Chapter 6
6
“Sorry, Maisie.” Lulu chatted on her cell phone while Willa Leigh spread a plastic tarp in the whelping pen Kobe had built for Cookie three nights ago. “I can’t sleep over tonight. I’m spending the day with my new dad. We’re going to Charleston so he can buy me stuff.”
She trapped her tongue between her teeth. Since sitting down together with Lulu and explaining the situation in an age-appropriate way, the father and daughter duo had been inseparable. They spent a day at the beach after Kobe dropped a bundle on expensive UV protective swimwear, top of the line bodyboards, and an electric cooler loaded with soft drinks and snacks. The next day he brough a new laptop and a cell phone with safety features for a ten-year-old. They explored Love Beach, Lulu acting as tour guide, with stops at every bakery, candy store, snack stand, and toy shop.
Not that she’d been a part of the fun. She and Kobe were still negotiating the co-parenting thing, but one thing they both agreed on was keeping their relationships separate. Not the one she shared with him—there wasn’t one—but her relationship with Lula and his relationship with Lulu.
Thus, she kept her opinions about his over-gifting to herself.
“Daddy’s here.” Lulu ended the call and hopped up to answer the front door.
She followed more slowly to give them time for a private greeting. Kobe had respected her requests as far as curfew, checking in every so often, and seatbelt safety, but it was a struggle to share her daughter.
Lulu was now their daughter.
“What are your plans for the day?” Kobe asked politely, not quite meeting her eyes.
“Hanging out with the fur babies.” Willa Leigh tapped the carrier containing Itsy. She’d volunteered to cat-sit so Kobe’s new pet wasn’t stuck in a hotel room all day while he was out with Lulu. “I’m on puppy watch. The vet came by to check on Cookie before heading out of town for the weekend. He thinks she’ll deliver early next week.”
“Come on, Dad.” Lulu stood at the front door, tapping her foot impatiently. “Can I ride in the front seat this time, Dad?”
Willa Leigh couldn’t help smiling, even though the house echoed without Lulu around. She’d accepted their explanation with surprisingly few questions and enthusiastically accepted Kobe into her life. She said “Dad” at least a thousand times a day.
“You ride in the back.” He ruffled her braids. “Quit asking.”
“Okay.” She bounced out the front door.
“Do you have time to talk when I bring her back tonight?” he asked in a low voice. “I need to get back to the ranch. I have a meeting tomorrow with the developer who wants to buy my father’s parcel, and then I’m driving back. I thought maybe Lulu could come with me since school is out in a couple of days.”
Oof. She barely kept from folding in half. Kobe had been a father for less than a week and he wanted visitation privileges.
“We can talk about it,” she allowed.
His eyes narrowed, exactly like Lulu’s when she was displeased.
Without a word, he left the house. She stood at the door, watching the two people she loved most in the world drive away. As hard as it was sharing Lulu, it was a hundred time more difficult hiding her feelings for Kobe. She didn’t know him, not really, so how could her emotions be anything but a carryover from her high-school infatuation or her na?ve fantasy of one day being a happy little family?
There were moments she caught a glimpse of the young man he’d been. Flashes of vulnerability hidden by a thick veneer of caution and cynicism. Lulu mentioned a man named Frazier who, according to Kobe according to her daughter, told him to “clean up his act or get used to wearing stripes.” In other words, someone gave Kobe a second chance and he grabbed it with both hands.
She ached for the lonely, rebellious youth he’d been yet was proud of the man he’d become. With more information, it was easy to do a Google search and fill in ten years of blanks. Frazier Dunloppe was a Montana millionaire. Years ago he’d been a judge in a small town that bordered his impressive acreage. Kobe Lewis was listed as the ranch foreman, but pictures of the two men at local fundraisers and rodeos reflected a much closer bond than that of rancher and hired hand.
Kobe had a rich, rewarding life in Montana. There was no reason to hope he’d relocate to Love Beach. Lulu would become one of those kids who grew up in two separate worlds, dividing time and affection between her parents. Fear clawed her heart at the thought of months without her daughter. How could she compete with a new dad and fancy ranch?
Parenting shouldn’t be a competition, she reminded herself.
She needed a diversion. Time to call in the troops.
Three hours later, Odette and Ginger were sprawled across Willa Leigh’s sectional. Jezzy hadn’t answered her call or text, so the three decided to binge watch Molly Ringwald’s best eighties flicks, starting with “Sixteen Candles.” All that remained of the chips and salsa were crumbs. They were halfway through a second bottle of chardonnay and deciding what to order from a new Pho restaurant in town when Cookie let out a chilling howl. She lumbered to her feet and vomited on the hardwood floor.
“Gross!” Ginger pulled her feet up onto the sofa.
“Um, Odette. Is it go time?” Willa Leigh dashed to the kitchen for a towel.
“Could be. Her nipples are distended, and she didn’t want the cheese I offered her.” Odette knelt next to the panting dog and lightly stroked her back. “Do you have that birthing kit I gave you? I can check her temperature rectally to be certain.”
“I’m out of here.” Ginger clamored over the arm of the sectional. “I can’t do body fluids or anything rectal.”
“Sissy.” Odette calmly guided the pittie from the living room as Ginger fought back dry heaves when the smell of the vomit hit her nostrils.
“Do me a favor before you leave,” Willa Leigh begged. “Clean this mess up. Just leave the dishes in the sink and the wine in the fridge. This could be a long night, and I don’t want Lulu coming home to evidence of her mother’s debauchery.”
