Page 86 of Situationship
To her utter relief, Maddison was sitting in the lounger when Teagan returned. She looked at Teagan as if she were about to say something parent-y, then took the mug.
They were quiet for a long moment, listening to the distant bell on a buoy.
“Do you like my dad?” Maddison finally asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you love him?”
Sweat broke out on Teagan’s forehead. Of course she didn’t love him, not like the in-love kind of love. They’d had one date followed by fifty-three minutes of amazing sex. “That’s not how this works. A question for a question.”
“I knew you weren’t that cool.”
Teagan realized that if she was going to earn the trust of a secretive teen, she’d have to sweeten the pot. Kind of like the girls when they wanted to watch one more cartoon before bed. If the tablets went away without a fuss, they could get two bedtime stories.
“Okay, two to one. But you have to answer honestly.”
The teen considered this. “Deal.” She felt Maddison turn to look at her. “So do you?”
“Not in the way you’re asking,” she said honestly. “He was my first love, and I will always have a place in my heart for him, but if you’re asking if I’m in love with him, then the answer is no.”
This seemed to please Maddison. Now, it was Teagan’s turn, but she wasn’t sure what to ask. She wanted to create a safe environment for the girl to talk, but she didn’t want to step on Colin’s toes.
“Why are you so set on Black Truck Guy?” she asked.
“He thinks I’m pretty.”
Teagan had been prepared for a million different answers but not one that would break her heart. “You are pretty. Stunning, actually.”
“You have to say that.”
Teagan snorted. “Why, because I’m a parent?”
“Because you’re dating my parent.”
She turned to look Maddison in the eye so the girl would see her honesty. “I’m saying this as a fellow woman. You are, without a doubt, beautiful. Just because Truck Guy is the first guy brave enough to tell you, that doesn’t mean other, better guys aren’t thinking it.”
“You mean like Kade?”
“I have no idea who Kade is, but I can tell by the way you said his name that he thinks you’re pretty and you know it. Okay, two to one. My turn,” she said, and Maddison didn’t argue, just sipped her tea.
“Do you miss your mom?” she asked and from the way Maddison’s gaze went misty, she had her answer. “I’m only asking because I wonder how my girls are feeling without their dad around. They don’t say much about him, but I know they miss him, and I don’t know how to make it better.”
“I used to miss my mom a lot,” Maddison admitted. “And I still want to be with her, even though I know she’ll flake on me. I guess it’s a parent-kid kind of situation that makes me want to give her more chances.”
“My dad was kind of absent too. I remember wanting so badly for him to follow through on his promises, but after a while I just stopped hoping.”
“Did it help? With the pain?”
Teagan took a sip of tea and really contemplated her answer. She wanted to be truthful without influencing Maddison’s relationship with her mom. “After all these years, the pain is still there. Not as bad, but it’s always lingering in the background.”
“Do you wish you’d stayed in touch?”
“That was question three,” she teased. “But I’ll let it slide.”
Maddison laughed, a tiny, barely audible laugh but her entire demeanor went from brooding to brokenhearted.
“Sometimes, like when I graduated from college or got married. Now, I think about the kind of grandpa he’d be. He’s funny and loud and even gentlehearted in a gregarious kind of way. His Peter Pan lifestyle wasn’t conducive to parenting but he would have made one hell of a granddad.”
