Page 20 of Crossed Lines

“It’s a school you go to after high school to learn more specific things about the job you hope to have,” Willow explains.

“Oh. What job do you want?”

“I’m going to be a teacher.” It’s the perfect job for her. She’s so patient with Jade, and it seems like she genuinely likes being around kids.

“You have one year left, right?” I ask.

“Yeah. I’m going to study abroad next semester, and then student-teach in the spring.”

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. Sawyer would have told me something like that. “Studying abroad?”

“Um, yeah. I’m going to Italy. But please don’t say anything to Sawyer. I haven’t told him yet.”

“Why not?” I know my best friend, and I know he’d be nothing but supportive of her going.

“Just financial reasons. I don’t want to tell him until I have all of the funds so that he doesn’t have to worry about giving me any more money.”

It clicks in my head. “So that’s why you wanted a summer job?”

“Yes.”

“You know Sawyer would give you whatever you wanted. Hell, I’d help too if you needed it. You didn’t have to spend your summer working.”

“Absolutely not. I can earn my money just like everyone else. Besides, it’s not really working when I get to hang out with this girl all day.” She smiles at Jade, who smiles back with pizza sauce all over her mouth.

I admire Willow for wanting to do this on her own, but I know Sawyer will feel hurt once he finds out. Ever since he got custody of Willow, he’s taken a lot of pride in making sure he could fill every role she needed. I have a feeling he’s going to think she felt like he did a bad job or something.

“Italy sounds fun,” I say. I’ll drop the Sawyer issue for now, even though I think she should tell him sooner rather than later. But that’s for the two of them to work out. “You’ll be eating better pizza than this.”

She laughs. “Nothing beats Blue Haven pizza. But yeah, I’m excited. My best friend Macy is going too.”

“Good for you, Willow. I’m happy for you.” Although it does make me feel a little uneasy with her being in a foreign country by herself, as she said, she’s an adult now. Surely the school will have procedures in place to make sure the students stay safe. I wouldn’t know, though. College was never a priority for me. I knew I’d be working with my hands.

She smiles and takes a swig of her beer. “Thanks.”

“But I don’t want you to go,” Jade says with her sad voice.

“Don’t worry, kiddo. We’ve got all summer to make it the best one ever!” Willow reassures her.

We finish up dinner, and I do the dishes while Willow tells Jade bye. Since I’m off tomorrow, she won’t be here, which Jade isn’t happy about. I have to convince Jade that she and I will have a good day even if Willow isn’t here. Seems my daughter prefers her nanny to her own father, and I can’t even be mad about it.

As Willow grabs her bag to leave, it’s on the tip of my tongue to invite her to stay, maybe watch a movie. But I quickly swallow my words. It would be inappropriate, and the last thing I need is for her to quit because of something I said or did.

I watch her car pull out of the driveway before I shut and lock the door. I can’t help but notice how empty the house feels without her in it.

CHAPTER 9

Willow

Beck’s schedule seems to vary throughout the week, so some days he doesn’t need me until later, and some days he needs me at the ass-crack of dawn. Today was an ass-crack of dawn day, and I am hanging on by a thread. Sawyer kept me up watching movies and talking until almost midnight.

Beck chuckled when he saw me and thrust a cup of coffee into my hand as soon as I got to his house. Lucky for me, Jade was asleep when I got there, and she blessedly gave me almost two hours to doze on the couch until she finally made an appearance.

We had breakfast and did some rock painting outside before she asked if we could go horseback riding. I messaged Beck to see if he had any available horses, and lucky for us, he did.

So now, we’re on the way to the stables to spend some time riding horses.

Beck is chatting with someone when we get there, but that doesn’t stop Jade from running up to him and interrupting. She can recognize her dad from a mile away, and I realize that I can now, too. It’s very hard not to notice Beck with his strong shoulders and back and the perfect-fitting jeans he wears every day. The real kicker is the backward baseball hat that looks worn and dated but still somehow makes him look sexy. He turns when he hears Jade’s little voice yell his name and just manages to catch her as she jumps into his arms. I love that she’s always excited to see him. No matter how long it’s been, she’s jumping into her dad’s arms. I envy her a little bit. I’d do anything to have one more moment to jump into my dad’s arms.