Chapter 15
Landon texted me as I was waiting to pick Mikayla up to let me know Adam was willing to meet with me. He shared Adam’s contact information, leaving it up to me to schedule the meeting.
I thanked him, but it didn’t seem like enough. My stomach twisted. I didn’t like being at odds with Landon. It made no sense, but knowing he was upset had me feeling like something was wrong.
Since I had a little time before Mikayla was supposed to be done, I called Adam to set up a meeting. He was more agreeable after learning I knew Landon, confirming we did know each other, and we agreed to meet two days later to talk about the wedding.
Mikayla got in a few seconds after I hung up with Adam. She was bustling with energy and excitement about the upcoming musical.
“It’s so cool. I get to sing, and Amber is dancing. The show is going to be so much fun. You’re going to go, right?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.” I pulled out of the lot and headed toward home.
“Do you think Dad is going to come?”
Fuck. Her soft question speared me. We both knew the answer to her question, but I couldn’t shred her hope.
I was sick of being the bad guy. Of shielding her from his shitty behavior.
If he didn’t want to show up for her, he needed to be the one who said it.
“Why don’t you call and ask him? Make sure he knows the dates.
We can share the ticket information with him when we get it if he can make it. ”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, sweetie. Of course. Call him now.” I handed over my phone.
“The guy who was at our apartment yesterday? Was his name Landon?”
My heart lurched. “Yeah, why?”
“He sent you a text. Do you want me to read it?”
“No! I mean, I’ll read it later and text him back.”
“Who is he?”
“He’s a friend. We’re going to Natalie and Omar’s wedding together.”
“Oh. Okay.” She tapped the screen and held the phone to her ear.
I tried not to panic while she called Kyle. I wanted to pull over and read the text from Landon, but I had to focus on Mikayla.
“He didn’t answer,” she breathed.
“Did you want to leave a message?”
“No. He won’t come anyway. Why should I bother?”
Shit. It wasn’t fair to her. Kyle had just as much to do with my getting pregnant as I did.
We agreed we would always be there for our daughter.
I expected him to hold up his end of things.
“I’ll reach out to him again and make sure he has the dates.
Maybe he was busy and couldn’t answer the phone. ”
She grumbled something that I took as agreement, then crossed her arms and sank in her seat. She was quiet until we got home, then grabbed her stuff and dragged her feet to the door.
Inside, Mikayla went to her room without a word. My heart ached for her. It wasn’t fair to her that her father was a selfish prick who only cared about himself. I stared after my kid, then called her father with the intention of telling him exactly what I thought of him.
“Why do you keep calling me?” Kyle asked as he answered the phone. “I’m busy.”
“Mikayla was calling you,” I said. “She wanted to talk to her father.”
“I have a lot going on. Can you just tell me what she wanted?”
“She’s in the school musical. She wants you to come see her.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“I didn’t even tell you when it is,” I hissed. I checked to make sure she hadn’t come out of her room and moved to the kitchen so she wouldn’t hear me.
“Fine, when is it?”
“It’s next month. The weekend before Thanksgiving. Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings, and Sunday afternoon.”
“I’m not going to be able to make it.”
“What the hell is wrong with you? She’s your daughter. She wants you there. She wants a relationship with you. Why can’t you give that to her?”
“What do you want from me, Case? I was never a good father. She likes you better.”
“Maybe that’s because you never tried. If you put in even a tiny bit of effort, it would be very different.”
“I doubt it.”
“What am I supposed to tell her?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Kyle, don’t be like this. Kyle!”
The phone was silent.
“Dammit,” I snarled.
“He’s not coming, is he?” Mikayla asked from behind me.
I spun and knew she’d heard most of my conversation with him. “Mik, I…”
“It’s okay. I know he doesn’t really care. I just thought…”
“I’m sorry, sweetie. I don’t have anymore excuses for your dad. He should be here. He should be around for you. And it’s about him that he’s not. It’s not you.”
“Okay.”
“I mean it, Mik. You have done nothing wrong. It’s all on him.”
“I just… I don’t know.”
“I know. What do you say we go out to eat tonight?”
“I thought you didn’t like doing that.” She eyed me suspiciously.
“I don’t, but it’s a special night. You’re working hard on the musical, and you deserve a night to relax.”
“What about homework?”
“How much do you have?”
“Not much.”
“Let’s go. Maybe we’ll get some flowers before we come home, too. Something to brighten this place up.”
“Lilies?”
I chuckled. “Sure.”
“Can we go there first?”
“If you want.”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s go.”
Mikayla was smiling as we walked out the door. Bribery wasn’t my favorite thing, but desperate times and all that.
