AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He wanted to say more, I could tell by the determined set of his jaw, and I urged my feet to start moving, to put more distance between us before he convinced me to settle into a life that he didn’t really want. Not with me anyway.
So yeah, I made my escape and I did it quickly, marching across the backyard in the same hasty path that Luna had taken a few minutes earlier. Only instead of being sad like Luna, I was disappointed as hell. Things were going well with Grant, at least I’d convinced myself they were, but the appearance of Mariana brought home the truth.
We were just screwing around. There was nothing serious between us, no potential for a future relationship and I’d been fooling myself about that. About what I really wanted from Grant and most of all, about what he was willing and able to give.
That little girl had just saved me a world of heartache and I vowed to keep my promise to her. I couldn’t be anything but her friend, but I would be that for her, for as long as she needed me.
Grant
I stood in front of the coffee pot, waiting for it to brew my third cup of coffee for the day. It was barely past noon and still, I couldn’t manage to keep my eyes open, to focus on anything other than the fact that I hadn’t seen Brenna since the party. Since the day I found out that I had a seven year old daughter and she walked away from me with a sad smile on her face.
I missed her. Unbelievably, I missed her. I made sure that I never let a woman ever become so important to me that I missed her when she was gone, and here I was on a Monday afternoon, missing Brenna. Her smile and her laugh, those weird southern sayings she liked to drop like bombs. And most especially that twang that had become so familiar to me.
Did that mean that kids were a dealbreaker for her? I didn’t know because she didn’t say and for the past few days, she hadn’t said a damn thing. It had been complete and total radio silence from her.
Nothing. Nada.
Not a damn thing.
“I’m hungry.” Mariana’s soft voice sounded behind me and pulled me from thoughts of Brenna and I looked behind me to find familiar brown eyes staring up at me. She spoke so infrequently that I wasn’t used to the sound of her voice, mostly because she only spoke when she needed something she couldn’t get for herself. Otherwise, she stayed in her room. Alone.
Shutting me out.
I turned completely to face her and dropped to my haunches so that we were eye to eye. “What do you want to eat?”
She shrugged. “I dunno. Breakfast.”
That wasn’t exactly helpful but I suppose you couldn’t say something like that to a little kid. “I usually eat toast with a cup of coffee, Mariana, so what do you normally eat for breakfast?” I didn’t think Bread Box was the ideal breakfast for a growing child, and that was what I had when toast and coffee just wouldn’t cut it.
Her pink lips parted into a mischievous smile. “Eggs and waffles and bacon!”
“I think there are eggs in the fridge?” My culinary skills would allow me to scramble them or make’em sunny side up but that was it. “How does that sound?”
Mariana shrugged but I didn’t miss the disappointed droop to her shoulders. “Fine.”
She was too young to know the power that word had when wielded by a woman, but I felt her disappointment viscerally. “All right, let’s get some breakfast in your belly.”
She flashed a small smile that did nothing to minimize her dissatisfaction before she turned and climbed into a chair at the kitchen table and stared off into space. Utterly silent.
The doorbell sounded and as much as it shamed me, I took the out it gave me with a satisfied sigh. On the other side of the door was Miles and Shannon, wearing matching, worried smiles. “Hey guys. What are you doing here?”
Shannon took a hesitant step forward and scanned the hall with a smile. We just came to check on you guys, to see how you were settling in?”
“Are you asking me if that’s why you came?”
“No,” she sighed and shook her head. “I insisted we come to check on you guys. So, how’s it going?”
I took a step back and waved Miles inside. “Honestly? Not good. I’m pretty sure she hates me and doesn’t trust me as far as she can throw me.” It was like pulling teeth to get her to even acknowledge and when she did, it was as if Mariana was scared of me for some reason. I was half tempted to call Luna and demand she admit all the horrible shit she’d said about me.
