Page 90 of Shattered Dreams

I hear the softest sound a moment later, and turn to see Rylee, rubbing her eyes.

“Hey, princess, you okay?” I ask, trying to hide the upset in my voice.

She quietly crawls up onto the couch next to me and leans against me.

“I can’t sleep.”

She curls close to me, and my heart breaks.

“You miss your Daddy, don’t you?” I ask, trying my hardest to remain calm. Neutral.

I don’t need Rylee to get upset because she sees me upset.

She nods and then she wraps one small arm across my stomach and hugs me.

“I don’t like when he leaves,” she says softly.

I pull her close to me, and rub her shoulders, the tears begging to be freed from my eyes.

“Me, either, but you know what?” I ask, my voice shaky.

“What?”

“He always comes back for you.”

The words are the hardest I’ve ever had to speak, because I know he will come back.

For her.

And then he’ll leave with her, too, and a new surge of heartache forms.

Because she’s his daughter, not mine.

Though I can’t say I don’t love her, too, like she is. And Maddox…

How in the hell do I break that kind of news to him?

“Can I sleep here?” she asks, and I hear the sadness in her voice.

“Of course, sweetheart,” I say as I reach for the blanket behind us and do my best to cover her with it. “Good night, Rylee,” I tell her, my chest tight, but she is already starting to fall asleep. So I close my eyes, and suck in a breath and enjoy the moment because I know soon enough it’ll slip through my fingers.

When I wake in the morning, my back is killing me. That’s what I get for sleeping on the couch. I get Rylee up, make breakfast, drop her off at school, and then head to work, feeling like absolute shit.

I keep waiting for my phone to ring. For Dre to text me. Something. But just like yesterday, nothing comes through, and that is perhaps more telling than anything else.

The only call I get is the elementary school nurse calling to tell me Rylee is sick with a stomach thing and needs to be picked up.

I wish I could get her, comfort her, but I can’t exactly leave work. I still have several classes and study halls, and finding a sub this late, even if I could get a teacher to cover me, is pushing it.

Which is why I call Mr. and Mrs. Taylor and ask them if they can pick her up, which they agree to. Mrs. Taylor says she’ll keep her for the weekend, just to make sure she doesn’t get the rest of the house sick.

I have to fight back the urge to cry, but somehow I manage.

I want to ask if she’s heard from Dre, but I also don’t want to sound like some insecure, obsessive asshole, so I don’t.

Instead, I thank her and then return to my job until it’s time to get Maddox.

Chapter Thirty-One