Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Delaney
Bennett and I decide a public restaurant where the girls can play games is our best option.
Now that I’m parked in the lot, waiting for Bennett and Wren to show up, driving far away seems like it would have been a much better plan.
Leia’s been quiet, staring out the window.
“How are you doing?” I ask, turning around in the driver’s seat.
“Good. They’re late.” Her voice shakes with worry, a result of Sean ditching our plans a lot because of work obligations. That kind of thing started with telling us he’d meet us there, then he’d be an hour late, and ended in him saying he couldn’t make it. I should have demanded more answers.
“They’ll be here. We’re just a little early.” I pat her leg.
Her gaze remains out the window, and I pick up my phone to text him. Just as I’m debating what to say, his truck pulls in next to me.
“They’re here!” Leia says, surprise in her voice.
Please, please, Bennett, do not hurt her.
He quickly climbs out of the truck and holds his hands up as an apology. It’s so rare that he’s ever late.
Leia unbuckles herself, and her hand goes to the door handle.
I climb out of my car while Bennett helps Wren out.
Then it’s all four of us in the parking lot of a pizza place, staring at each other.
“Hey, sis!” Wren wraps her arm tightly around Leia.
It takes Leia a moment, but then she clings just as tightly to Wren, and they’re both smiling as though we’re in the Disneyland parking lot, getting ready to spend our entire day there.
Bennett’s gaze lands on me over their heads.
“Leia,” I say, and she glances at me.
Wren grabs Bennett’s hand as if we’re going to go into the pizza place now, but there’s one introduction that needs to happen before we do.
“This is—”
“Your dad!” Wren shouts with excitement. “And he’s the best daddy. You’re going to love him.”
Leia smiles softly, but she doesn’t move. I’m starting to think maybe we should’ve done this differently.
Wren is obviously over the moon about being sisters, and she’s too young to empathize with the emotions coursing through Leia. She was just told that the dad she’s known her entire life isn’t really her dad and another man is. A man she’s never met and doesn’t know.
Bennett hunches down, and Wren stays right at his side, her smile big and wide. “Hi, Leia, I’m Bennett.”
“Hi,” she says, studying him.
I give it a few minutes, my heart in my throat. After years of wondering how this moment would go, I was far from prepared.
“Well, who’s hungry?” I say a little too loudly, showing my nerves.
Bennett doesn’t take his eyes off Leia, as if he’s looking her over to see what parts of him made it into her.
It’s not until Leia turns to me that Bennett straightens and stands, turmoil and anger on his face.
Wren grabs Leia’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Bennett brings up the rear as we head inside.
Wren bounces in place beside the hostess stand. “Can we get our usual booth?” Her voice is full of excitement.
Bennett runs a hand down his face. “If it’s open, sure.”
She peers past the hostess stand to check.
I glance at Leia. She’s quiet, her fingers curled around my hand. Her eyes dart to Wren, then to Bennett, then down to the tile floor.
The hostess grabs the menus and says to follow her.
Bennett holds his hand out for us to go first, his hand brushing the small of my back when I walk past. It’s light, barely there, but a pulse shoots up my spine.
Read the room, you traitorous body.
Anything between Bennett and me is done and over.
We slide into the booth, Wren bouncing so hard the salt and pepper shake. “Have you had cheeseburger pizza? You’re going to love it.”
Leia offers a weak smile before slipping in next to me. She presses her side into mine.
Bennett sits next to Wren, his gaze shifting between the girls and me. He looks as if he’s trying to keep his expression neutral, but his jaw tenses. What I would do to be in his mind right now.
The server comes by, and we order a pitcher of lemonade, garlic knots, and two pizzas, one cheeseburger and one pepperoni.
Wren drums her hands on the table. “Do they have that game where—oh—the claw machine! Can we play?”
Leia doesn’t say anything. She just watches Wren.
While Bennett tells Wren we’ll get to the games in a minute, she excitedly tells him a story of when Nash brought her here with Poppy and how Nash won five stuffed animals from the claw machine.
