I could do this. You came home, and I thought?—”
“That things would be different this time,” she finishes for him, like she can relate.
Anguish grips his features. “I don’t know how to do this, Hayes. How to be a good father. I know I’ve failed you. I’m so sorry.”
I hear his boots clunk against the floor as he backs out of the living room and through the front door.
Like hell he’s sorry! If he thinks he’s going to just leave her here crying without making sure she’s okay first, he’s got another thing coming.
I burst out of the bedroom and rush to her, wrapping her in my arms. She quakes against my chest.
“Shh, it’s going to be okay,” I whisper into her hair, then press a kiss to the top of her head .
She tries to grab on to my arm as I chase after him, but her fingers only trail at the hem of my shirt.
“Reed, no,” she calls from behind me, and I pause my steps. “He wants to go.”
“He’s your father, Red. If he can’t see for himself, he needs to know what he’s missing out on.”
It takes everything to leave her there, but it’s something I have to do.
He’s almost at his truck when I step onto the gravel driveway and call out, “Why do you shit all over her, huh?”
He doesn’t turn around to look at me when he speaks next. Not that I’m surprised. “Stay out of what you don’t know, Reed.”
Be damned my goal of getting him to trust me. She doesn’t deserve this.
“No, you know what, I won’t stay out of it.” I reach for his arm and jerk him around. We may be the same height, but the man hasn’t taken a day off in years, and he carries the fatigue around with him like a weighted blanket. I could rip his arm right out of its socket if I’m not careful.
“I know more about her in a few weeks than you ever have.”
He pulls himself free and continues his march toward his truck. But I stay no more than two feet behind him.
“Did you know she likes her coffee black? Just straight black, no sugar. Or that she eats M&Ms in the order of a rainbow.”
He reaches for the door handle and stops. I take it as my sign that this is working. That I’m getting through to him.
“She likes it when you sing the lyrics wrong to a song when she gets anxious. And her eyes…”
He yanks open the car door as he whirls around.
“Don’t tell me about my own daughter’s eyes! ”
“Why?” I press in closer, getting right in his face. “Because?—”
“Because I know what they look like! There isn’t a single moment I don’t spend seeing them everywhere I go. So, stay out of it! This is the last time you’ll be defending her to me.”
Jack jumps in the front seat and slams the door shut, peeling his truck away in reverse.
This moment might have risked everything I’ve worked for over the last month, but I don’t care. I’d do it all over again for her.