Chapter 10 #2
Josie stopped walking. “What?” she gasped, staring at me. I just grinned at her. “They made you captain?”
I nodded. “They did. And Uncle Jay is an alternate.”
To my surprise, she threw her arms around my middle. “Daddy, that’s amazing!”
Thank you, I prayed to anyone who might be listening. A spontaneous hug from my daughter was better than any captain’s C.
“I was pretty surprised,” I said, patting her back. “But maybe I shouldn’t be. I am one of the oldest guys in the locker room. I guess they thought it would be a good idea to give it to the old geezer on the team.”
She laughed, releasing me. “Was Uncle Jay excited?”
“I think he might be excited once he stops being shocked,” I said, laughing.
“Is there another alternate? Who’s your goalie? You guys have a lot of rookies this year, right? Anyone looking good?”
This, right here, is what I had been missing. My daughter was a huge hockey fan. She knew more about the game than half the commenters on television. This was the first time she’d shown any interest in the new team and I was going to milk it for all it was worth.
Fifteen minutes later, after we’d analyzed the entire defense and two of the four offensive lines, we’d made our way into the Japanese garden section.
“This is pretty cool,” I told her, pulling out my phone. “Stand over there by the koi pond, Josie girl, let me get your picture.” She posed without complaint but started to get annoyed when I had her stop for pictures on several more stops up the trail.
“Daddy,” she moaned.
“Oh, give your old man a break,” I said. “You’re getting so tall now, I need to remember what you look like before you go shooting up another foot.”
It had been the exact wrong thing to say.
I had no idea why, but something closed up in her face and her arms came up to cross over her middle.
Shit. What had I said? Something about her getting taller?
I didn’t know why that would upset her, but she was like a different kid, scowling and hunched up and refusing to make eye-contact with me.
Two steps forward, three steps back, I thought glumly as we made our silent way to the next area.
After fifteen more minutes of grumpy silence, I was about ready to call it quits. Maybe we should have gone to a movie or something—at least there it wouldn’t be so obvious that my daughter was ignoring me.
Just when I was about to suggest it, Josie’s face changed again—surprised excitement, this time. “Hey, that’s Miss K!”
My head snapped in the direction she was looking, my gaze immediately landing on a red-haired woman standing with a blond boy who looked to be a little older than Josie.
“Can we go say hi?” Josie asked.
“Sure.” Like I was going to say no to a chance to talk to Gracie.
I knew Josie must be feeling shy, because she let me hold her hand while we approached her teacher.
“Hey there, Miss K,” I said, and Grace spun in our direction, surprise written all over her face.
“Liam,” she squeaked, eyes wide, fingertips immediately moving to her collarbone. She stared at me for a long moment before she seemed to shake herself and remember that her student was also there. “Josie! It’s so nice to see you, girl!”
Josie beamed and I remembered what Evelyn had said about her being crazy about the teacher. I had to agree—I hadn’t seen Josie smile so big since we got to Texas. She looked even happier than she had when she saw the pool in our backyard.
“Elliot,” Grace said, nudging the little boy forward. “This is one of my students, Josie O’Conner. Josie, this is my friend, Elliot.”
“Hi,” Josie said, shy.
“What’s up,” the boy replied, the picture of ten-year-old cool.
“Elliot is my best friend’s son,” Grace explained, more to me than Josie. “I’m babysitting today.”
The kid scoffed. “You mean you’re lucky enough to hang out with greatness,” he said, and Gracie flicked his arm, grinning.
“Sometimes it’s really obvious you’re Peyton’s son,” she said drily. “Your mom is full of herself too.”
“It’s easy to be full of yourself when you’re this cool, Auntie G,” he said.
Josie giggled and Grace rolled her eyes.
“Ignore him,” she instructed Josie. “How are you liking Zilker? Is this the first time you’ve been here?”
Josie nodded. “I really liked the waterfall! But it wasn’t as big as the ones we saw in Jamaica.”
“Wow,” Grace said. “I’ve never been to Jamaica before. That must have been pretty great.”
“We usually go somewhere over the summer when Daddy isn’t playing hockey,” Josie said, all shyness apparently forgotten.
Her words had the boy’s eyes snapping up to my face. “You play hockey?”
“That’s right,” I tell him. “I’m a center for the Sting.”
“That’s Andy’s team!” It was funny to hear this kid call one of the world’s most successful billionaires Andy. I smiled over at Gracie. She must be pretty close with this kid, and his mom, if he was that comfortable with her brother.
“We’re going to one of your games,” Elliot continued. “Auntie G said we can all sit in Andy’s box.”
“Sounds impressive,” I said. “Hopefully we can show you a win.”
“My daddy is the team captain,” Josie said, and I couldn’t help but grin at the pride in her voice.
Grace shook her head. “Still can’t believe it.”
“Me neither.”
“I mean, seriously,” she pressed, a teasing note in her voice. “I hear Andy was very involved in that decision. So how on earth did you wind up with the C?”
“Maybe your brother is starting to come around on me.”
Gracie grinned. “Maybe. And perhaps pigs will start flying any day now.”
I laughed, feeling miles better than I had a few short minutes ago. Part of it was the change in Josie’s mood but a lot of it was just being close to Grace again, chatting and teasing just like we always used to do.
It didn’t hurt that she looked particularly gorgeous today.
She was dressed casually but on Gracie, casual looked damn good.