I use the reprieve from the tension with all four of us to check in on Leia. I squeeze her hand and lean over to whisper in her ear, “You doing okay?”
She nods, faster than I would like.
Wren leans over the table, closer to Leia then to me.
“Wren, sit back down,” Bennett says.
I love that Wren doesn’t seem to have a problem with her new sister. I was worried what her reaction to sharing her daddy would be.
“Can Leia and I play games after we eat? Please?” she asks.
I glance at Leia, who still hasn’t answered. Her lips part as though she might say something, then close again.
“If Leia wants to,” I say gently.
Leia shrugs and slides a little closer to me.
Bennett clears his throat. “We can all go together.”
I give him a quick glance, surprised he said that.
Wren grins wide, kicking her feet under the table. “Have you played the claw machine? Or the driving game? I have to sit on Daddy’s lap ’cause I can’t reach the pedals, but it’s so fun. Daddy, you have to take Leia.”
He smiles, but it’s tight. “If she wants.”
The waitress drops the garlic knots and drinks on the table, and I’m thankful for the distraction.
I think Leia is, too, because she perks up and reaches for one.
Wren chatters about their art class and a drawing that a boy did of some animal pooping.
Leia lets out a tiny laugh, and my chest loosens.
Bennett’s eyes flick to mine, a small smile tipping his lips.
“What did you draw, Leia?” Bennett asks.
She only shrugs again. Her voice is a whisper. “A unicorn.”
“Oh, Daddy, it was so pretty. Leia’s the best drawer in our class. It had rainbow hair.” Wren fills in all the blanks.
“I’d love to see it.” Bennett leans back, stretching his arm across the back of the booth. He hasn’t had a garlic knot or taken a sip of his drink.
Is his stomach as nervous as mine? Probably more.
Wren changes the topic to the spelling test. “Just wait, Leia, Daddy makes you write out the words over and over again. Do you do that, Delaney?”
Of course Wren has assumptions of how this will go with Leia being her sister now. A defensive part of me wants to tell Wren I’ll be handling Leia’s studying for the spelling tests.
“Mommy has me write the words in the colors of a rainbow. One time she hid parts of the words around the room, and I had to find them and put them together.” Leia smiles up at me as if she’s remembering the times we’ve done that.
I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.
I look back across the booth. Bennett’s eyes are on both of us. For the first time tonight, there’s no tension lining his face. It’s softer now.
Thankfully, the pizza comes. Maybe we did make the right decision coming here because the distraction of the food is perfect.
“Just one piece.” Wren picks up a cheeseburger pizza slice and holds it out to Leia.
Leia looks at me as if I’ll know whether or not she’ll like it.
“You should try it,” I encourage.
“So should you,” Bennett says, picking up a piece and holding it out me like Wren is to Leia. “From what I know, your mom has never tried it either. You guys can do it together.”
Challenge twinkles in his eyes. It’s playful and just what we need.
“I’m not going to like it,” I say. We’ve been through this many times before. “I like my pepperoni.”
“I’ll do it if you do it,” Leia says.
I strip my gaze off Bennett over to her. “Really?”
Leia has always been a picky eater, so I’m shocked she’s willing to even try it.
“Okay,” I agree and take the pizza from Bennett, our fingers brushing in the exchange. I don’t pay attention to the electricity between us.
“On the count of three,” Wren says, holding up her hand.
Leia and I glance at one another, making sure the other person will actually take a bite.
Wren counts us down. “One… two… eat!”
We both close our eyes and bite into the pizza, then put the pieces down on the plates while we chew. Then we face one another again and shrug.
“Do you like it?” Wren asks us, up on her knees.
“It’s okay,” I say.
“Okay? It’s sooo good.” Wren shifts her attention to Leia.
“I like it, but I still like pepperoni better,” she says.
“I’m proud of you guys for trying something new. Next time, Wren will try cauliflower.” Bennett pokes her side, and she sticks her finger in her mouth as though she wants to throw up.
