4. Chapter Four #2
To both of our surprise, it was Bailey who said that.
“I owe Tom everything,” she said, chiding her friend. “He practically raised me. He’s getting me out of this jam with Debbie.” She paused, her eyes filling with wonder. “He’s going to help me get my dad out of jail.”
McKenna looked uneasy at that last part. I knew I did, too.
“Respecting his wishes on this is the least we can do,” she continued, taking my hand as she spoke. “He doesn’t want Savannah to find out. He doesn’t want anyone to find out.”
Slowly, McKenna nodded. “I know that. And neither of us are going to tell anyone about any of this. It’s just—”
The front door swung open.
The sound of laughter filled the foyer, followed by footsteps on the stairs.
I straightened up in my seat even though I hadn’t done anything wrong—the three of us had plenty of plausible deniability around what we were doing.
Bailey grabbed her phone and shoved it in her pocket just as my daughter Savannah reached the bottom of the stairs and stuck her head in.
“I’m home!” she said, grinning. “Brought a friend with me…”
By the time she saw us, we’d switched over.
The vibe was no longer 'war council’ but ‘besties having dinner together’: I stopped being Daddy and went back to being Dad so quickly it barely registered.
Both Bailey and McKenna were looking at me with faint amusement, but they soon had something more important to look at.
Because that was the moment Lina came around the corner and joined the group.
The redhead stepped into the hall behind Savannah, her gym bag hanging from her shoulder.
She’d obviously come directly from practice—there was something loose-limbed and vivacious about her, her young body practically crackling with energy from rehearsing those high-energy routines.
Her smile was infectious and looked like it belonged in a beauty pageant.
And then there was her outfit.
Her gymnastics outfit.
Lina hadn’t changed after practice. She still wore the uniform of the local college’s gymnastics squad: a skintight white leotard cut low in the front, with a ‘V’ of white and gold tassels framing her cleavage. She’d thrown on a skirt for modesty’s sake, but it did nothing to hide her shapely rear.
The irony wasn’t lost on me—I’d spent my lunch break describing this woman to Mark instead of giving him the profile of the girl I’d actually met at the Armada, and now the counterfeit decoy was grinning in my basement like she knew a secret I didn’t.
She stepped into the den, her skirt swishing around her thighs. Her legs were long and tanned, and I was fairly certain her uniform was a half-size tighter than regulations stated it ought to have been. The things they let these girls get away with, I suppose.
She puts the ‘nasty’ in ‘gymnastics’, I thought, remembering what McKenna said about her. From the way the auburn-haired coed was grinning at the gymnast, I figured she was probably thinking the same thing.
“Lina gave me a ride home,” Savannah explained, her voice echoing from her room as she dropped off her backpack. “How’s everybody doing?”
“Great,” Bailey said, somehow managing to come off casual.
Lina looked around the room, her smile growing even wider. “There’s something different about this place,” she said, putting a hand on her hip. “Did you move some furniture around? Redecorate?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” I said, rising from my seat. “How was practice?”
“Practice is always great,” Lina said, sounding pleased. “No, but for real—what’s different about this place? It’s like there’s an energy in here all of a sudden.”
McKenna lifted the remains of her poke bowl. “Is it the takeout?”
Lina chuckled. “No, it’s more like… like you all just came back from vacation or something. Or at least like your dad did, Savannah.”
Savannah chose that moment to reenter the den. “I can tell you why,” she said, giving her friend a knowing look. “Dad’s started dating again.”
Lina’s face lit up. “He has, has he?”
Even a deaf man could’ve heard what Lina wasn’t saying there. “I went out on Saturday,” I admitted, keeping the details close to my chest. “I’m going to be going out again on Friday. The girls are right. Life’s too short for me to sit at home on the weekends for the rest of my life.”
Lina sized me up, her head cocked slightly to the side. “Wait. Why does it sound like the girl on Friday’s not the same girl who was on Saturday?”
To my surprise, Bailey spoke up before I could. “Because she’s not.”
Savannah came over and gave me a hug before Lina could react. “Oh, Lina, you’re not going to believe this. You know Miki? The nail girl at the mall? She gave Dad her number! Slipped it onto his receipt and everything!”
Lina’s brows shot skyward. “Wow, Mr. Cottrell. Miki’s a cool girl. Isn’t she, like, twenty-five?”
