CHAPTER 4 25
Gulf Shores, Alabama
"Rosie!" yelled Greer for the third time as his ten-year-old daughter came down the stairs with her earbuds blasting.
Seeing her dad, she broke into a large, metal grin.
The bond between them was incredible. For a man who thought having a family had passed him by, Greer thanked his lucky stars every day for her.
Because of a few stupid mistakes made by some very careless people, himself included, he got to be her dad.
As she met him on the stairs, she reached over to graze his cheek with a soft kiss.
Yanking the nearest earbud out, he said," Turn that down. I will be paying for hearing aids next. Mom’s about ready. I put your suitcase and duffle in the trunk."
Motioning to her jacket and pillow, he asked, "Is that all you want up front?"
Holding up the items in her hands, she said, "I am good. Mom's got snacks, right?"
Laughing, Greer nodded. "Of course. Already put them in the car." Before Rosie, he had no clue how much kids ate. She was always hungry and was a complete beanpole. They could not fill her up. "You sure you don't want me to grab Mr. Rabbit?”
"You wish. You know I have not slept with Mr. Rabbit since I was eight,” replied Rosie.
"I know. I keep forgetting you are practically grown.
" She was correct; he did wish she was still little.
She was growing up so fast. Looking closer as she continued down the stairs, he nearly had a heart attack, "Are you wearing lipstick?
" Little pieces of pink littered the silvery braces of her top teeth.
She looks slightly ridiculous and entirely too old all at once.
His first instinct was to order her to come back and wash all of it off her face.
However, she raced down the stairs before he could stop her.
She slowed down long enough to yell back, "Mom said I could do it since we were driving all day. I wanted to show Aunt Joules."
Yelling “Taylor!” at the top of his lungs, Greer went in search of his wife as Rosie slipped outside. He stomped into the kitchen, where his wife was finishing filling a cooler with drinks.
"You will not believe what your daughter has on!" He was bellowing. He tended to do that when he was stressed or frustrated.
Not reacting to Greer's sudden outburst, Taylor calmly replied without even looking up, "She had on leggings and a sweatshirt the last time I saw her."
"Not her clothes! Makeup! Hot pink lipstick! It is everywhere!" he barked. "She said you said she could put that shit on."
Zipping up the cooler and handing it to him, Taylor replied, "I did. It is fine. She wanted to show Joules the new trick she learned on YouTube. What's the big deal? We are just going to ride in the car most of the day and then eat with Joules for dinner. Chill."
"Chill? Chill?" he repeated. "You want me to chill? I don't like it. She is growing up too fast.”
Taylor patted his shoulder and said, "I know. But, give her this. What does it hurt?"
Accepting defeat, he replied, "I guess you are right, but tell her to get it off her teeth." Then, with a growl, he added, "I still don't like it."
"Yeah, me either. But that's life." Gesturing to the cooler he was holding, she said, "Put that in the car, and we are ready."
Following her out of the kitchen, he said, "Speaking of things I don't like, explain why we have to drive eight hours to Arkansas to have Thanksgiving with your ex-husband and his family?"
Pinning him with a “don't start with me” look, she pursed her lips and said, "You know why. Bennett and Poppy aren't just my ex-husband and his new family. Besides, you only have to see them one day by going there. I could have invited them for the weekend if you preferred."
Giving her a look of horror, he replied honestly, "Oh God no! One day is enough. Plus, it will let me check in on Aunt Edna."
Walking out ahead of him, Taylor got in the car and sarcastically grumbled, "Yeah, Aunt Edna!" She had forgotten about promising to spend the night at her house. Time spent with Edna Stone was always trying for her.
Rosie removed an earpiece from the backseat and asked, "What did you say, Mom?"
"Oh, nothing," Taylor replied, "Just thinking about how nice it will be to see your Aunt Edna again."
"Oh yeah. Okay." Rosie replied, giving her mother a substantial pink-encrusted grin before losing total interest in the conversation. She was munching on dried fruit snacks and singing along to the song in her ears.
Oh my! Greer was right, Taylor thought; that was a lot of lipstick. Oh well, thought Taylor, the way her child was munching, it would be eaten off by Mobile.
Four hours into the trip, they pulled into a gas station to fill up and use the bathroom.
As they piled back into the car, Taylor noticed that Rosie had already put her earbuds back in and was absorbed in her book.
Reaching over to Greer's side of the car, she took a moment to give him a sexy smile.
"Thank you. I know it is not how you would like to spend the holiday.
I appreciate you doing this for me and Rosie. "
Greer flashed her his seriously devilish smile and gave her a wink as he pulled her in close. Nibbling on her neck, he growled, "Woman, don't you know I would go to hell and back for you? Just didn't expect hell to be in the middle of Arkansas."
Laughing as much from how his whiskers tickled her as his words humored her, she replied, "Oh well, think on the bright side. At least it is November and not August."
"That's the truth. But, even without the hundred degrees and one hundred percent humidity, it still qualifies as the throne of darkness, complete with its own devil," he quipped.
"Oh, play nice," Taylor whispered. "Searcy is not that bad, and Bennett is actually a really good guy. You know that. And besides,…”
"Blah blah, blah," he cut her off. "Why don't you use that beautiful mouth for something better like kissing me than talking about him?" With that, Greer captured her lips in a full-on tongue-snogging to keep her from singing her ex-husband's praises.
The kiss extended longer than was appropriate in front of their daughter, and Rosie did not let them forget it even though her parents had momentarily forgotten her.
"Yuck. Stop that. It's gross!" Rosie yelled from the backseat, effectively ending the kiss and getting the trip rolling again.
They got to Little Rock a little after 6:00.
Joules was there to meet them, and they ate dinner at her little cottage in the Heights.
Around 10:00, Greer and Rosie said goodnight and took themselves off to bed.
Joules and Taylor stayed up until almost 2:00 in the morning talking.
At times like this, Taylor wondered how she could have moved seven hours away from her.
But whenever she asked herself that question, she immediately knew the answer was Greer.
He had claimed that he would go to hell and back for her. Well, she would walk through the fires of hell for him and very nearly had.