Page 84 of Just Trouble

Daph’s hand closes over mine. “And you feel protective of her.”

“How can you know that?”

“It’s what you do.” She smiles. “I admire that.”

“But she’s not my daughter.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t be friends. That doesn’t mean that she can’t count on you for anything.”

“Why would she?”

“Maybe because you offer.”

It’s such a simple solution, yet one that makes perfect sense. “She can choose.”

Daph smiles a mysterious little smile.

“What? What did I say?”

“It’s another thing you do that I like a lot. You let women choose.” She sits back, that little smile making me want to chuck her over my shoulder and carry her away. “It’s very hot, by the way.”

I look away to regain control over the direction of my thoughts, something that cannot happen when my gaze is locked with Daph’s and she’s smiling like that. She shouldn’t be allowed to say things like that to me in a public place, but on one level, I appreciate how much she enjoys provoking me.

When I look at her again, she’s the one averting her gaze, pushing around the last piece of pizza, the one that neither of us want. “Are there others?” she asks quietly, her gaze lifting to mine, and I have to respect that she asked the tough question.

“Not that I know of. I suppose it’s not impossible.” I lean closer. “But I’ll do the same as this time, if I learn otherwise.”

She nods with welcome confidence. “I know. You’re nice, Luke.”

Nice?

“I am not nice,” I reply. “I’ve never been nice and I don’t want to be nice.”

“What then?” She’s teasing me, but I’ll play. Anything to bring back any one of her smiles.

“How do you think the band got its name?”

“Mad, Bad & Dangerous 2 Know.”

“That’s what Taylor called me.”

“You don’t seem that dangerous to me.”

“Maybe I’m getting over it. Maybe I want to be something else.”

“Like?”

“Honourable,” I say on a whim, the first word that rises to my lips, but it’s right. I follow impulse and say the next bit. “And maybe one day, a good dad.”

Her brows rise.

“You can’t change the past, Daph. But you can own it, and you can take what you’ve learned to change the future.”

“They write songs about that.”

“Michael Jackson.Man in the Mirror.Too high for me but a solid strategy.” I scroll through my playlist on my phone, noticing how much it’s changed, then add that one.

Daph turns her head to read it. “Simple MindsAlive & Kicking,” she says. “R.E.M.Stand. Dream Academy.Life in a Northern Town.”

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