Page 59 of Situationship
“I won’t. I’m almost there.” He made a hard right.
“I don’t want you to leave work. I can handle it. Just tell me how to . . .”Gak! Gak!
“I’m just around the corner. Have the other twin grab a clean towel.”
“Other twin, can you go grab a towel?” When he heard a loud reply, he guessed Lily was the bleeder. “Okay, got one.”
“Now cover the wound and look away.”
“Daddy, I’m really sorry.” She was back to head-in-a-bag position.
“We’ll talk about that later.”
“I hate later as much as I hate blood.”
“I’m just glad you called.” She’d called him. It was the first time in months she’d initiated a conversation. She was mad at him, but she’d still called. Which meant she still needed him. He’d loved his old man, who was the best father, but Colin never would have called his dad in an emergency. Yet Maddie had called him.
“I’m glad you’re my dad. Oh God, it’s coming through the towel.”
“I’m here.” He pulled into Teagan’s driveway and hopped out. “Did you hear back from Teagan?”
Maddison checked the phone. “No. I texted.”
“Then you need to text her again, and if she doesn’t respond, you’ll have to call her.” Because small cut or not, Teagan needed to know what had happened.
He turned to the injured party while Maddie texted again. “Hey there, which one are you?”
“That’s Lily and she only talks to me,” Poppy said.
He couldn’t help but grin. Lily might not talk, but she was a trouper. Not a single tear. “Want to tell me what happened?”
“We were going to find Miss Maddison to see if she could push us on Auntie’s swing. But she was in da driveway, so I pushed and Lily slid off and felled.”
He looked at Maddison. “Why were you in the driveway?”
Maddison looked away, so Poppy answered. “She was talking to a boy.”
“We were talking about homework!” Maddison said with a hint of attitude. Colin shot her a look and she started crying. Again. “I know that’s going to go in thelaterpile too.”
And here he’d thought they were getting somewhere. He’d bragged to Ethan that he had things under control, but he didn’t have shit under control. In fact, his entire life was out of control. All because he had to adjust his plan. And it would take a lot of adjustments to get back on track. Because of other people: like Amanda, like Ronnie and, even though he loved her more than life, like Maddison, who had been the latest sideswipe to his life.
At this point, the smart thing would be to steer into the skid. It was time to take back the reins. In fact, he was adopting a new plan.
He was tired of waiting. He was going to get his mojo back.
Chapter 15
Go ahead and act like Mom of the Year, but
don’t forget some of us know you in real life.
–Unknown
It was dark by the time Teagan arrived home. The porch light was on, the house looked intact, but the high from her meeting with Bread N Butter’s first potential corporate client was crushed under the uncertainty souring her stomach.
She’d been so caught up in work she’d failed her kids. The eight texts and three missed calls confirmed it. The first two calls were from Maddison, the last a voice mail from Colin, saying he had the girls, and that Lily was okay, nothing a few Steri-Strips and an ice pack couldn’t fix.
Even so, the ride home was, unquestionably, the worst twenty minutes of her life.
