Chapter Fourteen #2
Surprise once again masks the lady’s face. “Well, I had no idea I was servin’ your daddy when he came in.” She extends her hand to me. “Nice to formally meet ya, sugar. I’m Tanya Hendrix and I own this place.”
“Justice.” I return her handshake. “You serve good food here.”
“And you tip well, so you’re welcome here anytime,” she chuckles, amused with herself. “What can I get y’all to drink?”
I nod for Hannah to go first.
“A strawberry milkshake, please.”
“With an extra cherry?” Tanya asks, quirking a brow at her.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I got ya, darlin’.” She winks then directs her attention back to me. “What will it be, handsome?”
“A Coke.”
“All right, give me a few and I’ll be back to take your order.”
“Thanks.”
She walks away, leaving us with our menus that Hannah doesn’t even bother opening.
“Do you already know what you’re having?” I ask.
“Yep. I get the same thing every time I come in. Fries and a cheeseburger, hold the pickles.”
A grin tugs the corner of my mouth. “You don’t like pickles?”
Her nose scrunches in distaste. “No way. Miss Peggy puts them on everything. She doesn’t hear too well so when I told her I didn’t like them she thought I said the opposite and always puts lots on my sandwich.
” She leans across the table and lowers her voice.
“So I feed them to her dog, Rufus, because I don’t want to hurt her feelings. ”
I chuckle. Smart kid.
Our conversation is interrupted when a guy in a stiff suit comes walking over to our table. The way he eyes the both of us instantly puts me on alert.
“Well hi there, Miss Hannah.” He cracks a smile at her and it’s as fake as his bleached white teeth.
“Hi, Mr. Chuffman,” she mumbles, seeming less than enthused to see the guy.
It ramps up my unease even more.
“Who’s this you have here with you?” he asks.
“Her father,” I cut in, saving her from having to answer. “Who are you?”
The dickhead finally turns and acknowledges me. “I’m a very good friend of the girl’s mother.”
His insinuation has my blood heating. I have no idea if he’s telling the truth or is just on some sort of power trip and trying to fuck with me. By Hannah’s demeanor, I’m going to assume it’s the latter.
“Ryanne has never mentioned Hannah’s father to me before,” he says, continuing to step into dangerous territory.
“Probably because it’s none of your business.”
He crosses his arms, rocking back on his heels. “Is that so?”
His challenge has me pushing to my feet. Only then does it take him down a notch. He retreats back and swallows hard, looking as nervous as he should.
I collect a step forward and lower my voice for Hannah’s benefit. “I don’t know what you’re trying to prove here but if you don’t step away from my daughter and leave us alone I will drop you to the fucking ground right here and now. Got it?”
His narrowed eyes hold mine but there is no denying the fear in them. If he has any kind of sense he will heed the warning.
“I’d listen to him, Mr. Chuffman,” Hannah says, clearly hearing every word I said despite my best effort. “He shoots people for a living.” She delivers the information with a smile, tapping her fingers on the table.
Amused, I direct my attention back to the asshole, giving him the chance to leave on his own before I force him out.
“I was just making sure the girl was all right is all,” he says before heading for the door, but not without one last parting shot over his shoulder. “Tell your mother I said hi, Hannah.”
It takes everything in me not to follow him out the door and deliver the beating he deserves. For my daughter’s sake, I take my seat again and try to calm the anger sweeping through me.
“He’s such a doofus,” Hannah grumbles. “He’s only nice to me because he wants Mama to go on a date with him.”
The information takes my fury to a whole new level. “Has she?” I ask before I can stop myself. I’m crossing a line by asking her and I know it, but the thought of that bastard or anyone else touching Ryanne makes me want to rip them limb from limb.
Relief fills me when she shakes her head, which tells me a lot about the decisions I need to start making. For myself and my family.
All talk ceases when the waitress comes back with our drinks and takes our orders. The tense moment is left behind and the rest of the evening passes on a much lighter note. Mostly with Hannah talking my ear off about everything and anything, which suits me just fine.
After dinner she devours a heaping bowl of ice cream, just like I promised and I’m impressed with how much a small child like her can consume. By the time we leave the diner her face is a sticky mess and smile bright.
At home we decide to watch a movie together before bed.
Not surprisingly, she chooses Brave . She even goes so far as wearing the Merida nightie she owns and jumps around the living room with her bow and arrow, acting out all the scenes.
It amuses the hell out of me, especially since she’s holding the plastic weapon completely wrong.
“Come here,” I say, calling her over.
