Page 82 of Family Bonds: Alana & Brennan
“What she did to me was despicable,” he said. “What she is doing to our daughter is unforgivable. But I don’t want to be the person who comes between them if she is trying. I thought at first that is what this was.”
“It wasn’t?” Alana asked, frowning.
“I think it was a visit to say she did it. For her conscience only. She barely interacted with Becca. Just watched and half paid attention. I got her off the ferry and she wanted food, so we stopped to get a burger and fries. Becca wanted to play right away and show Rene her favorite toys, but she had to eat first.”
She wanted to argue that, but couldn’t. She knew nothing about Rene. “Did she at least talk to Becca during that time?”
“They talked, Becca opened her gifts, then drew a picture for Rene. She danced for her too. Oh, and Rene told me she’d bought the ticket already for the next ferry, so that was at four.”
“Giving you about an hour for the visit at your house when you factor in getting to your place and having to leave to bring her back.”
“Exactly. While Becca was drawing a picture, Rene wasn’t even watching and asked me to fill her in on the past six months. She hasn’t seen her daughter since her birthday. That was just a two-hour visit too.”
Sounded like Rene showed up at holidays or milestones, if that. A few hours meant little in her eyes.
“That’s nice she was interested, but something tells me you’d be more than willing to have an open line of communication about your daughter’s life.”
In her mind it was Brennan’s daughter, not Rene’s.
“I have been willing. I did it for the first year and Rene barely replied. Gradually I stopped sharing as much. I hate to say it was petty on my part waiting to see if she’d even noticed the texts were less, but the other part was I was exhausted at the end of the day.”
“Understandable on your part,” she said. “Do you fill her in on anything at all? Just curious.”
“Nope,” he said. “Nothing more than major points, like me moving here. And as you know, I texted her twice about it and she didn’t reply and completely forgot.”
That was just inexcusable. Uncaring. Completely selfish.
She wanted to say all of that, but it wasn’t her place.
Their relationship was still in the fragile stages, and if she wanted it to grow stronger, then it was best to keep her opinion to herself.
Considering her heart was involved, she’d risk nothing to derail it.
“Was Becca excited to see her mother?”
“She’s excited to see anyone other than me,” he said drily.
“She loves her father very much,” she said. “Don’t be that way.”
“I know. She’s a very outgoing child. She remembered Rene and was happy to see her. I’m positive when she gets older it’s going to be harder on her.”
“More emotional for sure,” she said. “But she’s an open-minded child and she might surprise you.”
“I hope so.”
“If not, you’ll figure it out because you always do. At least from what I can see.” She looked at the door nervously, thenleaned closer to him across her desk and lowered her voice. “I find it very sexy what you do for your daughter. What you’re willing to do.”
“Being sexy to my hot girlfriend is way up there at the top of the list of things I want to accomplish daily,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
He called her hisgirlfriend!
Not only that, he thought she was hot!
“You know it’s on my list. Or do I have to wear some more outfits like Friday night?”
He gulped. “Thank God I’m in good shape. You can do that any time you want.”
“Can I confess something to you?”
