Page 36 of RomeAntically Challenged
“I’m sorry, kiddo.”
She lifted a slim shoulder and let it drop. “Whatever. I’m more into lattes anyway.”
They both stood there silently, and Emmitt wondered where the comfortable companionship that was so easy for them had gone.
He watched as the wind played with her curls, and when the sun caught her eyes, his chest tightened. She looked just like the photos of his mom when she’d been Paisley’s age.
The sound of laughter and chatter circled around them as more students filed out of the buildings, saying their goodbyes before heading for home. He remembered what it felt like in those early days after losing his mom, knowing there was nothing but an empty house waiting for him. It felt a lot like the lonely confusion hiding beneath Paisley’s couldn’t-care-less posture.
He thought sadly back to the last time she’d looked this small and lost. It had been the day of Michelle’s funeral, when Emmitt didn’t think his heart could ache any more for his little girl.
He’d been wrong.
“You hungry?” he asked quietly. “We can grab a slice of pizza at Mangia Mia. I’ll even splurge for a Piz-ookie.”
Her forehead puckered. “Dad, I’m gluten intolerant.”
“You are?” That was new, seeing as how he’d watched her down two helpings of lasagna with a couple pieces of garlic bread the night before he left for China. “I’m sure they have gluten-free crust.”
She sighed. “I really need to get going. I’m supposed to work on a project with Owen before dance committee. This year’s grades are really important. College is right around the corner.”
“I doubt Harvard will reject you because you had a slice with your old man,” he joked, but her eyes darted back to a group of kids standing at the entrance to the school.
“I have to go. Owen’s waiting for me in the gym.”
“Then I’ll walk you there,” he said, falling into step with her. “In fact, I’m headed to the gym myself. I called the school this morning to see if they needed any help with the dance, and I volunteered to help build the arches.”
“You can’t volunteer!”
“Already a done deal, kiddo.”
“Why?” she accused. “Why now? You’ve never helped before!”
Wow, okay.
“I thought it would be a fun way to spend time together,” he said, and thought that if Annie still needed help channeling her Fuck Off persona, then she could take lessons from his daughter, because the look Paisley shot him could reverse global warming.
“Oh my God, Dad! You’re ruining my life.”
* * *
“What the actual fuck?” Emmitt asked Levi, wondering if his daughter had been abducted and replaced by some kind of cyborg. “How worried should I be?”
“Assuming you just made that one infraction? She should be talking to you in a day or two,” Levi said through the phone.
“I said hi. She lost her shit.” Emmitt scanned the gym to see if Paisley had come in yet, but he didn’t find her in the crowd of gathering teens. She’d not only stormed off but gone into hiding. The dot on his phone pointed to her still being on campus, but it was a big campus and technology hadn’t quite reached theI never want to see you againlevel of GPS. So he’d waited in the gym, with the sounds of the girls’ basketball team practicing on the court, every bounce of the ball reverberated painfully around his brain.
“You didn’t follow the rules, man,” Levi said, and Emmitt pressed his cell closer to his ear so he could hear over the voices echoing through the gymnasium.
“I must have heard you incorrectly, because you are implying there are a set of rules. Rules, I’d like to point out, I was not given when Gray conned me into taking his place on the parent committee.”
“I didn’t con you.” And there was Gray, pulling a total Gray move, his voice appearing out of nowhere to dispense some of his dad wisdom. “I was extending you an olive branch. Which I will happily take back.”
Emmitt looked at the gymnasium, full of paper lanterns and glitter cannons and kids running around making more of a mess than progress. Then he spotted Paisley across the gym, working extra hard to let him know his presence wasn’t welcome and everyone else know she wasn’t with the weirdo in the corner.
“Know where I think you should shove that olive branch?” he said, wondering when his life had become one big episode ofDr. Phil. “And who invited you anyway? I calledLevi.”
“And I patched in Gray because laughing at you alone just isn’t as much fun as it is with a friend,” Levi explained.