I wasn’t sure what made me suggest flowers, but seeing her light up about them made my heart warm.
I parked in front of Blossom & Grow and followed Mikayla to the front door of the shop. She went straight to the refrigerated case on the right.
“Welcome to Blossom & Grow. I’ll be right up to help you,” Landon called out from somewhere out of sight.
“Thank you!” Mikayla replied.
I chuckled and followed her to the case, seeing Landon’s skills in every bunch of flowers. He didn’t just cut them and stuff them in there, he made them all beautiful. He mixed colors and textures, creating pieces of art with each bundle.
“How can I help you ladies today?” Landon asked from behind us. “Casey? Hi. Um…” He trailed off and focused on Mikayla.
“This is my daughter, Mikayla. You didn’t really meet yesterday. Mikayla, this is my friend, Landon.”
“That you’re going to the wedding with?” Mikayla asked.
I nodded. “He is.”
I didn’t miss the smile that crossed Landon’s face knowing I’d told Mikayla about him, but he wiped it away before she saw it. “It’s nice to meet you, Mikayla.”
“You, too. My mom said we could get some flowers. Do you have any lilies? They’re my favorite.”
“I do. They are over here. Do you have a certain kind of lily you prefer?”
Mikayla followed Landon to the other side of the store, leaving me to trail behind them as they discussed all things lily. I didn’t know Mikayla liked lilies, let alone knew anything about them, but she was having an entire conversation with Landon about lilies.
“Mom, can we get this one?” Mikayla asked.
Landon met my gaze, an appraising look in his eyes. “I’d love you to have this. My treat.”
“I can’t let you do that. This is your business, your livelihood.”
“And I’d love to know you have something beautiful in your home. You’ve been saying you wanted flowers for weeks and haven’t taken anything home.”
“I keep forgetting when I come in here,” I admitted, my cheeks warming.
“Then please take these. They are my treat.” He grabbed the bouquet and carried it to the front as if I’d agreed.
“I didn’t agree to it.”
“No, but you will.”
“How do you know that?”
He nodded behind me, and I remembered my daughter was there, watching us.
“Is that your favorite?” I asked Mikayla.
She nodded, her eyes flickering from me to Landon.
“Okay. Thank you,” I told Landon.
“You’re welcome.”
“You should come to dinner with us,” Mikayla said while Landon and I were staring at each other.
“What?” I blurted.
“Sure,” he said at the same time.
I looked over at him, my eyes wide. He shrugged.
“I’m about to close for the day. I was locking up out back when you came in. But I don’t have to if you’d rather I didn’t.”
I had no option but to say yes. If I said no, I was a jerk. But I couldn’t exactly enjoy flirting lessons with him when my kid was right there.
But I could enjoy his company, which I had been doing far too much lately.
“You should come with us,” I finally said.
His grin was one of victory and gratitude. “Let me finish locking up and I’ll be right back.”
I nodded, watching him walk away.
“I like him, Mom.”
“Me, too. He’s very nice.”
“Where are we going to eat?”
Shit. Paying for Mikayla and me was already a tight stretch of my budget. Adding Landon in was going to make things even harder, but there was no way I’d ask him to pay for his own dinner.
I ran through our usual places and struggled to think of somewhere we could afford.
“All right, ladies. Where are we headed?” Landon asked, joining us once more.
“We haven’t decided yet,” Mikayla said. “We don’t go out to eat a lot. Where would you recommend?”
“My favorite place is Will Work For Burgers, but I can also be talked into Gino’s without any work at all.”
“I’ve never been to either,” Mikayla said.
“No way,” Landon gasped, glancing at me as he ushered us toward the front. “Burgers or Italian? My treat since I’m invading your night out.”
“You already gave us flowers. I can’t ask you to buy dinner, too.”
“You’re not asking, Casey. I’m happy to do it. I don’t get to have dinner with two amazing women most nights.”
“Just on some?” Mikayla asked with a smirk.
“Mikayla!”
Landon tipped his head back and laughed hard. “I like you. You’ve got fire. A bit like your mother.”
Mikayla shook her head. “She’s a mom. She doesn’t have that.”
“Oh, your mother has fire. Did she tell you the first time she came into Blossom & Grow she knocked over a display and almost took out another one?”
“How is that fire?”
Landon considered her question for a second, then shrugged. “I don’t know, but it definitely had an impact.”
Mikayla snorted. “Old people are weird.”
“Mikayla! You don’t tell people they’re old.”
“Why not? Adults are old.”
I sighed heavily, but Landon chuckled.
“We are old compared to you. But there are still a few things we can teach you.”
“Like what?”