“Yeah?”
“I hope this doesn’t make things hard between us. I know what we’ve both said about relationships and you leaving and all that, but I’d like to think we’re both adults who can handle this without screwing everything up.”
He’s too handsome for that. Too sexy. Too kind and considerate and too good of a man to have sex with and walk away. But that’s what I have to do.
“Of course we are,” I say. “We knew what it was when it happened. Right?”
“Right.” The words lack the assuredness I hoped to hear. “Better get in there and talk to your mom. Tell her I said hi.”
“Will do.” I hop out of the truck, and with a final wave, I make my way up the sidewalk. I no more than get inside the house before Mom rounds the corner, acting surprised.
“Well, good morning to you.”
“Cut it,” I say. “I know you were looking out the window.”
“I heard a truck pull up. What do you expect?” She leans over and plucks a piece of hay out of my hair. “This is a good sign,” she says, waving it in front of me.
I laugh. “Will you stop it?” I work my way around her, avoiding eye contact. I learned as a child she has a hard time asking questions if you don’t look at her. “I’m going to grab a shower.”
“Good, because you smell like a barn.”
“Fitting.”
I hear her quick intake of breath behind me but continue looking forward. Once in my room, I find my phone just as it starts to ring.
“Hello?” I ask, not recognizing the number.
“Is this Neely Kimber?”
“It is,” I say, grabbing a set of clean clothes from my suitcase.
“This is James Snow. I wanted to call and let you know personally that we were highly impressed with your résumé and interview. We’d like to offer you the editorial position, contingent upon a face-to-face interview.”
I sit on my bed and stare blankly at the wall. “Oh. That’s great,” I say, hoping he takes my tone more enthusiastically than it sounds to me.
“I’ve sent you an email that goes over our proposal of employment. If you find it acceptable, we’d want you to get in here by the end of the week. You have lots of ideas and so do we. We believe that, together, we can make a great team and have a wonderful impact in our industry.”
He continues on, rattling off their distribution statistics and plans for expansion. I nod, even though he can’t see me. It’s all I’ve got. My emotions are tied up in a man in a truck heading to pick up a sweet little girl from a sleepover.
“How does that sound?” James asks.
“Great,” I say, despite not having heard anything he said. “I’ll take a look at your proposal and get back to you.”
“Wonderful. I hope this is the start of a successful relationship.”
“Me too. Talk soon.”
“Goodbye, Miss Kimber.”
The phone falls from my hands and lands on the bed. My heart falls, too, but I’m not sure where it lands quite yet.
DANE
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I pull my truck into my driveway and park next to my dad’s.
He’s sitting on the porch, reclined back in a chair, drinking a bottle of water I’m sure came from my refrigerator. Inside the house.
I sigh.
“Hey,” I say, climbing out of the truck. “What’s happening?”
“Not much.”
“Must be pretty bored to be coming by here this early.”
“Nah. Just thought I’d check in and see how you were doing.”
I take the steps toward him. He has one leg bent, his ankle resting on his knee. The worrying part is he doesn’t quite look pissed. I’m not sure how to deal with him when he isn’t half-pissed about something.
With a curious look, I sit in the chair beside him.
“You smell like shit,” he says.
“Ah, there you are. I was starting to get worried you were getting soft on me.”
He looks at me over the top of his glasses. “Where’s Mia? I thought maybe she’d want to take a ride with me over to get a couple new koi.”
“I gotta pick her up in a few. She’s over at Madison and Keyarah’s. You know the Tiptons.”
“I saw their granddad in the feedstore the other day. I didn’t realize that’s who they belong to. They’re good people.”
“I told you that.” I sigh. “If you want to pick her up, I can call over and let their mom know.”
Please say yes and go.
He takes a little tube from his pocket. The toothpicks inside rattle as he shakes it until one is free in his palm. Studying me intently, he squeezes a little wooden stick between his lips and works it around.
“Can you just tell me why you’re really here so I can go get a shower?” I ask. “Not that seeing you first thing isn’t a fine way to start the day. I just have things I need to do.”
“I’m worried about you, Dane.”
“Here we go.” I groan.
