Page 29 of Grace Notes
“Feel better?” I ask, standing and still holding her hand in my.
With a small nod, she turns to the door.
“Are you ready?”
And with another nod, I turn the handle and push open the door. As we walk forward, she hides behind my leg, holding onto my pant leg.
My dad is sitting in his bed, fully dressed and ready to go. When he hears us entering the room, his head snaps our way, and a bright smile lights up his face.
“Oh, you brought my Avery Bug to see me.” And even though he winces when he moves, it doesn’t stop him from dragging his feet off the bed, sitting up, and opening his arms wide for Avery to run into. Avery peeks her head out from behind my leg, and when she sees the smile on his face, she takes off toward him.
“Be easy, Avery. Papaw Kip is still sore. He just had surgery.”
She slows her footsteps but still steps into his arms, and the contentment that falls over my dad’s face as he holds my little girl hits me in a way I never knew it could. I never expected himto be much of a grandfather, not after he was such a poor dad. But he changed for her, and I’m thankful for that.
The pair hold each other tight. My dad’s head rests against the top of Avery’s, and her face is turned into his shirt. I keep to the side, staying quiet and letting them have their moment.
It’s only when my dad’s arms start to loosen and pain registers across his face that I step up, gently tugging Avery back.
“Come on, Bug. Let’s get Papaw Kip a minute to catch his breath.”
Reluctantly, she steps back, watching him warily as he holds his breath and leans back against the pillow.
“Sucks getting old,” Dad grumbles.
Noticing the water cup next to his bed, I offer it to him if only to give myself something to do because the thing is, even though my relationship with my dad is healing and growing, it’s still new and awkward sometimes. Thankfully, he takes it, making me feel useful.
“Are you ready to bust out of this place?”
He gives me a rough chuckle. “I’ve been ready since the moment I stepped foot in here. Luckily, I’ll be out in time for the ceremony this weekend.”
An awkward silence descends upon the room as I stare at my feet, digging the toe of my boot into the ground. We haven’t told Dad that the ceremony is canceled. Emryn feared he would feel guilty, even though she claims his sickness is not the only reason she’s canceling. And while I know the venue played a part in it, too, I think that’s not the whole truth. Emryn knew how much it meant to me to be there for my dad; she didn’t want anything to stand in the way. She’s selfless like that. Guilt the size of a boulder sits in my stomach because of it. I’ve watched her the last three days, and when she thinks I’m not looking, the edges of her mouth turn down, and the corners of her eyes wrinkle. She’s more upset than she would like to admit about this.
“Brooks,” my dad says, calling my attention to him. “What’s going on? You look sad.”
I clear my throat, trying to keep my face neutral. “We—uh—we canceled the ceremony.”
A split second is all it takes for me to see the broken man my dad tries to hide. His face crumples. “Please don’t tell me you guys chose to do that because of me.”
Shaking my head, I deny it. “No. There were a lot of things that went into that decision. Things kept going wrong in the planning stages. We found out the venue canceled on us the day you got sick. So Emryn decided it was better if we just canceled.”
My dad eyes me warily as if he doesn’t quite believe what I’m saying. “And Emryn was okay with that? I know how excited she’s been about this. Heck, I know how excited you’ve been about this.”
I shrug. “It is what it is. There’s not much we can do when we don’t have a venue.”
Disappointment wrinkles my dad’s brows, and he dips his head, glaring at me. “Brooks Montgomery, I might not have been the best dad to you growing up, but one thing I know is that you aren’t a quitter. Didn’t know you’d become one now.”
Huffing, I cross my arms over my chest and glare back at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He doesn’t back down from my glare, deepening his own. “Just what I said, boy. You’re quitting. Giving up because things didn’t work out perfectly. Now, what are you going to do about it?”
It hits me then that he’s goading me, pushing me to recognize what I should have already.
With my eyes still on him, I say, “I’m going to marry my wife again.”
His grin is contagious when he nods and says, “That’s what I thought.”
Chapter 17
