Page 30 of Just This Once

“Yeah. Whatever. We’ll talk about it later. Let’s go, Jake!”

I see the hurt flicker across her face, the way she shrinks back, retreating into herself. I want to reach out, to pull her into a hug, to tell her she deserves better, that she is worthy of love and attention. But I know that’s not what she needs right now. She needs her father to see her, to acknowledge her, to love her. And I can’t make him do that.

I sigh and refocus my attention on the field, watching as Jake steals the ball from an opposing player, dribbling it down the field with ease before passing it off to the center, who scores. The ref blows the whistle, signaling the end of the game. Jake’s team won, 3-1, and his eyes shine with pride as he high-fives his teammates. I stand up, cheering, and Maddie joins in, her earlier hurt momentarily forgotten. Craig stands too, a smug smile on his face, like he’s the one who won the game.

Jackass.

The stands empty out as the friends and families of the players meet them. Jake trots off the field, his eyesscanning the crowd. They land on me first, a soft smile playing on his lips. I mouth “Good job,” and he nods, his smile growing wider.

Then his gaze shifts to Craig, and I see the tension return, the way his shoulders stiffen, his smile falters. Craig gives him a hard clap on his back. “Nice work, bud.”

Jake doesn’t respond, moving to my side as my ex-husband goes on, like he’s the best daddy in the whole world. “Ready to go home? We’ll order dinner.”

As if he does anything else besides order dinner. The man suffers from learned helplessness. God forbid he Google how to cook a meal. Or go to the grocery store. Whenever I would ask him to help me, his common reply was, “But I’ll burn it.” Or, “I don’t know where anything is. It would be quicker if you just went shopping.”

Jake hugs me, thanking me for coming, and I kiss his cheek. “Of course. You looked great out there. I love you.”

“Love you too,” he says, his voice stuck somewhere between a young kid and a man. Maddie hugs me goodbye, her arms tight around my waist. I kiss the top of her head. “Have fun with your dad, okay?”

She nods then goes to Jake’s side as they follow Craig. He didn’t acknowledge me. As usual. I don’t exist to him unless he needs me for something. Like not being able to pick up Maddie.

Sometimes it sucks living the life of a divorced single mom.

And I would never go back.

Chapter 10

Dante

“Are you even listening to me?”

I force my gaze back to my father from where I’d been staring out at the window in a daze. “Yeah.”

He huffs a sarcastic sound. “Do you have any idea how much your screw-up on the masonry order is going to set us back?”

I do, actually. Because I was the one who brought my mistake to his attention. Not that I expected a different reaction, but he had to know. This has happened before. Me fucking up and him yelling at me. I tune him out as he loses steam so that he can pretend like he didn’t treat his employee, let alone his son, like he was a piece of shit.

I’m used to it by now.

And maybe, if I could put my big boy pants on, I’d quit or tell him to shove his company up his ass, but…

“I thought I handled it,” I mumble, trying to maintain some semblance of confidence under his relentless glower.

“Thought? That’s just it! Youthought.That’s your whole problem. Now we’re at risk of missing our deadline and losing the contract!” Dad slams his fist against the table, causing a few family photos to rattle, and I dip my chin, holding back an irritated sigh. We won’t lose the contract, and we will meet the deadline because I caught the wrong order in time. The delivery of the stone will be a few days late, but it’ll be fine.

I lift my phone, checking the time. I don’t have a meeting, but I use one as an excuse. “I need to appointment with contractors downtown.”

He waves me away, already busy with something else. I’m a mere irritant. A fly. A bug he’d like to finally get rid of.

I don’t say goodbye, but I do offer a smile to his assistant on the way out of the office, and I take a full, deep breath once I’m back in the truck. What I’d really like to do is go take a ride on my bike and relieve some of the tension in my bones, but I can’t. I need to check in at The Nest. With the kitchen finished, we’ve moved on to tearing down the walls and opening up the space, before we’ll go on to the bedrooms next month.

I take my time driving downtown with the windows open, letting the cold air cool my overheated skin and stop at Cuppa Jo for Taryn’s coffee order then hit up Gray’s Candy for a couple bags of gummy bears, worms, and Swedish Fish.

When I arrive at the B&B, I take a minute to talk with the workers. I’m informed Raf has had trouble renewing his green card, and he hasn’t been back to work since ICE showed up. I hate that he’s losing all those wages, but I’d been told he found an immigration lawyer to try to help. For now, he’s lying low. I’ve spent a lot of nights thinking about him, and I still feel bad, but I’ve had to push through, finding a new electrician to work on this project and finish it on time for Taryn.

Walking through The Nest now is second nature. After three weeks, I’ve learned where every squeaky board is and that Taryn takes her personal phone calls in the laundry room, which is where I find her, stomping around. She huffs and puffs, tossing bedding around with more force than necessary, banging the dryer door closed. She pivots around, finally spotting me, leaning against the doorjamb. Her chocolate eyes scan me from head to toe and then back to my hands holding her coffee and candy. I know she wants them even as she folds her arms over her chest. She’s got on an oversized sweater, soft and woven, and I’d like to put my head on her tits. Take a nap.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, offering her my gifts.

---