She hops from the loveseat onto the floor and walks over to me. I pull her in-between my legs and lift her arms, showing her how to hold it properly. Next, I turn her to face a bare wall.
“Pull back and make sure your elbow is in line with your shoulder.” I help her since her arm shakes as she tries to keep it straight. “Now pick a spot on the wall you want to hit.”
Remaining silent, she does as I say.
“Do you see your target?” I ask.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now don’t take your eyes off that spot. I want you to watch it closely. Concentrate. Keep your breathing slow and even. You’ll know when the time is right to release.”
Silence fills the air as she does exactly what I say, and I see the moment she finds her concentration. Her arm stops shaking and her shoulders barely move with her breaths. When she releases, the rubber dart sails straight through the air and sticks to the wall.
“I hit it!” she squeals. “I really hit it!” She turns to face me, beaming with pride, but it doesn’t even come close to matching the feeling in my chest.
The kid is a damn natural.
“I want to do it again.” She runs over and rips the dart off the wall before coming back to stand in front of me.
Instead of watching the rest of the movie, we practice shooting, and for the first time, I feel like I am able to be apart of a vital moment in her life. I’ve missed so many firsts in her life but this one I was lucky enough to teach her. I vow to be a part of every other first she ever has.
When it’s past her bedtime we move upstairs into her room and sort through all her stuffed animals. It ends up taking us an hour by the time we have all the little fuckers lined up exactly how she wants them.
When I pull back her blankets for her to crawl in she hesitates, peering up at me. “Will you lay with me for a while? I don’t want to say good night to you yet.”
I’m thankful for the request because, truthfully, I’m not ready to leave her either. “Yeah. I’ll stay.” Carefully, I climb on top of the covers while she slides under them. The bed squeaks beneath my weight and I pray like hell we both don’t plummet to the floor.
It takes a minute to get situated but eventually I find a position that works, and thankfully the bed remains on its rails.
She moves in closer to me, draping her small arm over my waist and resting her head on my chest. It’s easy, natural even, and the best feeling in the whole world.
This is what I want. To hold her every night until she falls asleep, protecting her the way I’m meant to. I stare down at the top of her head, the scent of her shampoo and innocence filling my chest, seeping right into my black heart.
“Thanks for showing me how to shoot my arrow,” she says, letting out a yawn.
“You’re welcome. One day we’ll use a real one but we will have to ease your mom into it.” I’m unable to hide my smirk, knowing damn well Ryanne will have a fit about that.
“We definitely have to ease Mama into it. She doesn’t like any kind of violence. She even thinks Brave has too much of it.”
I grunt, not the least bit surprised to hear that. “People fear the things they don’t understand.”
“Are you saying Mama is afraid?”
“No. I’m just saying she doesn’t understand. She looks at it differently than I do but that’s because of my job.”
“Do you like shooting guns?”
“Yes,” I answer honestly.
“Why?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I guess I like the power I hold, the control I feel when I’m behind one. There’s no being reckless. You have to be precise and confident.”
“Kind of like how I was with my bow and arrow?”
“Exactly like that, but my job isn’t just about shooting guns.”
“What else is it about?” she asks, intrigued.
“It’s about eliminating threats and keeping the world safe.”
She’s quiet for a long moment and I start to think I bored her to sleep until she speaks again, her voice quiet. “Mama was right.”
“About what?”
“You really are a hero.”
Something shifts within to know Ryanne said that about me. “Nah. There are a lot of people out there who do what I do.”
Not as good as my brothers and I , but I keep that to myself.
“You’re my hero.” My chest expands as I inhale, her whispered words reaching places that have never been touched before. One day I can only hope to be worthy of them because until my very last breath, I will fight for her.
She tilts her head to look up at me. “Can I tell you something?”
“Anything,” I say then clear my throat when I hear how gruff I sound.
“Promise you won’t tell Mama?”
I nod, my curiosity piquing.
“I’m glad you’re here. Not only for me but for Mama, too. She acts brave but I hear her when she cries at night. When she thinks she’s alone and I’m asleep. I don’t want her to be lonely and cry anymore.” The sight of tears welling in her eyes along with the information guts me from the inside out.
Reaching up, I brush a strand of hair from her small face. “Things are going to be different now, Hannah. I’ll make it better for all of us. I promise.”
Nodding, she lies back down and snuggles into my chest again, her small fingers clutching my shirt. “I love you, Daddy.”
The words rock me to my fucking core. Words that only a very few people have ever said to me but they never meant more than they did in this moment.
“I love you, too, Hannah. Always and forever.”