Chapter Twenty-Three #3
Daisy chuckled at his statement but didn’t say anything.
“You all looked chummy. I didn’t realize…”
“She knows.”
His eyes popped. “How?”
“She figured it out. Last night.”
Matt just shook his head and grinned. “That kid—nothing is ever lost on her.”
“She’s too smart for her own good.”
“Was she upset?”
“A little. Jameson took all the blame at first, and I almost let him, but then the remorse set in. After we got home, I told her the PG version of everything.”
Matt nodded, then got a puzzled look on his face. “Where were you last night?”
Daisy grimaced at her slipup. “At his mother’s house.”
“Jameson’s?”
“Yes. We were all together, and then he got a call that his mother had an accident, a dog bite. We rushed over there and, thankfully, she was fine but then wanted us to stay for dinner.”
Matt swallowed hard and leaned against the kitchen island. “So this is real? He’s actually sticking around this time?”
Daisy lowered her eyes and nodded. “He really wants to try.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“What choice do I have? I’m the bad guy here, the liar. The least I can do is give him a chance.”
Matt stretched his neck from side to side, contemplating her words. “I just don’t want to see her get hurt.”
“Me neither,” she concurred.
Matt reflected again, not at all liking the fact that Amelia’s father was now taking a more active part in her life.
For over three years, he had been the one, her stand-in dad, the steady presence at school plays and dance recitals, the one she called when she had a nightmare or needed someone to brush her hair when Daisy was rushing out the door.
He had been woven into the fabric of their days, into the rhythms of their little family.
And now he was supposed to take a step back. To smile and nod while Jameson Kingston—rock star, legend, and absentee father—slipped into a role Matt had quietly carried.
He wouldn’t admit it to Daisy, but it hurt more than he thought possible. It was the type of hurt that left a hole in his chest, a place where resentment could easily grow if he let it.
But Matt wasn’t built that way. At the end of the day, he loved them, both of them, more than he loved his pride.
So he only said quietly, “Okay then. Let’s just hope for the best.”
“Let’s hope,” Daisy echoed.
Dinner with Matt was different. The easy banter, the flirtatious looks across the table, they were gone. From the moment he’d walked into her apartment and seen Jameson filling the role he’d played for years, a strain had settled between them.
Matt smiled and carried on as if nothing had changed, but Daisy couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all a facade.
Her gut told her she was right.
There was no way a man like Matt could see another man step into Amelia’s life and not feel it. She would have told him everything if he hadn’t been out of town, but with their rule of silence while he traveled, it had slipped further and further down her list.
Thankfully, Amelia blurred the tension, talking a mile a minute to catch him up. He’d been gone a while, and she had plenty to fill in, most of it now centered around her “new dad.”
Daisy noticed every subtle wince Matt tried to hide when Amelia launched into another Jameson story, or when she gushed about having a second grandma who looked just like her. He was too good a man to let his hurt bleed through to Amelia, but Daisy saw it anyway.
When Amelia finally paused for breath, Matt slid in smoothly. “Sounds like a lot has happened. I’m surprised you didn’t mention any of it when I called.”
Amelia shrugged and sipped her lemonade. “I wanted to tell you the big stuff in person. I’m surprised Mom didn’t say anything.”
Daisy’s and Matt’s eyes locked across the table, the silence saying more than either of them dared.
“It must have slipped my mind.”
“How could something this big slip your mind? Did you think Matt would blab?”
Daisy closed her eyes and shook her head. “No.”
“Blab?” Matt asked.
“Like tell everyone. Mom and Jameson said I can’t tell anyone that he’s my dad for a while because he’s so famous.”
“Right.” Matt understood. “That makes sense.”
“So you can’t tell anyone either, okay?”
Matt mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key.
Amelia giggled and took another sip of her drink.
Changing the subject completely, Matt smiled. “How about we plan a trip to the aquarium soon? A rain check for the time I couldn’t go.”
Daisy’s fingers tightened around her napkin. When Amelia opened her mouth to tell Matt that Jameson had already taken them, Daisy watched as his smile faded and his eyes dropped to the ground.
“It was super fun, but I would like to go again, if you want?”
“We can play it by ear, kiddo.”
Their food came and went, and soon they were piled into Matt’s car heading home. After a little more chatter, Amelia went off to bed, and once she was asleep, Daisy poured herself and Matt each a heavy glass of wine before settling on the couch beside him.
She watched as he rolled his thumb along the ridge of his glass, a tell Daisy knew from long hours and hard talks. The tension she’d felt earlier crept back in.
“Are you upset?” she asked softly.
Matt stared into the dark swirl of his drink. “No… I don’t think so.”
“Can you tell me how you feel?”
He rubbed his lips together. “On one hand, I’m happy for Amelia. She seems thrilled to finally know her dad. But on the other hand, I feel… sad, I guess. Because I had no idea this monumental moment was happening in her life until I walked right in on it.”
“I wanted to tell you, but—”
“But we don’t talk when I’m away,” Matt cut in. His voice was gentle, but the edge was there. “But this, Daisy… this was different. This was something you could’ve broken your stupid rules for. This was something I needed to know.”
Daisy scoffed quietly. “First off, you agreed to those ‘stupid rules.’ And second, I didn’t want to bother you with it, didn’t want you to feel…”
She stopped herself, but his eyes pressed her to finish.
“Unimportant. I didn’t want you to feel like you were being… replaced.”
Matt gave a bitter laugh. “Well, walking in on your new family without a clue didn’t exactly help with that.”
Daisy set her wine down and inched closer, cautious. “Amelia adores you. That will never change. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. That was my mistake. I’ll be better about this, I promise. It’s all just so… new.”
Matt brushed a stray hair from her face and leaned his forehead against hers. “Everything’s going to change, isn’t it?”
“It’ll be different,” Daisy admitted. “But I want to keep things as normal as possible, for Amelia, and for us.”
He nodded, then kissed her square on the mouth. “I can do that.”
“Me too.”
Everything would be different. But different doesn’t have to mean worse, she told herself. Just a more colorful version of the same life.