Her tank top was faded, some restaurant logo on the front, but it showed off her bare arms. They were a lot tanner than I would have expected.
Gracie had always been pale. Maybe she spent more time outdoors now that she lived in Texas.
At any rate, I was very thankful for the day’s heat when my eyes flicked down to her legs.
Her jean shorts were tiny and I was suddenly assaulted by the memory of Gracie hanging out at the lake with some of our class on the last day of junior year.
I had nearly swallowed my tongue when she slipped out of her sundress to reveal a solid green one piece.
It was probably the most modest swim suit out of any of the girls at the beach that day, but on Gracie, it had been unspeakably hot.
The memory of her in that swimsuit had fueled most of my spank bank sessions for the entire summer.
God, I had made a fool of myself that day, showing off on the volleyball court and in the water, anything I could think of to get her to look up from her book and pay attention to me.
“Daddy?” Josie said, and I snapped my eyes away from Grace’s legs to see all three of them staring at me, perplexed expressions on their faces. Shit, I had totally zoned out checking out my daughter’s teacher’s legs. Nice parenting move, jackass.
“Are you guys heading that way?” I asked, trying to play it cool and pretend like my eight-year-old hadn’t just caught me leering at her teacher.
“That was the plan,” Grace said and I realized that her cheeks had gone a little pink. She had definitely noticed me staring at her. I could only hope that was a good blush, and not an uncomfortable one.
“Us too. Let’s walk together,” I suggested, half expecting her to come up with some excuse. Instead, she smiled, that same shy smile I used to daydream about.
“Sure. That would be nice.”
“Come on,” Elliot called to Gracie. “There are some really cool statues up here.” Josie gave me a questioning glance and I nodded at her, giving my silent permission to run on ahead with her new friend.
“Do you come here a lot?” I asked, then felt like kicking myself. Was I seriously resorting to lame cliches now?
“I do,” Grace said. “It’s one of my favorite places in the area.”
“When did you move to Austin?”
“I’ve been here six years now,” she said. “I followed Andy down when he moved here for business.”
“I always expected him to end up in Silicon Valley or something,” I said. “Isn’t that where most of the tech giants are?”
“Andy said the market was too saturated there. He saw more room for growth in Austin.”
“Always a trend-setter, your brother.”
She chuckled softly and we lapsed into a comfortable silence as we walked up the trail. Up ahead of us, Josie and Elliot had stopped to look at something on the ground.
“She’s doing well so far,” Grace said softly, and I wondered if she had read my mind. “She’s still a bit shy with some of the kids, but she’s made a few friends.”
“I’m glad. She was really nervous to be at a new school.”
Grace was quiet for a moment, but I got the sense she wanted to say more. Finally, she cleared her throat. “I do notice that she seems sad sometimes. She has a tendency to stare out the window during quiet work time, and she sometimes looks a little…lost.”
Fuck. I hated thinking about her that way. I knew exactly what Grace meant. How many times had I watched Josie stare out the window? Lost was exactly the way I would describe her expression.
“It’s been hard on her,” I said, my voice rough. “The move and…leaving her mom. It’s been really hard.”
Grace made a sympathetic noise. “That would be tough on any kid.”
I nodded. “She’s been lashing out at me quite a bit. I think…I think she blames me.”
A soft hand brushed across my forearm, startling me with the hot shock that seemed to race across my skin. “She’s crazy about you, Liam,” Grace murmured. “I could see it the first minute I met her.”
For some reason, a lump came to my throat and I couldn’t seem to swallow past it.
“We’ve always been really close,” I finally managed, and I knew Grace would be able to hear how ragged my voice was. “Her mom…Chloe wasn’t around much, even when we all lived in New York.”
I thought about all the days, both before and after the divorce, that I had spent taking care of Josie.
Ever since she was a tiny baby, I was the one she relied on.
I changed most of the diapers, fed most of the bottles.
As she got older, I was the one cooking breakfast and packing lunches.
I was the one reading bed time stories and helping with homework.
Even when Chloe was home with us, she never demonstrated much interest in all the little, every-day details of her daughter’s life.
“That’s hard on a kid,” Grace said, and the pain in her voice reminded me that she was speaking from experience. Grace’s mom had made Chloe look like a saint. “I’m glad she had you, though,” Gracie continued. “Anyone can tell how absolutely devoted you are to that girl.”
Grace hadn’t had even one parent to take care of her.
I thought about Josie that morning, calling her mom, leaving her the heartbreaking message that Chloe would probably never return.
That had been Grace’s entire childhood, waiting for a parent who didn’t care to show up and love her.
I pictured the stoic look on Josie’s face, the way she’d straightened her shoulders when she came to the table.
Without thinking, I reached over and grabbed Grace’s hand. I had hated seeing my daughter like that and I hated knowing that Grace had spent her childhood feeling exactly the same way.
I figured she’d pull her hand back, maybe start blushing or rubbing her collarbone in agitation. So I was surprised when she tightened her fingers instead.
“Give Josie time,” she murmured as she squeezed my hand, taking the comfort I tried to bestow in that simple gesture and giving it right back to me. “I know she’ll come around and start feeling better. She loves you.”
I watched my daughter up ahead, laughing at whatever Elliot had said, and for the first time in a while I found myself holding onto the hope that Gracie might be right. Maybe Josie and I were going to be okay after all.