Page 33 of If I Didn’t Have You

“Your mother did,” I corrected. “I was outside the whole damn time!”

I chased her down as my heart thundered in my chest. I was most definitely not cut out to watch a kid on my own. It had been years since I’d watched anyone this small, and when the kids were over, Clara was always there to do most of the work. I normally just watched them for a few minutes if she had to do something.

“Lizzy!” I shouted as she ran out the front door.

“Daddy, it’s not rocket science. Just keep her alive until I get back.”

The door on her truck slammed with a finality I felt deep in my bones. She was really doing this to me, leaving me alone with a child I had no right watching on my own. Did she realize this would only end in disaster?

I stomped back into the house, grabbing my phone from the table. Luckily, I had plenty of kids, and all of them were capable of taking care of a child.

Except Liam’s call went straight to voicemail. Michael was at work. Jeff…well, he hadn’t picked up any of my calls since the last time he ran out of here.

That left Krista.

I prayed harder than any man in his entire life, and when she finally picked up, relief washed over me.

“Honey?”

“Hey, what’s up?”

I could hear rustling in the background, and as my daughter shuffled things, the sound of heavy breathing filled the air.

“Uh, is this a bad time?”

“Not at all. I’m just trying to put together a proposal for Jeff’s new Scottish Highlands tournament for next summer.”

“So, you can come help.”

She laughed sarcastically. “I was joking. This proposal has to be at city council by the end of the day.”

Willa wiggled in my arms, wanting to get down, but I couldn’t set her down in the house. It was a damn construction zone. “They can extend it.”

“They can’t. If we’re going to do this thing, we have to meet certain deadlines, and getting the proposal to the city council any later would most definitely be bad news for us. Not that I care about it since it was all Jeff’s idea, but since we’re basically business partners and Jeff can’t type worth a damn, the job falls on me.”

“But you have a few hours to spare⁠—”

She laughed in my ear. “Not likely.”

“It’s just…” I looked at my granddaughter in my arms and cringed. I was not cut out for this. “Lizzy dropped Willa off with me.”

“So?”

Willa wiggled out of my arms, then took off through the house. I gave chase, but knew I could never catch the little rascal. She was fast. I didn’t quite understand how such a tiny person on such little legs could outrun a full-grown man, but somehow, it always happened.

“Look, the house is torn apart! I can’t watch her!”

“So, take her outside. Listen, Dad. I’ve got to go. Just do what you did with us.”

The line went dead just as I caught Willa by the back of the shirt, pulling her to a stop. “Krista!”

But she didn’t answer. She was already gone. I tried calling her back, but it went straight to voicemail. How could she do this to me? Did people really think I was qualified to watch children? I didn’t know what to do with them.

“Alright, little monster. We’re going outside.”

“O-side!” she squealed, clapping her hands together.

But the moment I stepped outside, I realized just how dangerous this was. There were fences she could get tangled up in, wild animals, birds that could— well, it was unlikely a bird would hurt her, but if it could happen to anyone, it would happen on my watch.