Chapter 32
DALTON
“Welcome to Mama’s Kitchen. My name is Sage. I’ll be your server today. Here are your menus. Let me know if you’d like something to drink. I’ll give you a couple of minutes with the menus.”
Sage greets a family who just sat down. She’s got a smile on her face, but I know it’s not real.
It doesn’t reach her eyes, and the cheery air that she normally has is not there.
She’s tense but trying to process everything and keep going.
I know she thinks she’s being strong, but I wish she would let me in more.
I wish she wouldn’t try to carry it all on her own.
“Just four waters, please,” the mom says.
Sage walks away with a nod and heads to the bar. She looks tired, in her crisp white shirt and dark pants.
I know her thoughts have been keeping her up at night.
Just like my own have been doing to me. I can’t help but think about the secret smile she offers me each morning when she wakes up, before she thinks about the complicated mess that is our life.
It warms my heart every morning, and I know if I could bottle her radiance, I’d never feel down again.
“Hey, Jimmy. Can I get four glasses of water with lemons, please?” She pauses and looks toward the table. “Actually, put the lemons on the side. I’m not sure if they asked for lemons or not.”
“Sure thing,” he says, a frown deepening on his face. “You okay today, Sage?” He glances over at me for a second and then turns away before I can glare at him.
“Yeah, just fine. Thanks.” Her words are short and clipped, and it’s obvious that she’s far from just fine.
I can tell Jimmy senses that too. He pauses before pouring the water.
I can see the hesitation in the way that he studies her, like he wants to say something, but doesn’t know how.
I wonder if he knows that I know. Actually, that’s not true.
I know he knows that I know because Brett would never keep a secret from me.
I need to speak to Jimmy alone, but I’m going to have to do that away from the bar.
I can’t risk someone hearing our conversation.
It just wouldn’t be right. I need to convince him to talk to Sage and tell her the truth.
The rejection that she felt from her unknown dad not wanting to meet her was far worse than finding out that Jimmy was her dad. I need him to see that.
“How are you feeling today, Sage?” I ask her as she sashays past me with the waters on a tray.
“Quite fine, boss.”
She gives me a small smile and a little wink, and I can’t help but think about the last time I saw that wink. I shift my stance and ignore the heat rising in my body. Now is not the time to be thinking of a naked Sage.
I know we’re both thinking about the evening that we had a couple of nights ago, the way that we made love all night long.
I hoped that meant she had forgiven me, but it was just one night.
I held her in my arms, and I fucked her over and over until morning came, and I thought maybe this was the beginning of something amazing, but maybe it was the end.
Maybe it was her way of exorcising me from her body and mind because the last couple of nights, we just lay there on our own sides, no teasing, no games.
I missed her even though she was right there with me.
I take a deep breath, and I head over to the bar to speak to Jimmy. “I have to talk to you,” I say in a low voice, making sure Sage is nowhere around. “This has put me in an awkward position.”
“What are you talking about?” He looks away.
He’s a shit liar, and I really want to call him out.
“Shit,” he grunts as the door opens, and a loud whistle sounds throughout the room.
There’s a coldness that emanates through the space, and I look to the front.
I freeze when I see Parker walking in, shoulders back, head up high, an evil smirk on his face.
He looks around the restaurant like he owns the place; he spies Sage and heads over to her.
I immediately spring into action and make my way over to them.
“I need to talk to you,” he says loudly, grabbing her roughly by the elbow.
“What are you doing here?” she shrieks in shock.
“Why are you here?” I grab Parker’s arm and pull him away from Sage. “You need to get the fuck out of here.”
“I need to talk to her. She doesn’t understand that she and I were meant to be.” He sounds frantic, and I wonder if he has some mental illness.
He reaches for her again, and she evades him.
“I don’t understand what went wrong, Sage. Everything was amazing. You were going to be so perfect on my arm. I already told my parents about you.”
“Leave me alone, Parker. I’m not interested. I don’t want you. Can’t you understand that? No is no.”
“You are not going to say no to me. I have had fucking enough of you women treating me like shit,” he shouts, picks up a glass, and throws it to the ground.
I know I’m about to do something that I’m going to regret, but as I step forward to hit him, I see Jimmy the Fish come running past me.
