Page 24 of Wood Riddance
Pulling her closer, I murmured, “Mom mentioned things were tough.”
“People are so mean. Kids don’t wanna be my friend because of Grandpa Mitch. Some of them laugh at me. They say that I’m gonna be a jailbird too.”
My heart lurched, and I had to keep myself from going rigid. She didn’t need to see how angry I was at kids her age. While asshole kids had always existed and always would, this was poking at a very raw, very fresh wound for both of us.
“Abby Ward said our whole family is going to hell.”
I rolled my eyes and huffed. The Wards were all dicks. I supposed that kind of shit was genetic.
“Things were so different,” she said. “Before.”
I pulled her closer and dropped a kiss to the crown of her head. “I know, baby. And I’m so sorry. I want to fix this for you so badly.”
“Mom says it will blow over.”
I closed my eyes, praying that it would. But this town had a long memory. I wasn’t certain it ever would.
Stroking her hair, I took a moment to gather my thought so I could give her a dad pep talk. But then she did the thing. The thing I can’t handle. She cried.
Seeing any woman cry, no matter her age, made it almost impossible to think rationally. And when the person crying was my little girl? Every instinct in my body screamed “fix this,” and I couldn’t function rationally.
So that was how I ended up agreeing to let her skip camp.
After finally getting her back to bed in her room, I paced the living room. Not that there was much room for pacing. And I had to be careful. We were on the third floor of an old brick building, so sound traveled. And the guy who lived below me, Dylan, was not my biggest fan.
I had nothing against him, but he was Remy Gagnon’s best friend and brother-in-law. Since the day I moved in two years ago, he had kept his distance. I’d never had a beef with him, and for most of our lives, we’d coexisted pleasantly. These days, though, he was one more Lovewell citizen who hated me.
I checked to make sure Merry was truly asleep before killing all the lights. Her bedroom was tiny. Like barely big enough for a twin bed. But I’d let her decorate it herself. That was how we’d ended up with a giant glittering chandelier, yellow ruffled bedding, and framed Taylor Swift posters covering almost every inch of wall space. I couldn’t give her the kind of home Alicia and Mike could, but she seemed content when she was here.
Tonight, we had made tacos. Then we’d danced around to our fave T-Swift songs—hers was “Anti-Hero,” and mine was “Love Story.” What could I say? I was sentimental. Then we fit in a few games of chess before bed.
Working through the restlessness that had reemerged even though it was the middle of the night, I continued my quiet pacing. What would I do with her tomorrow? I was set to start installing the drone mapping software on the computer system and I needed to get the survey plotted out first thing. It would take a week or two, and then I’d get the drones up in the air.
I would have preferred to be in the air myself, but the drones were cost effective and quick. Once we’d mapped out the new land, I’d get up there and take some photos so we could identify areas that needed repair and others where we could pursue further development.
It wasn’t glamorous work, but it was an improvement from what I’d been doing at Hebert Timber. Before Dad was arrested, I’d spent most of my work hours shuttling guys back and forth to the camps. It could be entertaining at times, but it was monotonous. I itched for something new, a chance to push myself, but I feared I’d left all those opportunities behind when I left the Navy.
Could I bring her to Gagnon? She was ten, and she could handle herself. She went to Alicia’s office frequently. We could make it work. I had only started, and I didn’t want to make a bad impression, but my baby girl was hurting.
I came to a stop and closed my eyes, mostly worried about one person’s opinion.
Would Adele be mad? Would Merry like her? And why did I even care?
* * *
We rolled into Gagnon Lumber early with donuts. I had confided in Merry that the folks at my new job were not exactly thrilled to have me there. I didn’t want her to be caught off guard if we encountered someone who was unkind.
“Dad, bring food. Everyone likes the guy who brings snacks,” she’d declared, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
So we hit the bakery on the way in, grabbing two dozen designer donuts that I hoped would keep my coworkers happy while I staged an impromptu take-your-daughter-to-work day.
Did Adele like donuts? Probably not. If that ass was any indication, she ate chicken breasts and barbells for breakfast, not fried dough stuffed with sugar and cream. But it didn’t change how excited I was about the prospect of watching her lick icing off her fingers.
Inside the main office, Merry said hello to each and every person she encountered and offered donuts all around before we finally made it to the shop. Charlie and Estrella were already working, and the sound of a popular boy band song from the ’90s echoed through the massive garage.
“This place is cool,” Merry said. She was wide-eyed as she took in the carefully labeled tools, parts, and bins that lined the walls.
A tractor took up the space in the middle of the work area, the hood open to reveal the engine inside. It was as big as most cars and probably more complicated.
