Page 109 of This Time Around
He braced himself for the question. For the “why” he knew was coming. But that wasn’t the next word out of his daughter’s mouth.
“So you’re even,” she said. “And now you can make up.”
The simplicity of it was so sweet it made his chest ache. “It doesn’t work that way, honey. I wish it did, but?—”
“But what? I know you love Allie and Allie loves you. It should work that way. It just should.”
Her little voice quivered, and Jack put his hand on hers. “It should,” he said. “You’re right. But one thing I’ve learned in life is that it’s pretty frustrating to spend your time hung up on how things should work. To get so invested in how you thought things would go that you forget to deal with the way things really are.”
Paige stuck the end of her braid in her mouth and looked at him. He wondered how much of it she understood. How much any of it really meant to her.
Hell, Jack wasn’t sure he understood.
At last, Paige got out of her chair, came around the table, and put her arms around him. “I love you, Daddy.”
Jack’s chest felt tight as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged hard. “I love you, too, sweetie. So much.”
He breathed her in, feeling simultaneously hollow and filled to the point of bursting. He gave her a quick squeeze, making her squeak a little.
“Daddy!” She giggled and sprung back, whacking his phone with her elbow. They both watched as the gadget flipped end over end, coming to rest with a smack on the hardwood floor.
Jack looked at the screen, then at his kid. “You are so lucky right now that I spent the extra eighty bucks for the drop-proof case.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said, planting a kiss on her forehead. “Things happen.”
The phone began to buzz again, and Jack lunged for it. But he wasn’t fast enough. Paige grabbed it first, glancing at the screen as she held the phone out to him.
“Who’s Deadbeat Dickhead?” she asked.
Jack gave an inward groan as he picked up the phone. He’d programmed his father’s number into his contacts eons ago on a whim, certain he’d have no occasion to use it. Several times he’d reminded himself to delete it, but he’d never gotten around to it.
Probably for the same reason he hadn’t deleted Allie yet.
He tapped ignore on the screen, or at least that’s what he tried for.
“Hello? Son, is that you?”
Oh, shit.
Jack stared in horror at the screen as his father’s voice blared at him and the speaker function lit up like a beacon.
“I uh?—”
Paige stared in wonder, and Jack fumbled at the screen, doing his damnedest to take the stupid thing off speakerphone.
“Look,” his dad said quickly, rushing to get the words out. “Before you hang up, I just need to say something to you.”
“Who is that?” Paige whispered as Jack jumped up and started for the other room. He tripped over the gym bag he’d tossed next to the coat closet and cursed his own clumsiness, his stupidity for not blocking the number, his inability to turn off the goddamn speakerphone?—
“Jack, I know I’ve been a shitty dad,” he said. “But I want you to know I’m dying. I’m dying, son.”
Chapter 17
Allie clasped her hands together on the battered gray table and looked at her father. “So that’s pretty much it,” she said. “We broke up. Again. I guess I don’t have things figured out after all.”
Her father curled his hands around hers and squeezed tight. The sympathy in his eyes made Allie’s chest feel like someone was standing on it. “Oh, sweetie,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”
