Page 72 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

21

ALISTAIR

Finally, I thought as a pair of headlights reflected through the kitchen window. I stood to put my mug in the sink, listening to the van’s engine rumble outside.

I knew Madison had been excited for her glassblowing class despite my reservations, but I hadn’t expected her to be this late. She’d missed dinner and bath time and reading to Kenna. She’d even missed the way Princess had curled herself into my lap as I’d read about a mermaid whose hair wouldn’t stop growing.

Madison hadn’t responded when I’d asked what time she’d be back, and I certainly hadn’t been willing to go to bed until I knew she was home safely. The van door thumped hard outside, and a beat later the kitchen door squeaked open. She looked a little sheepish as she caught my eye, slipping through the door and locking it behind her.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hey,” she murmured quietly. “Kenna asleep?”

“Aye. She has been for a while now.”

Madison nodded. When she turned to face me, dropping her purse onto the island, I noted that her eyes were red and puffy. I could immediately tell she’d been crying.

Shite.

My instincts whirred like sirens in my head, blaring on high alert. “What the hell happened in town?”

“You were right,” she rasped, her chin trembling as her hands curled against the countertop. “I shouldn’t have gone.”

Bloody fucking shite.

As I took in Madison’s crushed expression, I imagined the paparazzi stretched out along the high street, cameras flashing, hurling nasty questions at her. I now regretted ever taking her to London, letting that slimy man outside Ancoats take her picture. I’d been so stupid, so reckless with her and Kenna.

I hated that the press had already slithered their way into Braeburn, but I couldn’t exactly say I was surprised. I knew it was coming. All this meant was that we were going to need to lock down harder and faster than even I’d planned.

Madison sucked in a shaky breath, looking on the verge of tears, and my protective instincts overwhelmed the rational part of my brain. I surged to her side, pulling her into my arms and cradling her against my chest.

“Are you okay?” I asked as the words I told you so batted around my mind. This was exactly what I’d been afraid of. Why couldn’t she just listen to me? Maybe now she would understand why I’d been up half the night worrying.

Madison sobbed then, covering her eyes with her hands. “It was horrible,” she blubbered, forehead pressed to the center of my chest.

I curled my hand over the back of her head, kissing her hairline. “I’ll fix it,” I promised. And I would. Even if I had to build a fence as tall as the bloody London Eye around Dunhope. I’d keep those miserable bastards away.

“You can’t,” she said, hiccuping on another sob. “There’s nothing you can do. The heat was too much for me.”

Wait, what?

I frowned at her words. That’s not what I…“Madison⁠—”

“I almost passed out during the lesson because apparently my body isn’t suited to the temperature in the hot shop.” She dropped her hands, tears leaking down her cheeks, sounding equal parts frustrated and hurt. “Lesley said if I had this strong of a reaction, then glassblowing isn’t for me. That means I can’t follow in my bio mom’s footsteps after all.”

My brain was re-wiring on the spot. Here I was envisioning ways to shoot media drones out of the sky, and Madison was in tears because she…got too hot? It took me a moment to reboot, to calm down now that I’d realized there was no need for an I told you so. This was simply Madison hurting.

I clutched her tighter, letting her cry. If I’d learned anything while being a single father to Kenna, it was that sometimes the best thing to do was cry it out. “Tell me what happened,” I murmured when her sobs eased.

“Hardly anything,” she said, sounding pissed at herself. “I had the blowpipe in the glory hole⁠—”

“The what?” She stiffened at my outburst, and I rubbed her back to relax her. “Sorry, but I only know about one kind of glory hole.”

She snorted at that, and I felt her shoulders shake. “Yeah, I had the same question. It’s what they call the opening to the furnace, or rather the pot.” She took a shuddering breath. “Anyway, I was following her instructions, but it was so hot, and I was sweating so bad, then my vision went all spotty, and I was shaking. So Lesley called it quits because of safety.”

“And is there no chance of you doing shorter lessons?” I wondered. “You know, giving your body time to acclimate?”

Madison shook her head. “I asked the same thing, but Lesley was pretty clear that it didn’t work like that.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “This was supposed to be it for me. This was supposed to make sense of my life.”