He grabs him by the collar and slams him into the wall hard—so hard that I almost think he’s knocked the guy out.
He drops Parker to the ground, and he stumbles and falls.
“What was that?” he says, looking up at Jimmy the Fish in fright, but then he goes for another swing, and I know he’s not going to stop.
“Leave the girl alone.”
“Leave us alone, old fart. She’s my—”
“She’s what?” Jimmy picks him up again and holds him against the wall.
“You think you’re going to mess with Sage in front of me?
You think you’re going to come into this nice establishment and mess with this pretty young girl and threaten her?
Demand she be with you when she has told you time and time again that she is not fucking interested? ”
Parker’s face turns white, and he kicks Jimmy in the leg.
“Do you hear me, Parker? My name is Jimmy, otherwise known as Jimmy the Fish. And you want to know why they call me Jimmy the Fish? Because I put a whole lot of bodies in the ocean, and that’s where they remain, floating with the fucking fish.
Now, I’m a respectable man. I work at this nice place.
I’m a bartender. I don’t want to have to put you out in the fucking Pacific Ocean, but if I ever see you in here again, if I ever hear your name so much as whispered in my presence, if you fucking mess with Sage again, I will kill you one second at a time.
I will do it slowly. I will make it hurt. I will make you beg me to let you die.”
Parker struggles against him. “I didn’t mean it. I just …” He looks over at Sage. “What the fuck? If I had known you were a crazy-ass bitch, I would never have gone on a date with you.”
“Look, you need to leave me alone. You need to stop.”
“I’m going.” Parker kicks Jimmy again. “Let me down.”
Jimmy lets him down, and Parker swings at him, misses, and stumbles back.
“This is not over, whore.” He looks over at Sage with rage in his eyes. “We’re not over until I say we’re over.” He spits on the ground and saunters to the front of the restaurant. He stops at the door, turns back, and screams, “No one says no to Parker the Stallion.”
Sage, Jimmy, and I stare at each other as Parker leaves the restaurant. I want to go after him, but I can tell from the tension still in the air that now is not the right time.
“You didn’t have to do that, Jimmy. You really didn’t. I am grateful, but I can look after myself.” Sage’s words are dull; she looks like she is still in shock.
“A father protects his daughter,” he says softly, his face twisted in a grimace as he finally tells her the truth.
Sage blinks in confusion and then stares at me. I look over at Jimmy, and he shrugs.
“I guess she had to know at some point, huh?”
“You knew?” she says softly.
Sage’s face turns white.
“I was waiting for the right time to—”
“Again?” she shouts at me. “Fuck you, Dalton. Fuck you.” She then turns back to Jimmy. “I don’t understand what is going on here.”
She’s dismissed me. I know she has, and I know I can’t say anything. This is bigger than our moment. This means so much more. That doesn’t make me feel better about where we stand, but I know I can’t demand she have a conversation with me.
“I’m your dad. Well, your donor, father, papa.
I don’t even know what to say.” Jimmy shakes his head and lets out a low groan.
“Look, I was never made to be a dad. I never wanted to be a dad. I would be a shit dad, and I really didn’t want you to know for many reasons.
You deserve someone better than me, but I will not have anyone coming in and threatening my little girl. ”
Sage’s lower lip trembles. “You saw me crying. Maybe you heard Brett tell me that someone else was my father. Or at least you knew that was what he was going to say. What’s going on?
Is everyone lying to me?” Her voice rises.
“Dalton, how the fuck could you do this to me again? I thought you’d promised me no more lies. ”
I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to explain it.
She looks over at Jimmy. “That day you were looking at me and talking about me looking like someone you know—you knew then, didn’t you?”
Jimmy nods and looks ashamed. “You’re beautiful.
” He looks nostalgic. “You look like your mom when she was younger. And you know, I heard you were searching for your dad. I saw your mom and your sister on FaceTime one time, and I mean, she was a looker. I remember her. I just … you deserve better than me, sweetheart. I’m just an old mafioso.
I ain’t never been a dad. I ain’t even been a husband.
I ain’t even ever been a good boyfriend.
I’m not who you’re looking for. I really didn’t want you to know, but no one messes with you.
I just want you to know that I’ll always be here to protect you. ”