“You deserve a little debauchery,” Ginger said. “I think it would be more fun with Kobe than with us though.”
“Don’t go there.” Willa Leigh didn’t need any encouragement to misbehave with her baby’s daddy.
“I’ve got this covered.” Ginger waved at the mess on the coffee table and began straightening the decorative pillows on the sofa. “Good luck with your canine Labor & Delivery.”
The next three hours were a nightmare. Something with wrong with Cookie, and Odette was frantic.
“There’s no one on call?” Willa Leigh asked after Odette’s eighth attempt to Dr. Jamison’s office.
“I can’t get anyone to answer the damn phone.” Odette paced the back porch, scrolling through contacts on her phone. “I tried both of his vet techs. Even his receptionist. There’s a vet in Charleston who usually covers for him, but he’s at his son’s wedding until midnight. It’s some kind of sunset cruise on a yacht. I’m worried about the puppies and Cookie. She’s having trouble breathing.”
“Kobe.” Willa Leigh rocketed to her feet. “He can help us.”
“I thought he went up to Charleston for the day with Lulu.”
“He did. They should be on their way back by now.”
“Call him.” Odette bent over the whelping box, concern etched across her forehead. “I don’t think we have a lot of time. She’s been laboring for hours and not one pup has passed.”
“My phone is in the kitchen. I’ll grab clean towels and some bottled water.” She quick-hugged Odette. “I’m glad you’re here.”
As she was pulling up Kobe’s number on her phone, headlights flashed across the dark living room. Car doors opened and closed, followed by footsteps up the front stairs. Lulu flung the door open and stomped away to her bedroom, tears streaking her face.
Willa Leigh looked between her daughter and Kobe, who looked equally unhappy.
“Explain later,” she said urgently. “There’s something wrong with Cookie, and we can’t reach anyone.”
“Show me.”
Odette stood back so Kobe could examine the dog. She licked his hand, unable to even lift her head.
“Do you have gloves?” He snapped the latex into place and then gently examined the animal.
“Can you tell what the problem is?” Odette whispered.
“I’m pretty sure one of the pups is stuck. It’s blocking the birth canal.” Kobe pulled off the gloves and rolled up his shirt sleeves. “Do you have an apron? This could get messy.”
His grin reassured Willa Leigh and Odette. Draped with an apron in the likeness of a shapely woman wearing a bikini, he started gentle manipulations to reposition the trapped puppy. Cookie whimpered, then a gush of fluid spewed from between her legs followed by a flaccid pup.
“Do you know canine CPR?” Kobe asked Odette. She nodded and positioned the tiny body so she could administer first aid.
Six hours later, Cookie lay on clean bedding with seven healthy puppies curled up against her belly. Once the first pup had been delivered, the rest arrived without additional complications. A few were nursing, most were sleeping. Kobe assured an exhausted Willa Leigh and Odette that was normal.
Lulu made a brief appearance, pointedly ignore her father, even in the midst of her excitement at seeing the puppies born. When she crept away to bed at midnight, Kobe told Willa Leigh he’d explain when they were alone.
Odette said good-night and let herself out the front door. Willa Leigh had fetched lawn chairs from the garage while they waited for the rest of the litter to appear, and now she and Kobe sat in companionable exhaustion. A small desk lamp illuminated their corner of the porch, creating a sense of intimacy. Outside, beyond the dunes separating the house from the beach, the surf pounded the sand in a hypnotic rhythm. Aside from an occasional scuffle or precious puppy bleat, it was quiet. Willa Leigh gave in to a sense of inevitability.
“You can take Lulu back to Montana for a visit.”
“I don’t think she’ll want to go.” Kobe sighed, one of those weary parental expressions that conveyed confusion and frustration and resignation because no matter how crazy your kids drove you, there was no walking away.
“What happened?”
“We went to the mall, and Lulu handed me a shopping list. I wadded it up and tossed it in a trashcan. I told her she could pick out one new outfit or one new video game, and then we could see a movie or visit an arcade. She pitched a fit, so I said I’d choose our agenda for the rest of the day. We walked around Fort Sumter and had lunch at a sushi place before heading back”
Willa Leigh laughed softly, picturing her daughter’s reaction. “The only thing she hates more than history is raw fish.”
“Yes, She made that apparent.”
“Having second thoughts?”
“Would that make you happy if I was?”
“No, of course not.” She laid her fingers across his forearm. “Believe it or not, Kobe, I wished you were there from the moment I found out I was pregnant. If not for me, then for our daughter.”
“I’m angry that I missed so much,” he admitted.
“I understand that.” She pulled her hand away. “We have photo albums and videos. It’s not the same, but maybe it can be enough to help you move forward and focus on the future. I’m so glad you’ll be there to teach her how to drive and scare off boys and walk her down the aisle. Don’t waste time on things we can’t change. It goes by so fast.”
“Yeah, well, tonight’s drive home with a sullen ten-year-old felt interminable.” He chuckled, lightening the mood.
“My father hasn’t been much of a role model for Lulu. He and my mom try, but their love isn’t unconditional. I’ve spent my entire life trying to redeem myself, but I’m realizing that probably won’t happen. Henry Lee is doing the same thing. We’re caught in this dysfunctional cycle. I’m trying to give my daughter the freedom to be herself while teaching her accountability and self-discipline. It’s up to you how you want to parent Lulu and what values you hope to instill in her. Keep in mind you’re learning how to be a dad and Lulu is learning how to have a dad.”
“I know what kind of father I don’t want to be.”
“That’s a good place to start.”