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“First, he needs to get hired. And Nick hired me as the new team leader. So, I get a say.”
“You’re going to be an asshole, aren’t you.” I didn’t bother answering her and she repeated her question from earlier. “How are you here?”
“One of your friends asked Nick if his contacts could find me.”
“And you know why?”
I nodded. “I actually met Skylar before Nick said anything. She’s beautiful, Ev.”
That small smile peeking through betrayed her irritation as she rolled her eyes. “That’s a little self-serving. She looks just like you.”
“Maybe.” Skylar had my features right down to the gold flecks in her eyes. “But her smile lights up a room, the same as yours.”
She folded her arms and stared out of the window. She let out a little huff. “Okay, then.”
Her scowl and tight jaw confused me. I did nothing wrong, so I had no idea what her problem was.
“Babe, are you pissed at me?”
“Yes. No.” Once again those sparkling eyes were on me. “I don’t know. I’m irritated at my friends who didn’t speak to me about this. It's not like I hadn’t considered asking for Salinger help myself.”
“Why didn’t you? You must’ve known what they do?” I chanced a look at her, and her eyes were still glued to the nothingness in front of us. At first, I thought she wouldn’t respond. Not only was she still and silent, she barely even blinked.
The long, exaggerated exhale had me looking at her. “Can we go somewhere and talk about this?”
I gave her a smile and turned back to the road. “Sure, do you have anywhere in mind? You know the area better than I do.”
“Drive back to Marina De Ferrier, I know an excellent diner in town.” Her shoulders relaxed and she sat back in her seat. She still kept her eyes in front of her though.
There was no denying the tension in the car. She was annoyed at being blindsided and I wasn’t much better. There wasn’t really anyone to blame. At least, we agreed that Nick could’ve handled things differently. Yet, I was grateful to him. Because of him I would get to know my daughter.
Not that I had much to offer her, but I would not be an absentee dad. Yeah, my job meant I would be away from time to time, but not in the same way my dad had prioritized work.
I would of course provide for her financially, and I would speak to my parents, about ceding my trust fund over to her. I also needed to make sure that she was the beneficiary of my VA benefits. Those were things I could do.
I also needed to make sure she understood never to wake me from a nightmare. There would be times she would sleep at my place, wherever that was. I needed her to be prepared for that.
I followed Everly’s directions once we were back in town until she directed me to the parking lot outside Bowzer’s. The turquoise neon sign looked like it had been up for more than a few years. The S at the end was about to fall off at any moment.
By the time I stepped out of the Escalade and walked around to open for her, Everly was already out. I closed the door and without thinking grabbed her hand as we walked inside.
A bell tinkled overhead as I stepped inside nineteen-sixty-five. Actually, no. That wasn’t accurate. I stepped into nineteen-eighty-four pretending to be the sixties.
A young girl in a yellow plaid shirt appeared. With her dark hair in a ponytail and a bright smile she couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen.
Everly smiled at the girl. “A booth at the back please, Shiloh.”
The girl nodded and walked ahead of us. “I thought you’d be at the picnic, Everly?”
We walked around some tables and to the far end of the restaurant. The black and white floor tiles were clean and well maintained. The vinyl upholstery was all a little dated, but something told me it all added to the feel of the place.
“I had a few meetings in San Diego, and then this quick catch-up with my friend.” She gave me a quick look, willing me not to contradict her. “I’ll pop in a little later to hug Sky, but she’s sleeping at your place tonight.”
“Yeah. We’re inducting her and Grace into the pancake club in the morning. It’s Katerina’s birthday tomorrow.”
I gave Everly a frown and mouthedthe pancake club?
As soon as the girl took our order and left, Everly turned to me. “Grace and Skylar are best friends. And Grace and Shiloh and a few other girls, including Katerina, live in a group home.”