“No, I’m not. Just wait until you see some of the things my…” She pauses and looks at Bennett. “Our?”
Bennett’s eyes shift to mine for a moment before he says, “My cousin, who is your Uncle Jensen, is a chef. He’s always trying to get Wren to try vegetables. It’s a game they play.”
The reminder of what we’re all doing here together is like someone dropped a pig’s head on the table.
“It’s not fun. He tries to make it like a game.” Wren sits on her butt and eats her pizza.
I’m not sure how we would’ve gotten through this meal without Wren. She’s holding it together for all of us.
We eat quietly for the next few minutes, no conversation to be had.
“Done! Can we play now?” Wren wipes her mouth and drops the napkin on the plate.
Leia hesitates, her hands in her lap.
I turn to her. “Only if you want to, sweetie.”
She gives the smallest nod, putting her napkin on the plate just like Wren. “I want to.”
Bennett stands and offers money to both girls. Wren takes it instantly. Leia… waits. Looks at me to see if it’s all right.
I give her an encouraging smile. “It’s okay.”
They go to the machines where we can see them.
I go to slide out of the booth. “I should go over there.”
“You’ve barely eaten. They’re fine. We can see them.” Bennett looks to his left.
Wren is putting the money in the machine to get tokens to play the games.
“I don’t know what I’m doing. I want to say the right thing. Be the right person for her.” Bennett’s confession strikes me.
I nod, staring at the bubbles in my lemonade. “It will get easier. She’s just quiet.”
“Thankfully, Wren isn’t.” He looks at me through his eyelashes as he bites into his pizza.
“It’s nice that Wren is excited.”
He puts down his pizza and sits back in the booth. “How did Leia take it?”
“She’s been quiet about it, but that’s her normally. I think as we keep this going, we’ll know more.”
He stares at his plate for a second, and I sip my lemonade to do anything but wonder how much he hates me.
We haven’t talked about me keeping it from him, and I don’t have it in me to get him to understand why I did it, even if I knew it was wrong.
I’m not sure I could forgive someone if the roles were reversed.
Right now, we just need to concentrate on building Bennett’s relationship with Leia and making this transition as easy as possible for the girls.
“I’d like a day with her, just me and her.” I open my mouth, but he continues. “I’m not saying soon, but at some point, I need to get to know her away from Wren. And she needs to get to know me away from you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Okay.” There’s no changing that he’s her dad, and she deserves to see what that relationship can be.
His eyes hold mine. “Thanks.”
I nod.
The girls rush back over, Wren grabbing Bennett’s hand. “Come on, Daddy, we want to drive.”
Bennett stands and Wren drags him forward. “Are you coming?” he asks me, looking over his shoulder.
I trail behind toward the arcade. Wren darts toward the driving game, shouting something about beating her own high score. Leia stands close to Bennett, watching.
Then he turns to me. “Do you mind taking Wren on the driving game?”
“Is that okay with you?” I ask Wren.
She grabs my hand and tugs me toward the game. “Have you played before?”
I catch Bennett crouching beside Leia, pointing out the claw machine. “Think we can win something?”
Leia’s voice is soft. “They’re rigged.”
He chuckles. “You sound like your mom.”
She blinks at him. And when he laughs, she smiles. A real smile lights up her face, and something shifts deep inside me.
I move to stand beside them.
Wren yells from across the room, “Delaney! Come on.”
As I walk toward her, I look back.
Leia’s hand slides into Bennett’s as they walk over to the machines.
Later, once the girls have had enough of the arcade, we walk out into the warm night, both girls clutching the matching unicorns Bennett won for them.
“Still think they’re rigged?” Bennett asks me.
“How much did you spend? You could’ve bought them for the amount of money you wasted winning them.”
“You’re missing the whole point of the game.” We stop where our cars are parked, the girls talking to each other about how much fun they had.
“What’s that?”
“Sometimes, what you win means more because you never stopped trying.”
Our eyes hold for a moment longer than they should. And for the first time in a long time, I let myself hope that maybe we’ll be able to weather this storm too.