His foot drops to the floor with a thud. He sits upright and takes the toothpick from his mouth. “I was watching you with Neely the other night, and I’ve about worried myself sick you’re gonna let her go again.”
“That’s not your business, is it?” I chew on the inside of my cheek to keep from saying anything more. Everything inside me tells me to rip his ass and ask him where he gets off giving anyone relationship advice when he let my mother get into a drunken rage and whack me and Matt with a belt a few times a week.
“If it were just you? No. I don’t give a damn who you hole up with if it’s just you. But you have a little girl who needs a mama and—”
“Hold your horses, Pops.”
“I’m not holding anything except you by the scruff if you don’t start listening to me, kid.” He shakes his head. “I’m not taking anything away from you by saying that. You’re a hell of a father, Dane. Better than I was with you and Matt. But Mia deserves to have a mother, and as much as I like Haley, she doesn’t fit those shoes.”
He has a point. He knows he does, and he knows I know he does. That’s why he doesn’t flinch when I start to stand.
“Mia deserves a good life. Whether that’s with a mother or it’s not. But I’m not about to ask some woman, let alone Neely, to step into that role.”
“Why not Neely?” he asks.
“Because she doesn’t want it,” I say through gritted teeth. “She has a life somewhere else. She’s happy there. She’s made it crystal clear she’s not staying here for her mother. For me. And definitely not to take care of a kid that’s not hers.” I head toward the door but stop before I push it open. “Who would I be to even ask her to do that? It’s Neely, Dad.”
With the bliss of last night replaced with a somber illustration of the future, I head inside and go straight for the shower.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
NEELY
Let’s take the routine from the top,” Aerial says over the chatter. “Places, please.”
I wait for the cue. Mia’s team takes their places, and Aerial gives me a thumbs-up. I hit “Play.”
The music comes on, an old song from the fifties that has the girls performing a little dance. They’re adorable as they swing their arms and booties around the gym floor. Out of nowhere, a boom thunders from the speakers, and the girls all fall to the floor.
“Five, six, seven, eight.” Aerial counts as the music changes to something more mainstream.
The girls get into new positions as the tumbling passes start. Mia darts across the front of the mat, connecting three back handsprings together. She pops a little pose before jogging to the back. They perform a few stunts and another dance and end it with an epic set of tumbling passes before the final notes are hit.
“That’s amazing!” I tell them, coming onto the mat. The girls run to me, their eyes as big as saucers.
“Do you really think so, Miss Neely?” they ask in different variations.
“I do. Just remember to smile and sell it to the crowd, and you got this.”
Mia falls into my side, wrapping her arms around my waist. “You’re the best, Neely.”
“Me?” I ask, laughing. “You were the rock stars out there.”
She grins up at me. “You’re still the best.”
My heart overflows with feelings for this child. Is it fondness? Do I adore her? Probably both. But the way my insides swell up when I look at her little face seems more than that.
“Practice is over,” Aerial says. “You girls did super tonight. Make sure you grab a flyer off the table in the locker room and take it home to your mothers.”
“Is it Manicure Day?” Keyarah asks, bouncing on her toes.
“It is,” Aerial agrees.
The room erupts in a wild cheer as they race to the locker room. I notice Mia is the last one instead of being in the middle of Keyarah and Madison.
“What’s Manicure Day?” I ask Aerial as Mia disappears into the locker room.
“It’s a tradition started right after you left.” She bends over and picks up a few wrist wraps from the mats. “The mothers get together with their daughters and do a mani-pedi day before the Summer Show. Remember how you used to get together and make your hair bows?”
“That was my favorite day. How tying off the fabric around the elastics was fun I have no idea, but I loved it. Every year, I loved it.”
“We started buying the bows online, so Manicure Day took its place.” She shrugs. “New generation, new traditions. Although if you ask me, the hair bows were more about team building. I think the manis are really for the moms.”
The girls file out of the locker area. Mia is, once again, last. In her hand is a red sheet of paper she shoves into her bag on her way out the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Aerial,” I call out. Jogging across the gym, I meet up with my girl. “Hey, you. You did great today.”