Page 15 of Single Dad's Christmas Gift
Outside, the wind howls.
“Hear that? Even nature agrees with me. I love your breasts and tiny waist just as much as I love your bounties ass and hips–they are part of what makes you Layla. I believe God made you for me. Because I love every fucking thing about you, girl.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Fallon
I PARK THE truck outside my house after dropping off Layla and climb out. It’s Sunday morning, and the sky is bright blue. The only signs of yesterday’s freak storm are the deep snow and the handful of branches that littered some roads as Layla and I drove into town.
I climb the porch steps, then freeze when the door flies open. Evie sprints outside and flings herself into my arms. I catch her, narrowly avoiding falling down the steps.
She locks her short arms around my neck and breaks into sobs.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” Alarm spreads through me.
Gently, I try to pry her away from me so I can see her. She won’t budge.
“What happened?” I ask Mom when she appears at the door, her apron covered in flour.
“She’s just worried about you,” Mom answers.
I watch her disappear inside, then sit on the porch swing with Evie on my lap. I pat her back.
“I’m fine sweetheart,” I say.
More sobs.
It breaks my heart to see her so upset. I should have guessed this might happen. Since the day we met, last night was thefirst we didn’t sleep in the same house. Evie’s mom was already hospitalized by the time she introduced us. Evie was living with a caregiver. I asked for leave, moved to Maryland and spent the two months before her mom passed living with her.
Even when I took Evie to live with me in New York and returned to work, I made sure I was home to tuck her into bed.
“You said you’d never leave,” Evie says in between sniffles, still clinging to me like a monkey.
I think about how to answer.
“What did Granny say?”
I called Mom earlier in the morning once the phone lines started working again. As I’d guessed, she’d figured out I’d found shelter. Although we don’t get many storms in Blossom Ford, most of the locals are always prepared for such eventualities.
“You were sheltering from the storm.”
“That’s right. That means Daddy will come home when the storm passes, right?”
No answer.
“Something like that might happen again, or if someone is very ill, I might have to help them get better. I’ll always come home, though.”
I carry on patting Evie’s shoulder. Her mom loved her and fought to stay with her, but she still left. My little girl knows that sometimes, wanting to stay is not enough.
“Would you like to go to Jackson’s Diner to have a strawberry sundae?” It’s her favorite dessert.
She lifts her head. Finally, looks at me.
“With extra strawberry sauce?”
This isn’t the time to worry about her teeth.
“You can have triple extra sauce.”
