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“Why are you asking?” I quirked a warning brow at my daughter as I planted my hands on the countertop across from her.
She shrugged. “A person needs to know these things, Dad. Don’t you know knowledge is power?”
I held back a chuckle. My boys might have been my rough and tumbles, but this one was my handful. Far too smart for me to keep up with.
“What you need to know is she’s what’s called a tenant, which means she rents the guest house, which means you have to leave her alone and give her some privacy. Don’t you go being nosy.”
Olivia huffed, glancing up at me with those warm brown eyes that slayed me through. Love burned like a flame in my chest every time I looked at the child. “It’s not nosy, Dad. It’s called being neighborly.” She drew it out like it was obvious. “Which you should be, too, and not be all grumpy at Savannah because that is really not nice.”
Problem was, I wanted to get way too neighborly when it came to Savannah.
I gruffed at my daughter. “I’m not grumpy.”
She glared at me the way her mom used to do. It never failed to pierce me straight in the heart. “Dad, I really hate to break it to you, but you are the grumpiest. Mindie’s mom said you even gave her a ticket. That’s rude.”
Yeah, because Mindie’s mom was going thirty over in a school zone then tried to show me her tits to get out of it.
“I’m a cop, Livvie. It’s my job to give out tickets when people are breaking the law.”
A flash of sadness filled her eyes, and her words dampened in the kind of caution I never wanted her to feel around me. “But you used to smile a whole lot more.”
Air heaved from my lungs. I’d done my best to keep it from my kids.
The strain.
The rage.
This ugly thing that now writhed inside.
I should have known Olivia would be able to see right through it. She’d always had this thing about her. An insight. A deepness that went far beyond her years. Her care so big beneath the sweet sass she always wore.
I edged around the island so I could get to her, and I pressed my lips to the top of her head, my voice soaked in affection. “I’m sorry if I feel different to you, Livvie. If I act different. Losing your mom changed something inside me, but it didn’t change how much I love you or care for you. You and your brothers are the happiness inside me, and I want you to know there are a billion smiles inside my heart when I think of you. When I look at you. They’re just a little more hidden than they used to be.”
She tipped her sweet face back to look at me. “As many as the stars?”
“As many as the stars.”
A grin split her face. “I guess I’ll let you off the hook then.”
Amusement tumbled through me until I caught sight of what she was working on.
An invitation.
One for Savannah, which of course my smart as a whip daughter had figured out how to spell her name all on her own. She didn’t need me when she got up to her antics.
To Savannah,
You’re invited to dinner.
Olivia had made three check boxes below it.
? Yes.
? Definitely.
? Absolutely.
She’d drawn a bunch of hearts around the boxes and had decorated the letter with pink and green stickers. More hearts and flowers and little colorful strips of tape.
“Livvie.” Another warning.
She tucked her shoulder to her ear, all wide-eyed and innocent. “If you’re going to be neighborly, you have to see it through. We don’t just use our words. We use our actions.”
Well, shit, how many times had I told my kids that?
“You also need to ask first.”
“But I already knew you’d say yes because you’re not grumpy or anything.” Another blink of those giant brown eyes.
The kid had mad skills, that was for sure.
Then her demeanor dipped into care. “We should really ask her, Dad. Maybe she’s really lonely and needs a friend if she doesn’t have anyone to live with.”
Setting my palm on the side of her face, I ran the pad of my thumb over the apple of her cheek. “Alright, Livvie, you can ask her, but only to welcome her. From here on out, you need to give her space.”
I’d do well to take my own instruction. Tuck it down deep.
God knew I’d had a hell of a time not peeking out the window when I’d heard her car roll up about thirty minutes ago. She’d been gone first thing this morning for her shift at the café, and I was sure the woman had to be dead on her feet.
It’d taken everything I had not to go and check. To make sure she was fine and whole and ensure there hadn’t been any incidences at work.
