Page 59 of Fifth Avenue Fling

Finally, her eyes meet mine as she sets the plate down and takes a seat. “It’s my hair. I can do what I want with it.”

Inarrow my eyes.“No, you damn well can’t. Look at the state of your head! How the fuck do you expect to go to school like that?”

“Language, Dad.”

I lean against the counter, pinching the bridge of my nose. Give me fucking strength. “You’re twelve years old. You can’t do things like this without my permission. No, scrap that; you can’t doanythingwithout my permission.”

“You wouldn’t have let me!” she cries, spearing her eggs with her fork. “And I’m nearlythirteen!”

“Damn right, I wouldn’t,” I yell.

She huffs as I take her chin in my hand to assess her forehead. “You look like you’re having a goddamn allergic reaction.”

I’ve had zero sleep. All I wanted was a nice breakfast with my daughter, yet here we are.

“You bought hair dye without my permission. I’ve consistently told you that you’re too young to dye your hair, yet you still went against my command.” And the cheapest foulest shit on the market, judging by the horrific state of her head. “When?”

She pulls away from my touch. “I didn’t buy any… it’s… food coloring and some Jell-O.”

I gape at her incredulously.“Are you insane?”

My chest tightens as I exhale. Is this normal behavior for young girls? Why would she want to do something so ridiculous and nasty?

“Clodaghdid it when she was my age,” Teagan says defiantly.

I turn to Clodagh. She’s so quiet I’d forgotten she was in the kitchen.

She watches with her mouth open in horrified silence.

“Sorry, Clodagh,” Teagan says meekly beside me.

Clodagh swallows a mouthful of air, the cheeriness drained from her face. “I just said I hated my hair when I was younger and…” Her voice trails off. “I didn’t mean for Teagan to do it.”

“That’s what kids do, Clodagh,” I say through clenched teeth. “They mirror adults. They repeat what we do.”

Jesus Christ. This is my fault for accepting a young nanny with no experience.

“I’m nearly thirteen,” Teagan whines behind me. “I can make up my own mind.”

I whip my head around, giving my daughter a murderous look. “Teagan, if you say another word, I’m adding another week to your two-week grounding period.”

Her lips quiver as she slams the knife and fork down on her plate. “But I’m meeting Becky tomorrow. Ihateyou. This isn’t fair!”

“I know you hate me,” I growl. “But you still need to show me some respect.”

“A word, Clodagh,” I say through gritted teeth, nodding to the back deck. Between my daughter and her nanny, I’ll have stumps for teeth by lunchtime.

She follows me outside in silence.

“Do you have any idea how to be a responsible adult?” I snap at her as soon as she closes the sliding doors.

She frowns at me. “I don’t know if you want a serious answer to that.”

“What else did you do that I should know about? Is my daughter going to come home pregnant next?”

Her forehead creases into something angrier. “That’s really out of line, Killian. I didn’t lose my virginity until I was twenty-one if you must know. I was a late starter.”

Three years ago.

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