“Don’t you start,” Bailey snapped. I could swear she sounded a little protective of me. Which I didn’t need, but on some level couldn’t help but appreciate.
“I wasn’t judging,” Lina said, holding up a hand. “I’m happy for you, Mr. C. Whatever you’ve got going on, it looks good on you.”
I held my daughter a little closer. Being like this with Savannah—her refuge at the end of a long day, the place where she could live and learn and not have to walk on eggshells all day the way she’d once had to do with her mother—that meant everything to me.
It was what kept me going through the dark times, when Debbie was running around with God-knows-who and I was spending my nights alone in the house where I’d once raised my family.
If I’d ever had any doubts about hiding what I was doing, that moment extinguished them. Nothing could come between my daughter and me. Nothing.
If that meant having to keep Bailey in the shadows, then so be it.
“Well, good luck on Friday,” Lina finished with a grin. “If you need any help decoding any of Miki’s Gen-Z lingo, just drop it in the group chat.”
Oh right. Operation Get Savannah’s Dad Laid. What a title.
“I wish you’d shut that group chat down,” I rumbled. “Or at least change the name…”
“Nah, it’s stuck that way,” Lina said, retreating to the stairs. “See ya at school, Sav. Don’t forget to tell your dad about that thing, huh?”
Hmm? There was a thing?
An important thing, if the way Savannah stiffened in my arms was to be believed.
McKenna and Bailey both relaxed once the gymnast was outside.
Oddly, Bailey seemed more possessive, not less, with her gone.
As soon as I sat back down on the couch she slid her hand on top of mine, clutching it tight.
The look she gave me was the exact opposite of unreadable—I could see a dozen different conversations in it, some of which directly contradicted each other.
“What was Lina talking about, sweetheart?” I asked my daughter.
Savannah bit down on her bottom lip. “Yeah. Um, I wish she hadn’t done that. I wasn’t sure how to say this…”
Instantly, McKenna and Bailey’s mood changed. “Hey,” McKenna said, rising and putting an arm around her friend. “We’re here, Sav. What’s wrong?”
Bailey shot me a look filled with worry. It took a second for it to click—once it did, I knew my own expression looked much the same.
Had my daughter heard something? Seen something?
No. I would’ve felt it when I hugged her, wouldn’t I? Because if she suspected anything like the truth where what was happening between Bailey and me was concerned, she wouldn’t want to be anywhere near me.
“Listen,” Savannah said, giving each of her besties a look. “I love you both. But some stuff I just need my dad for, you know?”
I knew. “Girls, go to your rooms,” I snapped over my shoulder. “Savannah and I are going upstairs to have a private conversation."
The way McKenna snapped to attention was funny—the way Bailey melted at the command did something entirely different to me. She wants me to take control, I remembered. She wants Daddy to tell her what to do.
It would have to wait for a while. Savannah needed me.
Except I was going to have to wait for a while, too.
“Not right now,” Savannah said, her lips forming a tight little line. “I need some time to think. To process this.” She met my eye. “Can we do something tomorrow? Like, have lunch or something like that? Just us?”
I didn’t even need to think about it. Tomorrow was the day Bailey would be meeting with Debbie to show the texts and pictures from the ‘whale’, but I didn’t need to be physically present for that. In fact, it was a big risk.
While she lunched with Debbie, I’d be there for my daughter.
“Of course, sweetheart,” I promised. “I’ll pick you up between classes and we’ll go somewhere?”
She nodded. “Thanks. Alright, I’m going to do some laundry and tackle this homework. I see you guys all ate without me?”
“There’s some leftovers,” McKenna said, already reaching for the controller. “I’m gonna game.”
Only Bailey was still staring at me. Watching me with hope in her eyes, as if the growled command I’d given her and McKenna a few seconds ago were still active.
Like it could be the beginning of something beautiful.
She looked at me, hesitantly, then spoke. “I’m not sure what I’m gonna do,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Maybe she wasn’t. But I knew what she was really asking me.
I looked her up and down, heavily cognizant of the fact that my actual daughter was in the room. I was going to need to play this so carefully…
She can never find out, I thought. That’s more true than ever.
And if she did somehow know already?
She couldn’t possibly. Because if she did, there’s no way she'd be this calm. Not here, downstairs, surrounded by her besties, knowing that Bailey and I were doing something unthinkable.
Right?