Page 28 of The Manny

Furious at his response, I did my best to swallow the surge of anger welling up inside of me. My priority was comforting Mia. She was clinging to me, wailing for her mom. All I could do was hold her tight and tell her she was okay. It would have meant a lot more to the poor kid if her asshole uncle had been the one trying to comfort her. But I guess all that mattered to Jack were his own feelings.

It took almost an hour of hugging and whispering words of comfort to Mia before she calmed down. I ended up putting her to bed because she was exhausted from her fit. I sat on the edge of her bed until she fell asleep, and then I watched her for a few more minutes, my heart aching for her.

I’d never been in a situation like the one I found myself in. Jack was a nightmare of a client on so many levels. I was tempted to resign my post, but I couldn’t just leave Mia behind. She needed someone around who truly cared about her, and I did. I suspected Jack cared too, but what good was that if he couldn’t show it? Checkers in the grocery store were warmer to Mia than her own uncle.

I needed to have a serious talk with him, but I was worried about how it would go. Jack wasn’t easy to communicate with on the best of days. Was he even capable of changing? If not, what did that mean for poor Mia? Was she going to grow up as emotionally screwed up as Jack simply because he was the one who raised her?

Once I was sure Mia was sound asleep, I left her room and went in search of Jack. I found him outside on the back patio, drinking a beer. There were already three empty bottles on the table, and he gave me a surly look when I joined him.

“We need to talk,” I said gruffly, standing over him.

He didn’t speak, he simply tipped his beer bottle, and drank the remainder down quickly. Then he set the empty on the table and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Jack, you need to apologize to Mia.”

“Where do you get off telling me what I need to do?”

I sighed. “Someone has to. You’re acting like a complete asshole.”

“Excuse me?” he growled, standing up.

We faced each other, our chests almost touching. He was taller than me and he had more muscle, but I was damned if I’d let him intimidate me. I stayed where I was, toe to toe with him.

“When you hurt someone’s feelings, it’s customary to apologize,” I said through gritted teeth.

His warm beer breath wafted over my lips as he leaned even closer. “I don’t need a lecture.”

I shivered because pissed off or not, being close to him got to me. “Listen, that little girl is hurt.Youhurt her. Don’t you care about that?”

“Of course I do,” he rasped. “I… I didn’t mean for her to hear me.”

That was the first normal thing he’d said the whole time. It gave me hope that there was a more rational side to this angry man. If I stayed calm, perhaps I could get through to him after all. “Why didn’t you apologize right away?”

His face flinched as he held my gaze. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” I asked, surprised.

He swallowed hard. “I’ve never been good at saying I’m sorry.”

“But… she’s just a little kid.”

“I know that, Thomas.” He sounded anguished.

I didn’t want to feel sorry for him, but it was hard not to. He was such an obvious emotional wreck. I had no idea what his life had been like up till now, but something had made him horribly closed off. I didn’t think he had any ideahowto tap into his better side, even if he wanted to. Which I wasn’t sure he did.

“You can’t go on like this.” My tone was flat. “You have to do better.”

“She never should have come here. I’m not saying that because she’s the problem either. I’m saying that because I don’t know how to do this,” he rasped. “I don’t have what it takes to raise a child.”

“Then why did you bring her here?”

He raked a hand through his hair, looking distraught. “Where else would she go? Was I supposed to just turn my back on her?”

“When you ignore her feelings, youareturning your back on her. Do you really not see that?” I frowned.

“She has a roof over her head. She has food. She has you.”

“I’m not her flesh and blood.”

---